The New York Herald Newspaper, October 25, 1872, Page 3

THE HORSE PLAGUE Progress of the Pestilence in the ‘t City and Suburbs, STAGES AND CARS STOPPED. Sixteen Thousand Faithful Steeds Sick and Suffering—The Di- lemma of the Draymen. “SHANK’S MARE THE BEST.” The Disease Not Dangerous, but Disheartening. THE TROTTING STOCK THREATENED. Old Hacks Troubled with a Hacking Cough. THE EPIDEMIC ELSEWHERE. ‘The horse disease has at last succeeded in more @r less affecting every horse belonging to the horse car railroads, stage lines, express companies and other freight and passenger lines in this city. Some of the horses certainly have only exhibited ‘the milder symptoms of the disease, but there are Bumbers in a dangerous state, with but little pros- ect of recovery. The livery and sale stables in ‘Twenty-fourth, Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth streets have also the larger portion of their stock suffering from the disease. There is a stable, however, in Twenty-fourth street that has only two horses sick out of 280, and again there are others with every horse sick. The veterinary surgeons attached to many o! the large car horse stables are now of the opinion ‘that the discase is DIPHTHERIA. Some, however, insist that it is bronchitis, and treat it accordingly. Nearly every doctor has his ©wn peculiar method of treating tue disease, and geconite, tar water, solution of tar, alcohol and belladonna are all administered. Applications of mustard and strong liniments are also made ex- ternally. The general complaint appears to be that the disease affects the appetite of the horses, and they consequently sink into a weak and debilitated Btate. Many, however, have overcome this difMi- culty by mixing some prepared COMPOUND FOOD with the regular mill feed and giving it in a mash. The horses appear to relish this food and, gaining strength, soon begin to recover their health, A well known veterinary surgeon states that the horse should be treated with as much care as a human being, and, beside being dosed with physic, should have rest and tasty, palatable diet. There is a@diversity of opinion as to whether rest is good for the horse or not, as some of the large horse owners insist that the horses afflicted with the dis- ease kept in . CONSTANT WORK are doing better than those resting in the hospital. ‘The proprietor of the Twenty-third street line of stages took eff all his stages yesterday, not caring to risk the lives of the horses by exposure to such ® damp and disagreeable day. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals should send that gentleman a medal, as atoken o! their apprecia- Ron of his care of the poor dumb brutes. ‘The valuable trotting stock in this city have also received their share of the disease. Dan Mace’s horses are nearly all affected. The celebrated double team, DARKNESS AND PLIMPTON, that trotted at Prospect Park the other day with Ethan Allen and George Wilkes, are being treated for the disease, and a valuable Ethan Allen colt, ‘worth $12,000, is also in the doctor's hands. A Val- mable Hambletonian mare, worth $10,000, in Wheeler & Wilson’s stable, is dangerously affected. Numbers of other well-known trotters, such as Stonewall Jackson, Kirkwood, Lady Wheeler, Jules Jurgensen and Captain Jinks are also aMicted inamild form. Up to the present the valuable trotters in the stables of Mr. Bonner and Commo- ore Vanderoilt have escaped from the contagion. Itis expected that the next twenty-four hours will see the crisis of the disease in many of the badly affected horses. Some horses in the Sixth avenue, Twenty-third street, Fifth avenue, Madison gvenue, Broadway and Seventh avenue and avenue C stables are not expected to live through the night. A number of cars were taken off yesterday, making about two hundred and fifty off duty in all the city lines. The stages yesterday were all run- ning pretty hard, with the exceptron of the Twenty- third street line. It is expected, however, that the Fifth avenue and Fourteenth street lines will have to take off a good many to-day if they wish to save their stock. The horse disease is now begnining to affect the public in other ways besides travel, as the horses belonging to Lord & Taylor, Arnold & Constable, Schutz & Walker, Park & Tilford and other well- known houses are all sick and will, probably, be incapable of work to-day. This will result in every- body becoming his own porter, and HOUSERKEEPERS May anticipate the pleasure of carrying home their purchases. ‘The hackmen still appear to be utterly regardless ofthe welfare of the animals entrusted to their care, and nine-tenths of the horses engaged actively in this business are affected with the disease. ‘The public would do well to show their disapproval of this unnatural barbarity by walking whenever possible, as, if the hackman found business was dull, the horses would probably be kept in their Btables and taken care of. Atarough estimate there appear to be about sixteen thousand horses sick in this city, with an equal number in Brooklyn, of which three per cent are in a dangerous condition. The Strect Railroads and Stage Com- panies. The havoc among those of the street horse fallroads and stage companies is really appalling, and increases with every hour, Superintendents Bnd “stable bosses” seem very anxious about the abatement of the northeasterly wind, to which, with the miasmi