The evening times., 1896-10-28

to the crematory on the banks of the 20
tOmaC.
First the matter is reported TO, or oh
served by, Il policeman on the beat. He
jots down i'll his notebook the location OF
the carcass, and whether il be that of i
| dog, cat, chicken or rat.
How THE CARCASSES ARE REMOVED.
The next move is for the officer to report
it to the station house and enter il upon the
incidental book. Here the patrolman' 5
! responsibility ceases and the station keep
er is called upon 10 telephone the entry
to the operator al headquarters.
Tie latter enters the message i'll turn
upon his dIy book, with the hour and min
| ute of its receipt. Having done this, hc
calls up Supt. Parsons. OF the death depart
! ment OF the health office and repeats thg
message to him. Parsons enters II upon
his records of dead animals,
The next move in the final disposition of
the carcass Is made when the collector Of
defuuCt animals calls upon Mr.. Parsons
and receives from him a description Of the
animals reported, and the locations III
which they can be found.
IhC CuiIcctOr has ms wagon with him
and Immediately scurries away To gather
up the deceased quadrupeds or birds and
convey them to the garbage wharyes at
the foot Of South Capitol street.
There an odoriferous little steamer ard
sundry barges are waiting to remove the
carcaSSes to the garbag crematory, ON the
shores of the Potomac, just below Buena
Vista, where they are variously disposed
OF by Contractor Joshua y. Warfield.
The work of collecting dead animals is
let out by contract and is now in the hands
of MIR. Warficld. There are four wagons
employed in the service. They are tight
ly closed vans, the smaller ones being used
10 heul dogs, cats, chickens, rats andsmalier
carcaSSes.
For defunct horses, m ules, cows a nd goats,
larger vehicles, drawn by two and three
horses are used, with u windlass attached
To haul the larger animals into their inter
ior
Tue drivers of these vehicles are required
to call at tie health office twice each day
tc receive a record of the dead animals
reported by the police in the nine precincts.
FIGURES AND ODDITIES.
Thecontractorisrequir law torcmove
all carcasses within ten hours after they
are reported TO him or his agents. His fail
ure TO do SO within the prescribed time
will subject him to penalty of $40, or as
much thereof as is necessary for the health
authorities to pay for some other vehicle to
remove the offensive object from the streets
All OF the smaller animals are cremated,
while the horses, cows, pigs and goats are
turned over TO Subcontractor Mann.
The DOVlneS, ,cqulncS ana goats are skinned
and their coverings converted into leather.
The hoofs and horns are manufactured
into glue, and their bodies ground up into
fertilizer, and sold to farmers ito enrich
poor soil.
Some queer messages are received by the
operators at headquarters. IL is on record
that citizen once called up the office to
report dead sparrow, whichlay in front of
his house, and, as he stated, filled the
surrounding atmosphere with noxious
odors." This was in the middle OF July,
however. and the bird, while small in one
sense, was no doubt quite large i'll another.
There are many more dead animals re-
ported during the summer months than
during the fall and winter. In July and
August the average often runs up to from
100 TO 80 cases n day. During the pres
ent season the daily reports average about
twenty-five.
%. Summer mornings many dead cats are
found in alleys and streets. They were
the victim of rifle balls, missiles or poison,
administered by irate citizens whose slum-
hers were disturbed by caterwauling on the
back fence or woodshed canine concerts
and fights.
Last summer citizen OF South WASH
ington reported the body of snake on B
ing across the. street after leaving the
Agricultural Department grounds. That
was regarded as the oldest of the many
odd dead reports received at beadquar-
tiers.