The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-04-02
The suffering Citizens

The Suffering Citizens
]. w. Rickley, who seemed to be the
chief complainant against the dump, was
the first witness introduced. He said that
he had been living a block or two away
from the dump for about a year, and that
it had always been a nuisance to the nos
trils He made an examination of the place
Friday and found skinned COW, on which
number of hogs were eating at the time,
an unburied calf's head, buried dog with
his hind legs sticking out of the ground,
and other dead animals.
w. F. Marshall manager of the Standard
Oil company, said that he hadn't smelt any
odors this winter, though he knew that
there were carcasses out on the dump
II. G. Robinson, treasurer of the Decatur
Car Wheel works, said that he had not been
troubled much by the breezes of the dump,
but that the men in the works had been.
]. S. Trott said that the dump was a reg
ular yellow fever hot bed"
DR.. Alternately, a member of the county
board of health, said tnat he was acquaint-
ed with the place, and that it was a men,
ace to the health not only of the neighbour
ing people, but also to the citizens Of Blr-
practice among the people of the neighbour
hood and knew all the facts. DR.. Aber-
nathy admitted under cross-examination,
however, that he had heard of no typhoid
fever among those people, which would be
the disease most likely caused by the al
legged disagreeable smells
w. F. Lane said that he had been re-
quested to examine the dump Friday after
noon by Mr. Rickley, and that the latter
had gone around with an iron rod pokins
in the trash and pulling up dead bodies
81 didn't smell anything bad, though" said
Mr.. Lane
J. L. Edwards testified that the stencil
from the dump was very offensive, and
that he often had to close the doors and
windows of his house in order to sleep in
peace. He often saw the carcasses OF hogs,
dogs, cats and chickens mixed in with the
trash.
One MI. Elkins, of 511 Avenue D, said
that the odors were very bad every time
the wind was blowing from the dumps, and
that he had seen people vomit, SO badly
had the stencil affected their stomachs.
DR.. Barclay said that he had examined
the pile Friday and substaGtiated the
statements of the other witnesses, and said
that he thought 1t was dangerous to the
health of the neighborhood.
Didn't you find a crowd of negroes pick
ing over the trash?" asked Mr.. Allen, land
didn't they seem perfectly healthy?"
Eyes, they appeared healthy enough; the
germs don't seem to affect them
According to your theory, then" laugh
ed the attorney, "a lot of greasy coons
around a community is fine institution
for killing off the germ"
The Defense
General Thomas, the sanitary inspector
| for the city of Birmingham, was then in
| troduced for the defense. He said that he
had examined the dump several times dur
| ing the past few weeks, but had seen no
| carcasses only the small trash that is
| found in every dump accompanied by the
usual smell. He regarded the trash of the
| city as being disposed of in as practical a
| a way as possible under the circumstances,
and did not think the health of the neigh
| borhood endangered.
The defendant took the stand and said
| that the skinned cow" ON which every
| one OF the witnesses had laid great stress,
| had not been taken there by any of Dunn
| & Lailandes wagons, and that none of
+, them knew anything about the unfortunate
| COW, or why she was now laying on the
| dump with her nakedness exposed to the
| public eye, and her odors to the publc's
nostris. All large -carcasses, he said, such
| as cows, horses and hogs, were taken to
| the packing house at North Birmingham
| where they were made into fertilizer. Moth
| ing except rats, chickens, dogs, pigs and
| other small animals were ever taken to
| the dump, and then Mr.. Lallande said the
| drivers had orders to bury the carcasses,
! The neighborhood, he said, judging from
1 the witnesses who had just testified in the
| case, and certainly the negroes who made
| their living by scratching In the dump
| was a very healthy one, and was not liza
| BILE to any disease arising from the trash.
The Dump Seven Years Old
Mr.. Allen, In his argument, took the po-
/ eitin,, that ,ItInce tho oit.r x.rao ohln fr