of the atmosphere, they give credit for the sudden appearance of this distemper. Al- ready lung fever has begun to set in, and if the wind does not change and if the atmosphere does fot get dry within the next forty-eight hours it is expected that there will be many hundreds of cases that will result fatally by Sunday night next, Once the deaths begin trafic will from that mo- ment be doomed, and we will have to return to the Mashion of our ancestors, who employed Sedan ebairs in local travel. The Twenty-third street Mime has ceased to run stages entirely, while the Eighth Avenue Railroad Company will not take off any Cars until their horses commence to drop down tn the street. It is no use going to the horse mar- ket to buy other horses, the superintendents say, for the reason that all the horses there for sale are coughy, and every horse that comes into town by ail ia ao affected. FIFTH AVENUE STAGE COMPANY. ‘This stage line, which has a monopoly of the aris- tocratic passengers of the uptown districts, is in a bad way about its horses. Out of 460 horses be- longing to the line there are 225 sick to a greater or lesser degree. Neariy every horse is coughing badly, many are perspiring from weakness and the majority will Dot be ft to work by the next three | about sixteen hundred horses that are supposed NEW YORK. HERALD, FRIDAY, OCTOBER. 25, 1872.—TRIPLE SHEET Gaye. The horses are kept well blanketed, and are rubbed with tiniment mustard on the chest, Belly and hips. Six of the horses are in a danger- ous condition, and some of the horses and stages have been taken off the line. Mr. Andrews is tak- img as good care of the animals ashe can. These stables are not very well ventilated, and the air te fetid im the extreme. Glanders will result here if the stable is not better ventilated. SIXTH AVENUE RAILROAD COMPANY, The HenaLp reporter saw Mr. Bidgood, who in- formed him that ‘he was sorry to say that he saw no improvement in the health of the horses on the lines bejonging to the Sixtb Avenue Company.” There were at four o’olock last evening on this line twenty-two horses in a very dangerous state, and eighty horses had been taken off during the day by Mr. Bidgood as a reserve in case of future devastation. Ten cars were taken off the line on Tuesday and twelve yesterday, and in all 128 horses, and so much is lost to the accommodation to the public who are compelled to travel on this par- ticular line. The company expect to be erippicd on the Canal street branch of the line first, as that branch does not pay and is only served for the accommodation of the public. It was twelve of the four trip cars that were taken off this road esterday. Two tripsaday make a dav’s work for two horses. Out of 850 horses on this road about six hundred and fifty are sick, WENTY-THIRD STREET STAGES, This line has @ sad story to tell. It had to stop ronning , 28 the entire number of horses (475) ‘are sick. ‘The stable bogs, Mr. Gaynor, was horrified on getting out of his downy couch to find that all hig horses were sick and unfit to work. ‘Two stages were kept running during three hours of the forenoon, and then the horses became #0 cold and il that they had to be taken off the line; and so for the present the Sy euerura street line has followed the line of Kipp & Brown into a dim Past, and until better times dawn they will no More be seen to round the corner of Fourteenth street and Broadway. RIGHTH AVENUE RAILROAD LINE. Mr. Wilson, Superintendent of this line, is rather disheartened at the prospect before the Eighth Avenue Rauroad Company. Twenty-five horses were taken off taper 8 and nearly all of these are troubled with lung fever and do not get much rest during the hours that they have ceased work. Mr. Wilson gives them belladonna night and morn- ing, and sweet spirits of nitre is also aaministered to them at the same periods, Besides this they re- ceive potash, are blistered and take pills for lung fever. Of the 1,100 horses on this route 750 are quite sick, but are all being worked excepting about forty, wno are totally unfit for work. NINTH AVENUE LINE. Mr. Wallace, of this line, has a very well ordered and clean stable, and its ventilation is excellent. Carbolic acid and chloride of lime are scattered in all the places where those disinfectants are needed, and the horses are doing as well as can be expected. And yet the disease is spreading, and Mr. Wallace declares that there was not a well horse in his stable yesterday. There are eighteen cars now running on the Ninth avenue line and there were twenty running on Monday, two having been taker off since then. Mr. Wallace is afraid of the northeasterly winds and the damp atmosphere, which, he says, are increasing this fearful distemper to its present magnitude. Mr. Wallace still sticks to his private homeopathy, and though 350 out of 407 horses belonging to this line are sick, yet they are not go seriously sick as the horses on the ot! lines, Owing to the care taken 4 Lora by Mr. Wallace and his helpers in the stable. THE BELT LINE OF CARS. This which has 990 horses, is in a dreadful condition. t hundred and fifty horses are sick, and the whole stable resounds with a congh- ing chorus that is most pitiable to listen to, as the Is tear at their lungs iranticaliy and with the rreatest straining on their system, Mr. Root, the Superintendent, is doing everything that man can do to save the