The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1897-01-14
BLOOD BY THE POUND.
IT IS USED FOR MAKING BUTTONS,
COMBS AND PENHOLDERS.

ply Articles Of Use and Adornment...
Curious Phase of the Industrial Progress
Of the Age.
The sweet girl who likes to be up
to-date in her fads and fancles mas
done many strange things. says the
New York News. She has worn ugly,
crawling lizards in close conuguty
TO her shapely neck. She has worn,
without knowing it, rats heads Mt the
end of her fur boa, fondly imagining
that the heads were those of mink.
She was not to blame fOr this last Pc
cuiarity. 1t was all the fault OF the
horrid dealers, who ran short OF mink
heads and substituted those of rats,
when scme inspired genius discovered
that it was impossible to defect tine
difference after proper treatment.
IT is not the fault of the girl either
that she wears buttons made of blood
The probability is that few, even OF
the not over-sensitive girls or to-day,
would relish the idea of having their
dresses trimmed with buttons that owe
their origin to the slaughter-houses'
And yet it is fact chat the buttons
on many of the dainty dresses THAT 80
enhance the charms of the wearer,
are made from the life-blood of tue
victims of the butchers knife.
The thought is calculated to shock
the sensibiliries of any fellow who ne
CARDS Ibis girls tresses as something
sacred, but the cruel fact remains that
it is within the bounds of possibility
that her lovely locks are arranged with
a comb that has been made SOLELY
from CONCEALED blood that once
dropped red and warm from the throat
of slaughtered animal,
Nor is this all, The sweet words
that the newly girl confides
may have been written by hand hold
ing a stick of CONCEALED and 10 II
pressed blood. ,IIrca4e" ei.as tGu" conn
save. 200 tho Dreadful az fne Thought
hray ue, however it is fact that pen
holders are made from the sanguinary
otDSltiIiCC vi
This industry is not an altogether
new one, but few people are aware of
its existence. AS a matter of fact, the
manufacturers of blood articles do not
proclaim from the housetops the ma
ture of their business, for people are
apt to be prejudiced against wearing
blood buttons and using blood combs
and penholders. The chief reason for
the laughter-houses being drawn upon
for the material to make buttons,
be made much cheaper by this means
than from bone, The process is simple.
When steer, sheep, pig or other ami
NAL is slaught tered the blood is not al
lowed to run to waste 1t is carefully
caught in buckets as it flows from the
dying animal and laid aside to CONCEAL
and dry. Inc receptacleS In when the
blood congeals are tilted at a slight
angle so that all the fluid portion of
the blood runs to the side. 1t can then
readily be drained off, leaving behind
only the fibrous portion of the fluid,
which dries and hardens until TT can
be lifted in Jumps. This is the sub
stance that the blood button makers
purchase from the butchers. 1t is sold
to them by the pound. II cents being
about the average price for that guam
tfty of concealed gore in its dry state.
The price is kept up by the active COM
pcmtion to secure the blood, for it
makes a splendid fertilizer and the
farmers are always demanding it.
Very little goes to waste in New York
slaughter house.
Having secured a supply OF con
gealed blood, the manufacturer next
proceeds to grind the fibrous substance
to powder. This powder. mixed with
n little water, is the sole Ingredient
for the substitute for bone in tne but
ton, comb and penholder industry.
inc mass is placed over mould and
is compressed by hydraulic means.
When it is taken out the substance is
as hard as bone and of the desired
shape. There is little in Its appear
ance to show that the material origi-
Eated in the slaughter-house. the
natural color of a blood button is
black, and it can be used without the
slightest suspicion of its uncanny or
igin.
If 1t is desired to color the substance
the manufacturers mix It with clip
pings from the hoofs of the animal,
and it then comes out in variegated
hues.
LIE industry is an extensive one,
many of the Chicago slaughter-houses
shipping congealed blood to New York
for the use of the makers of the arti-
cles mentioned. The cheapness of the
product is its chief recommendation.