Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1914-10-07
LOCAL HORSES FOR
THE EUROPEAN WAR
Roman Bros. Shipped Car OF 25 Cav
airy and Artillery Horses
Monday to England.
THE WAR WILL
USE MANY HORSES

Anderson Bros. Bought Larg6
ber at kimball, 8. D., D
Will be sh4peSS
France y
Already the ftionso of Eur
ope are seeking here tOhe US
ed in the war. NY mcdonnell, u
Montreal, Canada was here for severs
al days last week after horses and
made his headquarters at Roman
Bros. barn. The latter gentlemen
purchased thirtytwo head In various
parts Of the county. Twenty-Five
head are for cavalry purposes, and
seven for artillery use. The prices
paid for these particular horses II
not high. as they are all light horses.
The cavalry horses range from 1913
to 1872 hands high and weigh from
ten to eleven hundred pounds. The
artillery horses are animals standing
Is hands high and weighing from
1900 to 1850 pounds, nice standing
horses. Roman Bros. have orders for
as many Of them as they can procure.
Mr.. Mcdonnell departed Monday with
the thirty-two head for Montreal,
from which point they will be ship
ped to England.
Roman Bros. have a car load of
heavy horses in their barn now that
are we'll worth seeing. Pat Roman
bought them in Wisconsin. The an
imals were loaded and instead of be-
ing shipped to Decorah were sent to
Des Moines, and were lost for eight
days. One Of the animals in the lot
is a big bay weighing 1880 pounds,
and is horse right out Of hard
work without any superfulous flesh.
He is a wonderful animal and is at
tracing lots Of attention..
CO. Casterton, of Highland town.
ship sold a fine span OF horses to no.
nan Bros. and Mr.. O'Donnell, the.
pair bringing 1910. We understand
that one Of the animals will 60
across the pond to England, but they
are entirely too good animals to send
to the fearful massacre going on ov-
er the waters.
Anderson Bros. are also buying
large number of horses for the war.
Erisk and Andrew were at Kimball.
3. D. all last week and bought up
large number. Erick arrived home
Sunday afternoon and Andrew took
the horses to Miles City, Mont,
where more will be picked up, and
shipped to France for cavalry and
artillery purposes. They expect to
ship out several hundred head.
Frightful Waste of Horses.
Despite the care of officers and
men and, above all. the nnremitting
and devoted attention of the vets.
the wastage of horses in times of war
is something frightful.
According to the official reports
made to parliament at Westminster,
in the form of blue books, over 4OO,-
900 horses lost their lives in one
way or another during the Boer war.
True. that was PARTLY due to the
much dreaded Natal horse sickness,
to which many tens OF thousands of
animals succumbed, until it's spread
was arrested by the device of Vet
erinary Major Huntingdon. who in
augurated the practice Of applying
medicated nosebags to the nags at
night, thereby preventing them from
coming into contact with the dew of
the grass, which archaeological in
vestigatiOn had proved to him har-
bored the germs of the disease.
But great as was the loss Of horse
flesh through this malady, far grea-
ter number OF animals succumbed to
overwork and exhaustion, and 1t is
this which, in conjunction with shell.
shrapnel, and bullet. is accountable
for the even still more appalling was
tage Of horses in the present war,
compared. to which the conflict in
South Africa was but a mere skir-
mish.
Equine Race In Peril,
The shortage of horses is already
being felt to very serious degree
by the armies Of the various belliger-
ents in Europe, particularly in Ger
many, among whose horses in France
an alarming epidemic of Chambers is
said to have broken out, and the
kaiser's government has its agents
busily at work abroad. buying up all
the horses that they can obtain.
(contiaued on last page.)