valuable but unless some favorable change occurs during the next twenty-four hours all will be in vain. Mr. Root has not been able to go to bed in three nights owing to ‘the sudden press of work that has been laced on his shoulders. Of the 856 sick horses longing to ‘this company many are not seriously in danger, but the majority will have to be watched carefully dui the next forty-eight hours or terrible decimation will be the result. THE BLEECKER STREET LINE. The miserable, bony steeds who vegetate on this line have made up their minds to strike against living any longer, as their existence has been wo wretched for years past, and now, it seems, they will be only too glad to resign tieir lives to the hippozymosis which threatens them. Neariy four hundred horses on this line, or one-third of the en- tire number, are very sick and are quite feeble in their lungs. This line work their horses very hard, and the horses are lean and poor stock, just like the men who drive them. Every time a horse gets | chilled on the Bleecker street line a driver, it seems, gets chilied also. THE BROADWAY LINES, Nine hundred of the thousand horses on the Broadway, Broome street, pe iey street and Sev- enth avenue lines are quite il!. The stable yard of these lines, which are all ypited together, looks like @ large hospital fan w ended. At the end of a passage Mr. Leadbeater, the Superintendent, stood with a bottie of aconite in one hand anda big table- Spoon in the other, with which he administered a dark thick substance known as aconite to each horse by the mouth. On the other side was a helper witha large pot of mustard, and each horse was rubbed with this substance on the chest and belly, The medicine was administered to each horse as it went on 4 trip and when it came back from its toil- some journey. SECOND AVENUE LINE. In the stables of this line there isa slight im- ovement since yesterday. The horses are leeding etter, and are consequently stronger. About eighty of them are off work, suffering from the disease in a miid form, but about ten others are seriousiy sick. The medicine used is a mixture of aconite and belladonna, which has been found to work well. This stable has escaped wonderfully if, as the superintendent reports, only one hundred out of its thousand horses e been stricken. THIRD AVENUE LINE. It was rumored yesterday morning that in the stable of this line several horses had perished from the epidemic. The rumor created considerabie | uneasiness on some of the other lines, as no death had so far occurred in any of the city railroad sta- bles, Veterinary Surgeon Broomer and Superin- tendent Mariam, both attached to the stable | department of the Third avenue line, assured a HeRaLp reporter that the ramor had no truth in it, and probably arose from the fact that three horses had died from ordinary causes, but not one from the epidemic in any ot its forms. The condition of the stable, all things con- sidered, is said to be nothing worse than it was on Tuesday. About three hundred horses are lying idle, suffering from the cough, but only five are considered to be dangerously sick. This leaves roperty of the company, to be fit for work. There can be no doubt but that three-fourths of these are suffering slightly from the disease. It has often happened during the past two days that the animals have completely broken down on the road, and it has been even a surprise that they were able to drag the car to the depot, so exhausted was their condition when they reached tne hospital. Atthe depot a number of teams were kept all day yesterday, ready to take the place of the exhausted ones arriving. The total number of trips was yesterday reduced by | forty, and probably to-day some twelve cars will have been taken off the road. It is the | intention of the company to run as full a number | of cars as possible, believing, as one of the officers of the road said yesterday, that the 75,000 daily patrons of the road had undoubted rights that ac- commodation should be afforded them. The treat- ment practiced in the hospitals is the homeepathic. | The medicine is @ mixture Of aconite, rhastox, | spongia and colelia. No outside application is used, as it is believed that such would only coun- teract the internal remedies. Dr. Broomer’s idea of | the plague is that it is dipiitheria, which, if allowed | to run too long, becomes a double pneumonia, He says he thinks he bas the disease now thoroughly under his control from his observation of its work- ing. : FOURTH AVENUE LINE. On this line nine cars were taken off yesterday, the total number now off being filteen, About one hundred and thirty horses are totally unfit for work, and of these thirty are very bad cases. A number of the horses broke down at work yester- day, and the drivers said that all efforts in whip- ping them were not able to make them move faster than a walk. The places of the exhausted aninials were of course supplied by teams waiting at the depot, which were themselves not more than fit for work. It has been noticed that nearly all the horses in the stable suffer, more or less, from the distemper, and this is most apparent in the weak- ness exhibited by them at work. They seem to be all fatigued, and complete exhaustion is beginning tobe more plainly manifested. Dr. Jackson, the surgeon of this stable, stated yesterday that he thinks the disease is not now so Violent as