The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-05-10
KILLS FROM KINDNESS.
Woman Who Makes n Business of
Putting Pets to Death.


In a poem called 1.-The Ballad Of Read
ing Gaol," a poem written by convict,
it is said that man always Stays the thing
he loves. This statement Is undoubtedly
untrue, but 1t seems to be borne out in
Frankfort nevertheless, for Mrs Caro-
line Scott. of No. 1923 Sellers street. is ad-
mitted to be Frankford's greatest lover of
animals, and yet Mrs. Scott kills from 800
to 1000 animals year. She kills these ami
mails, though. not so much because she
loves them as because they are suffering.
Dogs that have been run over, cats with
incurable diseases, birds irreparably hurt
these and other sorts of little live things
Mrs. Scott puts to death. And she has been
putting them to death for thirty-five years.
She employs a man TO bring them to her
from their homes, and another man with a
horse and wagon calls thrice a week at her
house to remove for burial the corpses
there.
Mrs. Scott lives in brick house with
her daughter and her son-in-law. Her
health is no longer good, and to pursue
her work is more difficult for her now
than it used to be. Nevertheless she does
man whom she employs called at her house
and said: Have you anything for me to
do to-day?
"Go to this number for a cat, to that
a place for dog" replied Mrs. Scott.
The man departed. Several hours later
he returned with the cat. the parrot and
had been burned in a fire, the second had
developed an unsightly disease of the skin,
the third had had both legs broken by a
cart.
Mrs. Scott carried them all to a room be-
hind her kitchen-an airy room, with plenty
of windows. In the middle of the floor
stood big wooden box, alright and very
solidly constructed. A rubber tube passed
through the side of the box and its end
was attached to a gas pipe.
Into the box she thrust the parrot. 1t
squawked but as soon the lid was closed
upon 1t Ii became silent. In the blackness
of the box il stood still. Mrs. Scott turned
on the gas cock and floods on floods of
removed the dead bird. The stale gas in the
After It was gone the dog was Killed in the
same way as the parrot. and finally the cat
was disposed of. Then the bodies of these
little animals were laid in an clubhouse.
and thence, the next morning, a man re-
moved them for burial Every day there
are a half-dosen callers at Mrs. Scotts. A
little girl will come and say. with sar-
my father said that must get rid Of my
canary. The cat got at 1t yesterday and
tore a big hole in it's breast. The hole will
never heal, my father says. The poor lit
tie bird Is in great pain: Will you Kill 1t,
Mrs. Scott. without hurting 1t at alp
ITO be sure / will, little girl. Leave me
your address and I'll send for the bird
at once"
young man comes and says:
1T have a Newfoundland dog, madam,
that must be put to sleep. This dog saved
my sisters life, and for this deed his own
life must pay the penalty. He was walk
ing with the little girl and a trolley car
approached that she didn't see. She stood
on the tarck and she would have been run
over. But the dog ran to her, seized her
dress and thrust her out of the way. The
car ran over his hind legs. crushing them
horribly, and the surgeon says that there
Is no hope for this good dog.
81 will relieve the animal, sill" says Mrs.
Scott. Its death will be painless. almost
pleasant"
A great many persons wonder why ii is
that Mrs Scott ever came to involve herself
in the grewsome work that she now con-
ducts on q scale so extensive. She told the
other day how she first came to take the
work up.
"Ar my life." she said, 1T have lived out
here, and all my life l have loved animals.
We have a number OF quarries In this sec
ton, and at the quarries good deal of
cruelty is practiced on horses. 1 began in
my girlhood TO take the part OF these
horses Many an argument / had with
brutal drivers. and many a poor horse
helped. From horses my care for animals
extended to dogs and cats and birds. And
when found dog or cat or bird in