The San Francisco call., 1896-04-18

Ben Davis completed their joint inspection
yesterday morning at O'Clock, and when
| the record of the twelve hours was gone
over it was declared that tuberculosis had
for months ran rampant in the herd.
OF the thirty-four cows in the barn fur
nishing milk for the Almshouse inmates,
twenty-four were declared to be totally
bad, seven with suspicious tendencies and
three wholly sound. Later in the day the
emperature of the seven suspects" was
again taken. In every instance it was
found to have risen from one to three
them in the condemned bunch.
About 2 o'clock in the afternoon Creely
| and Davis, with Dockery keeping "tab, {"
began the work of destruction. 1t was a
mooted question as to the best method of
putting the afflicted animals to death The
master of ceremonies, Veterinary Surgeon
| Greedy, insisted that the only humane way
to 90 the thing was to send bullet in to
the brain of each. This plan was accord
ingly adopted, but later results showed
that Greedy was far more expert in hand
ling hypodermic syringe than in dealing
out deadly leaden missiles.
1t required two shots to bring the first
cow to her knees, and even then Davis had
| to end the creatures sufferings by we'll
directed blow on the forehead with an ak.
After this Creely discarded the gun and
employed only the old-time weapon. One
by one the animals were led out into the
big barren pasture, and by $50 o'clock
thirty-one COWS were stretched on the
field.
Davis welded the knife with freedom
which evidenced his thorough familiarity
with such work. A few of the cows
| showed that the disease had made but lit.
tie headway. though in the main they
presented disgusting sight. Tuberculo-
sis of the lungs was seen in every animal
| slaughtered. Some were perfectly honey
combed, while others indicated that the
disease was of recent origin.
During the early part of the slaughter
Superintendent Weaver was an interested
spectator. He did not have to ask any
questions. The little white patches and
protruding buttons told their own story.
He was satisfied that Creely had made no
mistake, except possibly in not paying
visit to the institution months before.
However, he forgave these shortcomings,
and declared his intention of keeping a
more watchful eye on this particular de-
partment in the future
The visit of the Health officers to the
Almshouse has in one sense been an
expensive one. The stock destroyed can
not be replaced for less than $1,000, and in
the meantime some seventy or eighty gal
Ions of milk must be purchased each day
to take the place of that formerly supplied
by the slaughtered COWS. Mr.. Weaver.
however, does not regret this item of ex-
pense, but to use his own language, he
does sincerely regret being censured for
something which he could not prevent or
control"
The superintendent contends that Julian,
the keeper, is altogether responsible for
the condition in which Messrs. Doekery,
Greedy and Davis found the milk-supplying
animals OF the Almshouse. In this posi-
ton he is sustained by James Commit, one
OF the clerks. The latter said last night:
II do not mean to reflect on Julian or
any one else, but / do feel that Mr..
Weaver has been placed in false light by
these occurrences. If the superintendent
had known the condition of the cows it
stands to reason that he would have set
about correcting it. It is utterly impos-