it has been, and the coughing is not so general. He ascribes this to a better ventila- tion, with continued rest for the distem- | pered horses. The ordinary medicine is | mixture of tar, belladonna and alcohol; but for the worst cases a pill of suscatamonia is given. The diet is bran, scalded oats or some such light feed, The surgeon thinks the disease ts bronchitis, be- cause it is confined to the bronchial tubes ana throat, or it at last reaches the lungs. No horse in this stable has as yet been cured so as to be able to work. In Dr. Jackson's opinion the disease wiil last about two weeks. He did not think that yes- terday's weather would do any harm, as it some- times happened that such weather only purified the air. Te describing the malady he said:—‘It is catarrhal inflammation of all the mucus mem- branes of the head and throat, with a discharge from the nose, loss of big and cough. it does not prove fatal or kill the horse unless the hosse ts worked too hard after the disease makes its ap- pearance. The proper name is cynovela (zyaryn- giebis). 1 have 100 cases under my charge and they are convalescent.” AVENUE C LINE. In the stable belonging to this line the entire number of 350 horses are coughing. There were sixteen very bad cases in the hospital yesterday. Aconite or a ball of tar is the medicine given inter- nally; mustard 1s used on the throat and lungs. The diet is bran and warm mashes. The full number of cars were run yesterday morning and evening, but during the afternoon fourteen cars were taken off, 80 that the lores sieht eta rest. A fact noticed / im the hospital here is that, while some horses, siek todered far ess then “aid those S work suffered far less than those CJ = laboring from the disease in incipient Two cars were take en oft this road yesterda D v poy S The stable is in a tolerably good condi- tion, twenty horses out of 486 diseased, and three cases being serious. is here ap; to the throats of all the sick and bel na administered internally, mixture of powder and motasses. POURTRENTH STREET AND BROADWAY STAGES. was Teportedjenendag. Bix trips, instead of . SIX eight, were and will be made to- fay, in case the stable is not iu a worse condition, About one hundred horses are coughing, and twelve others are evidently diseased in the lungs. Twenty-one out of 220 horses are considered unfit for work. FOURTH AVENUE STAGES, The same treatment js contigued here as was stated yesterday—a mixture of tar, alcohol and nitre internally, with a strong liniment for the throat and lungs. Two more si were taken off yesterday, woking seven in all. ‘There is not in the wnole number of 330 horses in the stable & single sound one. Relief 18 given to animals com- pietely exhausted by putting in their places others that are still sick, but which have had a little rest. MADISON AVENUE STAGES. There are now seventeen stages off this line. with a About one hundred and fifty horses are standing idle, The Medicine given 18 belladonna Simply. with a stro liniment for external use. Every horse in the stable 1 still ); Suffering more or Dut all were eating better yesterday than hey Nas been since Monday. The roprietors are still anxious, as they are maki Satie to keep the stadee on tuo'reuss. im, The Express Companies. The disease continues te spread among the horses of the various express and tranapertation companies, notwithstanding that in al) the ut- most care has been given them and the best known disinfectants employed. Some of the com- panies have placed nearly all their animals in hos- pital and empioy tracks to carry on their business. THE ADAMS EXPRESS COMPANY, This company reports the increase of the disease. While ail their horses were more or less afflicted on Wednesday some, it was expected, would not be compelled to go into “horse quarantine.” The The disease on Wednesday and yesterday morning had assumed a more developed type, and every animal is more or less afflicted. Those under Mr. Marsh’s treatment, he reports, are mmproving slowly. He blisters their throats with strong Spanish fly in a liquid form, and feeds them on salt and tart apples, for which they manifest a decided preference, The acidity ofthe latter seems to have @ very benefigial effect upon the poor dumb brutes. About three-fourths of them have the disease in a Malignant form, and the others have the first symptoms. Out of the ninety teams employed usually the company have run but forty Aik peal While the reporter was at the stable General Jesus del Sol, of the Cuban army, api lied for a contract to cure the inmates of the stable. He reports that the disease is quite common in Cuba during the Winter months, is known as “muermo,” and guarantees to cure the most aggravated case in twenty-four hours, THE NATIONAL EXPRESS COMPANY. This company have about fifty horses, all of which are sick. Some few are passing through the first stages of the disorder, and are kept at work. They usually employ twenty teams, but have been com- pelled to haul off all but three. No fatal cases have occurred, and as great care is given them no deaths are anticipated. WELLS, FARGO & CO.’S EXPRESS. | This compdny employ but two horses in money delivery; but they are in hospital, and they employ other means of delivery. THE EUROPEAN EXPRESS COMPANY. The only horse owned by this company has been forced to succumb to the disease. THE AMERICAN-EUROPEAN EXPRESS