The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1920-02-13
CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.

One Of the things which makes us believe there
is some future state of punishment for the SINS ol
'neople is the way some people treat DUMP Drutes'
Tn q world of causes and effects it would be un-
reasonable to suppose that man could forever Ill
treat the lower animals under his care and not SUI
fer just punishment for it.
And this causes us to say that there should De d
s+rct enforcement of the law against those people
.ccustomed to so mistreat beasts of burden you
msv see mules driven along the streets every day
which look as if they had had nothing to eat for
month. Only the other day an old mule so poor as
to be unable to keep going fell on street Jus'
otf the public square, while the negro who was rid
ing in the wagon, kept his seat and UNDERTOOK "
make the mule get up by beating him. negro
rides along in his buggy and with "nlp hi's 'Ae
mule which is hauling him at every step.
Of course this should be stopped 1t IS poor
law which allows it, and poorer administrator OF
existing law which permits such cruelty to 60 uh-
punished But there is another kind OF cruety' ho'
of negroes but of white men, which appeals to u.s.
and always has as even more cruel than this we
refer to the practice of buying work animals
working them as long as they are young and do the
work we'll, but as as they grow stiff and so"'
then selling them to the first negro VINO Will Ouy
them which means starvation to the amman. May
be the old mule in his better days has lald the
foundation of the family fortune, maybe ne mas
been the driving force for establishing the nome
stead; always he has been the friend OF the 1amllv
which worked all week, and then on Sunday are"
the vehicle in which they rode to church. AS the
older members of the family, like him, grew to be
old and stiff and rheumatic, they kept out OF hard
work. lived on the accumulations Of the younger
wears, and took life easy But the old mule has no
such good luck. In his old age he is turned away
from the old home, given into the hands of cruel
master, worked and driven to the point OF death'
while all the time he suffers the pangs and torture
of hunger and il-attention. If there is anything
more heartless in the treatment of these faithful
old .aals, we do not know it. ''''"
Lately we have heard of another kind of cruelty
to animals 1t is stated to US by the men who oper
ate the great ocomitives our railroads that tres
passing stock is oftentimes struck, badly wounded,
but not killed. cow with broken leg may be
thus left on the track suffering all the tortures
which % with this kind of an injury, The section
man will not touch the cow kill it, to put it out
of misery for the reason that he is afraid the aol
ity of the road may be increased, while the owner
refuses to give the cow any hiHu VI o1'e'ioii '>
fear that it may interfere with his right to sue for
dl-a.syes-nether Of which positions has any foun-
tstion either in law or faet-but we are told that
this is true statement Of eases happening every
day. Surely the great railroad systems should not
allow an old cow~with broken leg to lie on the
side of the railroad, without water and without
food until she either starves to death, or dies OF
her injuries, but we are told that they do. And
surely the owner of faithful milk cow, or of the
meanest scrub in his pasture, should not allow ell
them so to suffer, and then be allowed to recover
damages. In the one case the railroads. and their
agents, should be punished in the criminal courts
for such acts and in the other the should be
punished and not allowed recovery
We repeat that hell is getting hot for some peo-
pie in just punishment for the way animals are
treated by them, and no right thinking person will
care to pour water on the fire.
highway RJJI JNTRODJJCED