The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-01-29
MULES FOR SOUTH AFRICA.
It Costs the British Government One Hundred Dollars a Head to Transport

l It Costs the British Government One
 Hundred Dollars Head to Transport
 Them.
 When English capital and American
 thrift combine something Is going to
 happen, and the result Is very apt to be
 both interesting and stupendous, as is 1 the case in the recent purchase in the 1 United States of nearly nine thousand
 mules by the British government, and
 the transportation of the same from in-
 terior points, through the port of New Orleans, to South Africa, for the use of
 the British army in the Transvaal. In September last Major H. J. Sco-
 bell, of the Royal Scots Greys British Cavalry, arrived in New Orleans and in
 the usual transformations manner of the English man of affairs went quiet- Iy to work obtaining bids from the va rious stock dealers throughout the west
 making several trips for the purpose. He personally closed contracts with dealers in St. Louis, Kansas City, New Orleans and in north Texas for S,S20 mules, or upward of three hundred car loads, at an average cost of about eigh- ty dollars a head f. o. b. steamer New Orleans, or a total of over seven hun dred thousand dollars for the lot,
 In addition to the mules Major Seo- bell also purchased two hundred car loads of hay, oats, bran, etc, from New Orleans, St. Louis and Kansas City, firms.
 The larger portion of the mules and all of the feed reached New Orleans via the Illinois Central railroad, the entire shipment being loaded aboard the transports at the Southport docks of that company. where the facilities for handling such large consignments are unexcelled
 The mules were moved from Kansas City and St. Louis in special trains made up of large patent stockcars, or exceptionally fast schedules, the run from St. Louis to New Orleans, dis tance of seven hundred and six miles, via the Illinois Central, being made in twenty eight hours, which is practically passenger train service. From Kansas City, distance of eight hundred and eighty miles, via the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis railroad to Mem phis; thence over the Illinois Central, the through run to New Orleans was made in forty hours including q stop over at Memphis for feed water and ! rest.
 On arriving at New Orleans the ani- mals were unloaded and placed in large | stock pens, where they were held and | cared for until the vessels were ready l to receive them.
 The British government chartered the | steamships Prah, Montezuma, Corin- tbio ivy ! ma de Larrinaga and Hermes to trans port the animals from New Orleans to destination. The cost of such transpor tation was about one hundred dollars a head.
 These boats were specially fitted up for the service, being lighted with elec tricity, carrying their own distilling plant, and every stall provided with an automatic cock, from which water for the mules can be let out regularly three times a day The feeding Is done by hand, a sufficient number of hostlers being taken along for that purpose. One or more veterinary surgeons ac- each vessel, to take care of such of the animals as might fall sick on the long voyage. which will consume at least twenty-six days from port to port.
 The Manchester City, the largest of the transports, being five hundred and hirty feet long, slowed away 1,090 mules n her decks, to say nothing of sixty i've carloads of feed, three thousand kegs of mule shoes and nails, and near y three hundred men, including officers crew and hostlers.
 The mule shoes, of which there were