COMPANY. Five horses for light wagons and eight for heavy Work are employed, and every one of them has the disorder and been laid a? to rest under medical treatment and the work let out. THE UNITED STATES EXPRESS COMPANY. This company usually runs forty double and twenty single teams. The disease continues to spread; but, while Peal eighty are more or less affected by coughs or running at the nose, they work about half of them. They are giving them ali the rest | they can, and for this parpoue have employed a | number of drays an light wagons to | carry on their business. They apprehend no no interruption to business in consequence of the plague. Mr. Thayer, of their company, reports that Many of the horses in their Jersey City stables | that were taken sick on Monday were yesterday | in eating their food and exhibiting gratitying | signs of early convalesence. They expect to have a | number, discharged from hospital to-day. Mustard poltices on the throat and aconite internally is the | treatment given them. AMEBICAN MERCHANTS’ UNION EXPRESS COMPANY. Mr. Clark, of this company, reports gratifying re- sults from the treatment given their horses by the superintendent, Mr. Hewitt, who is a strong be- liever in homceopathy. He has followed that treat- ment throughout with one single exception, and the result is that while all the animals were attacked | by the disorder, yesterday only six were very ill. The others who were taken on Monday and Tues- day are so far convalescent that had yesterday been a fine day two-thirds of them would have been returned to harness, Yesterday only about ten per cent were retained in hospital. The only fatal case was that of @ $1,000 horse first taken. An allopathic veterinary surgeon was called, and fifteen minutes after he had administered the alio- pathic dose the animal became paralyzed and had to be killed to put him out of pain. Suffice it to say, Superintendent Hewitt made no more allo- pathic experiments and hopes to save every animal. The company have 150 horses, all of whom have had the disease in some form. Livery and Sale Stables. At the Manhattan stables, 86, 88 and 90 East | Broadway, there are fifty-seven horses. The case of one only is serious, though three have persist- ently refused to eat. The others show no signs of disease. Several horse owners at the stables re- ported horses well on the day previous, but unfit for use yesterday, One stableman remarked that the disease was likely to spread to the cows, and | through the infection in their milk to spread among | human beings. E, H. Heard, a veterinary surgegn late in the employ of the Hartford Live Stock In- surance Company, was found at this stable. He re- ported forty-six horses on his list for the day and | twenty-four for the day previous. He thought none ot these cases would prove fatal. A stable with twenty horses in Roosevelt street had not a well horse in the stalls, | Collins’ stable, No. 45 Hamilton street, contains sixty horses, thirty of them infected with the con- re The old Astor Stable, in Park street, has about thirty horses, all on the sick hst. The East Broadway Stable (Whitebread’s) has fifty horses. Allofthem are so sick as to be unfit for use. The first symptoms of the disease were | observed on Tuesday evening, and the contag rapidly spread among them. No cages are ex- pected to prove fatal in this stable. At the stable 125 Norfolk street there are forty horses. The disease first appeared in this stable Wednesday morning, and in twenty-foar hours half the hor: had been attacked, Non the horses are allowed to go out, with the ex employed in newspaper delivery. Clark's stable, Third street, doing little business. Six horses—hali those in the stable—sick, The condition of those noticed yesterday seems to be improved. A horse, quite well yesterday, was driven out for haif an hour toa light wagon, and on returning Was found to be in avery bad state. He was well cared for during the night and is now recovering rapidly. At Henderson’s stable, in Ninth street,’ but two of the eighteen horses kept there are able to work. ‘The disease appeared there first on Tuesday. There are sixteen horses at Davis’ stable, 138 East Twelfth street, and four at his stable No. 63 in the same street. Of the whole number three- fourths are sick. The disease was first observed unday, and the horses were given warm and tar water. The jatter seems to have n very effectval remedy, as the horses are now all able to do moderate work. At the Havana stabies, 204 East Twenty-fourth | eption of one street, there are twenty horses, all sick. Some of them were attacked by the disease last week. A jew were free irom it till Sunday last. Some ha been compelled to work, and they are in a better condition than those they have tried to nurse. At Straus’ sale stables, next door to the Havana stables, there are ity-six horses, ali suffering from the disease. At Dolman’s stable, 209 and 211 East Twenty. | fourth street, there are 260 horses, only two of which have the distemper. The proprietor states he has never had so few sick horses. Post & Nichols’ National Sale Stables are in Twenty-fourth street, just west of Third avenue. They contain 136 horses. All of them cough fear- fully, but none have yet refused to eat. They feed only hay. The distemper first appeared there on Monday last. At the Filty-third street livery stable there are about two hundred