Omaha daily bee., 1898-12-11

skinned and cleaned m hung up 70 cool
before being put In the freezing room.
I stopped a moment and watched the kill
Ing. 1t Is 30 quickly done that in four min
utes and a half by my watch I saw q sheep
pass from active bleating life to the condi-
ton Of a carcass, skinned and cleaned. It
was ready for the meat shop had 1t not
been that 1t must be nrst frozen and then
sent over 1000 miles Of water to reach 1t.
II sheep can understand and feel for their
fellows the killing ia rather cruel. Scores
Of them look on awaiting their turn while
their brothers and sisters are butchered. In
each pen there were at least fifty sheep.
Along the front Of It on Q bench about a.
as your knee lay rows Of dying sheep,
each with two great round holes in It's white
throat, out of which the red blood ran down
into the stream Of water which flowed
through a little canal below. Some Of the
sheep were kicking, others groaned feebly.
but I could sec that their deaths came al
most instantly. The killing is done with q
long sharp double bladed knife. Two men
catch a sheep In the pen and throw 1t upon
Its back on the bench. The butcher outside
then seizes 1t by the chin. bends it's head
back and with one thrust drives the steel
through its throat, cutting the jugular vein.
He then goes on to the next sheep, which is
already lying there ready for him, killing
sheep after sheep at the rate Of one and
more per minute.
As soon as the sheep has been knitted 1t is
seized and carefully skinned. The entrails
are thrown into one place to be cleaned and
shipped to Germany for sausage kim The
kidneys and their fat are laid in another,
for the kidney fat Is used for making a sort
Of oleomargarine. which is here largely sold
for nnnLin1 arl =. A. - A A. -
kets Of Buenos Ayres. The feet and heads
are cut of and the tongues and hearts are
saved. The carcass which is left Is az neatly
cleaned as any you will see on our best meat
markets at home. 1t Is dressed after the !
fashion of the English markets, a matter so
important that the factory has a skilled
London market man here to superintend this
feature Of the work. |
Process Of Freezing.
The freezing is done In great chambers,
each Of which will hold $4,000 carcasses at
one time. The chambers have walls of wood |
and sawdust q foot thick. The ceiling Of
each is covered with coils of pipe. In which
flow ammonia and brine so arranged chemic- !
ally that they fl the room with air which !
Is 80 degrees below zero. 1t takes three |
great engines to keep the pipes filled and
these work on both day and night. The
coils. when I saw them, were covered with
frost an Inch thick and the chamber was
intensely cold. In It, hanging Town from
hooks with their headless necks toward the
floor. were something like 1000 freezing
of mutton. They were almost
ready for shipment and when the chief en-
gineer. who acted as my guide, took one
down to show 1t to me ! found that 1t would
stand alone and that its flesh was a. hard
as stone. Within forty-eight hours after
being put in the freezing room the carcasses
are perfectly hard. After they are frozen
they are sewed up In fine white muslin
cloths and laid way In cold storage to await
the next steamer. The average carcass
when shipped. from thirty to seventy
pounds, according as It Is q sheep or q lamb.
The sheep cost about 81 apiece, as only the
finest are used for this purpose. Sheep. as
they run In the flock. can be bought. ! am
told. for from 80 to rs cents apiece. The
freight to London costs from 1 to 2 cents a
pound and the mutton there sells for 10
cents and upward per pound. As much of
the work as possible Is done by machinery,
but the wages paid are much less than at
home. The average for slaughterers, skin
ners and general workmen Is less than s1.1o
a day and foremen receive less than 81 per
day. l wonder how our Chicago butchers
would like such wagesf
Everything connected with the refuse. ]