horses, aii sick. None of them have been used for the last three days, The disease first appeared among them on Monday last, and no cases, it is believed, will prove fatal. No grain is fed, but warm mashes and tar water are freely used. At Pepard’s stable, in Mercer street, between Amity and Fourth, there are thirty-five horses. Only five of these are considered fit for work, though but twenty are on the list of those aMicted with the distemper. The treatment in this stable includes feeding warm mashes and the adminis- tration of tar water, and adds the burning of sul- phur in the stalls. At Canary & Norton's stable, in Mercer street, there are seventy-seven horses, all afMictedswith distemper. About forty are worked, and they are all mete ree finely. At the Wheeler & Wilson Sewn Machine Com- pany's stable in Mercer strect there are about wenty horses. All ofthem are amicted with the disease prevalent. One of three horses reported in @ dangerous condition is worth, it is said, over | asked one hundred times. y are also poulticed with mustard from ear. They are recovering rapidly. le all the horses, twenty-five in by, under treatment. y Ys stable fifty horses out of sixty, the entire number, are unfit for use. Brown’s stable contains seventy horses, none of can be driven. Mfty horses in MecNichol’s stable but ten are health, Mutray’s stable has so far escaped the epidemic, with loss of the use of but sixteen horses out of their entire number of forty-two. ‘The Draymen’s Dilemma. ‘The draymen of this city are doubtless the keen- est sufferers by this calamity, which has deprived the public of the services for the time being of so many thousand beasts of burden. They are mostly in very moderate circumstances, and depend for their daily bread upon the earnings obtained by meansof their carts or trucks and their horses. When the latter are disabled their source of sup- port ceascs and their fortune is jeopardized. The great firms of merchants cannot wait the ship- ment of their goods, but must employ others if they can to transport them to the railroads and and-thus, while attcntion to the diseased animals ts eireyny their pooxeta, ERO CARCRLER 256 a et their ex, tures, much distress aight be the result. ue: In this present case, however, the calamity is so widespread and 80 serious that very few master »have horses fit for iabor, and those which have are not more than equal to the perform- 4nce Of their own business, so that they gan noth- ing pecuniarily by their neighbors’ nes. Yesterday few of the large commercial houses were there down town that were not embarrassed is at no way of sending off the goods which they sold to country customers. Tne old- fashioned, crooked and busy streets, therefore, were quieter than for many years, and trade was by no means brisk. The stables occupied by the horses of these dray- men are almost all infected more or less with the malaria of the epihippic and scarcely any horse of this class can be found that is not hors de combat, without intending ney pun, About six thousand Of these beasts are sick Out of the 8,000 in the city. The treatment which they receive is the very best, and almost all of those well cared for are already corre from the worst symptoms of the dis- order, Reeapitulation, No. of No. of Horses Car and stage lines .. Exprees companies Draymen.......... Livery and sales stables. In Brooklyn..... In Jersey City Elsew! Total... 27,084 The Board of Health on the Disease. At a meeting of the Board of Health, held yester- day afternoon, a report was received trom the Sani- tary Committee upon the present epidemic amoug horses, Doctors Cecarini and Stephen Smith have made a thorough examination of the disease at all points of the city, and they report that it is epi- demic, not contagious and not necessarily fatal. | They consider it a mild Pept IT or influenza, and the course of it appears to be a general drooping of the animal, accom- anied by a cough and fever, with a slight ischarge from the nostrils, on the first day; on the | second an aggravation of the symptoms is observed ; on the third the climax arrives; on the fourth an improvement takes place and on the fifth the animal is convalescent. The lungs are not hurt and the air passages alone are influenced, The treatment in vogue and apparently the most effective is mus- tard plasters over the throat and chest, or an ap- plication of hartshorn to those parts; internal remedies—such as aconite and nitre—are used by some Of the owners of horses, but these latter do not Cn od to produce any strong effect. All that is really necessary is warmth and care together with close attention to the bedding of the animals. Nothing should be done in the stables that would irritate the glands of the throat and increase the cough. The physicians also stated to the Board that although all the horses employed | at the rendering dock were suffering from the dis- ease no death had yet occurred, nor had any carcasses of horses that had died trom the disease yet been brought there. The Board will enforce strict sanitary Measures for the government of all stables, and, if the epidemic does not considerably decrease to-day, Quarantine reguiations will be in- troduced to the worst localities, IN BROOKLYN. The poor horse never attracted so much attention and observation in Brooklyn as at the present time. The carriage horse, the cart horse, the car horse, and in fact every horse, no matter to what he is attached, underwent more or less scrutiny by the citizens, for everybody seems to be in- terested in his tate. If the head of the animal hung down and his ears DO NOT POINT SKYWARD, and if he looks as if he has been overworked, it is certain evidence that if he does not have the distemper he is going to have it. If he coughs it is a sure indication that owner is immediately advised to lay him up and doctor him. If the owner of every horse was asked once how his horse was yesterday, he was If the horse had the dis- temper a hundred remedies were suggested, and if the horse had any CHANCE OF SURVIVING THE DISEASE the remedies were quite suficient to put an end to him. But his case was the all-absorbing topic. The candidate for office, instead of being asked what his chances for election were, was asked yes- terday how his horse was, and if he didn’t have any horse, What he thought or the disease which Was now prevailing, and what effect it would have upon business. All horsemen were, of course, greatly alarmed, | and watched their horses closely for the appear- ance of the distemper. INCO! ENCE TO CITIZENS. In many cases yesterday the bakers and the milk- men were compelied to disappoint their customers, their horses having been taken with the distemper, and they being unable to hire others. So even those | who did not own horses nor were not compelled to patronize THE RAILROAD COMPANTES were subject to an inconvenience by the appearance of this disease among the horses, One of the conductors on a Greenpoint car, to which a team of horses were attaclied which were coughing, said to a passenger, “I believe I have also got the disease, for | have been coughing ever since yesterday and my throat seems terribly choked up. Nearly all of our horses have the dis- temper. | think we have lost several of them. | We have about thirty at the Greenpoit stables that are unfit to nse, On THE FULTON AVENUE LINE the number under the care of the doctor is much Nearly all the horses on that line have the niper, but they still continue to drive them. keep them going as long as they eat. they refase their food, tuen they are ullowed to re- main in the stable.” THE BROOKLYN CITY RAILROAD COMPANY. Mr. Sullivan, the President of the Brooklyn City Railroad, stated yesterday that he thought the con- dition of the horses was improving. “I may say,” he remarked, “that we are better off this morning than we expected. We have a every trip, but some of the horses which were = attacked first are now getting around again and we are able to use them. We have from one thousand nine hundred to two thousand horses, and more than half of these have been attacke There are now 200 not able to work. The consequence is we have been unable to run the cars on the old time table. On the Gates avenue we have taken eighteen trips off, and so on | in proportion according to the extent of the dis- ease in the different stables.” THE CONRY ISLAND LINE. The Jay and Smith street cars, running to Prospect Park and Coney Isiand, made their usual | number of trips yesterday, but the disease was worse among the horses than it was the day previous, THE DE KALB AVENUE LINE. Nearly all the cars were running yesterday on the De Kalb avenae line, yet about half the horses were amicted with the disease, PARK AND VANDERBILT AVENUR LIN About sixty horses on the Park and Vanderbilt avenue line have been attack with the distemper, bas trips of the cars have been interfered wit THE PIPTH AVENUE LINE. The horses on the Fifth avenue line have been | remarkably free from the disease and the trips have been made on time. THE CROSS-TOWN LINE. The distemper among the horses on the cross- town line has not as yet put the company to any serious inconvenience. Most of the horses, how- ever, have the » but they will, it‘is thought, soon be over it. TAB FIRE DEPARTMENT. Only afew of the horses belonging to the Fire Department have been attacked with the disease. Should any become too ill to drive arrangements have been made by the Fire Commissioners to fill their places. THE KNICKERBOCKER ICR COMPANY have been forced to keep about eighty out of 100 horses in their stables, But two ice carts were sent out yesterday morning—the remainder lying idle in the company’s yards, The best of care has been aud ie being taken of the suffering animals, | he has it and his When | few cases | and it ts expected that asa consequence they will be able to resume their usual to-morrow. The horses of the Union White Lead. Manufacturing = ate tenn gene with — Lenaayane pany’s horses tn the city. agi eees THE WASHINGTON ICE COMPANY. Nearly ali the horses owned by this company have the distemper. It appeared among them late on Wednesday night, and. rine stable ian stated that they all in coughing about the same time. Only three or four’ of the carts of the company were taken out, THE DISEASE AND THE TROTTING HORSES. There is a prospect that this disease among the horses will seriously interfere with the engage- ments of turfmen and trotting horses, Already it has deferred one great trot—the contest which Was to take place to-morrow on the ’roxpect Park Fair Grounds for the purse of $1,000 offered for all horses that have not beaten 2:25. The tollow- ing notice, postponing the trot, was issued yester- Prospect Park Fair Ground Association.—In conse- quence of the teartul disease among horses this Associa- ton has decided to withdraw ee. offered for next Saturday. GEO. W, OAKLEY, Superintendent. WILLIAMSBURG STABLES. The epidemic first appeared in Williamsburg on Wednesday forenoon, 80 far as known, and was first noticed on the ferryboats returning 1rom New York. During the afternoon of that day, and up to eight o'clock in the evening, some filty cases were reported, the majority of them in private stables, Since that time, and up to eight o’clock last night, all the railroad stables, the livery stables and pri- vate stables have been turned into hospitals. At the Grand Street and Newtown Railroad Com- Pany’s stables, in Meeker avenue, 136 horses are af- Mloted, but only four are unfit for duty. At the stables of the North Second. Street and Middle Viliage Railroad, situated in Metropolitan avenue, there are only four cases of sickness re- ported among aimety-four horses. A few cases are reported among the sixty-seven horses stabled by the Montrose Avenue and John- son Street Railroad Company on the Bushwick Boulevard, The South Fonrth Street Railroad Company re- port that of their 130 horses not over a dozen are unfit to work. In the stables of the Cross-Town Railroad, Union avenue, Greenpoint, 180 horses are affected, but only six are unfit for service, While there was no suspension of travel on any of the above-mentioned roads yesterday, the superintendents feur that there will be to-day or to-morrow. The livery stable keepers only became alarmed yesterday, and it is dinicult to obtain a horse from them at any price for any purpose, Many mercantile and manutacturing firms are unable to fill their orders on account of the condi- tion of their horses, and several of them propose, rather than suspend business, to use hand carts, The Anderson Brothers, flour merchants, whose horses are all affected, will deliver by hand carts to-day, and several other firms are preparing to follow suit, ‘carcely a horse crosses the ferries that docs not exhibit symptoms of the dreadful epidemic. . IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY. -——_—_—_ The dreaded horse disease, which is at present. causing so much anxiety and inconvenience in New York and other cities, has at length made its appearance in the lower portion of Westchester county. In the stables of the Harlem Bridge, Morrisania and Fordham Railway Company, which contain about one hundred and twenty-five horses, | eight of the animals commenced coughing yester- day morning. Anticipating the bars of the prevailing affection, however, the foreman, Mr. Littell, had adopted the — precaution of procuring a supply of such remedies as might be most successful in combating the disease. These principally consist of. tar, bel- ladonna and alcohol, which, when combined, are used as a gargle. Under this treatment the affected | horses seemed to improve, and showed no disp tion to reject their food up to yesterday afternoon, In addition to the above the only other case re- | ported was that of a horse at Henry Zeltner’s brewery, which was attacked with all the prevalent ee beers of the disease on Wednesday evening, the discharge from the nostrils appearing yeste! | day morning. The treatment above indicated was also resorted to in this case, and is said to have had a beneficial etfect. IN NEW JERSEY. In Jersey City. Many of the stable owners yesterday discovered that a large percentage of their beasts had fallen victims to the contagion. Messrs. Fuller, Matthie- | sen & Wiecher, Gautier, Dodge and others were among the first gentlemen who discovered the out- break of the disease. Upwards of one hundred and fifty horses have been attended by veterinary surgeons in all parts of the city. So far no fatal cases are reported, In Hoboken the “epizootic” continued to spread its poison through the various stables yesterday. Precau- tions were taken on an extensive scale, but with- out any apparent effect. Mr. B. N. Crane's stable contained pears ad affected horses, Mr. West- cott had thirty-eight stricken, Jacob Schmidt found ten sick, Mr. Mallon three, and several persons owning one or two beasts report their quadrupeds suffering. The best judges in Hoboken seem to think that a purgative and @ good rest constitute an effectual remedy. In Paterson. ‘The horse disease has not yet reachea Paterson, but some of the express companies are disabled by the prostration of the horses in their New York stables, In Newark. As there is a very extensive traffic between Newark and New York, hundreds of teams going | daily from one place to another, it is a matter to be expected that the horse disease would find its way into the equintal quarters of the first-named city. On Wednesaay a few cases were reported, but none of a serious nature, Yesterday @ tour among the stable men and others having numbers | of horses revealed the fact that the “epizootic” is | spreading and with alarming haste. Those of the mauufacturers who suffer most are the brew- ers, of which there are many in Newark, some carrying on @ very extensive trade. Schalk Brothers, the leading brewers of Newark, | have several horses suffering. Lester Brothers, | bone pulverizers, have twelve horses and a num- ber of mules suifering. It is noted as a curious fact that the mules seem to suffer most. Wacken- ruth, Adams & Co., brewers, corner of Chatham and Orange streets; the Newark Brewing Com- | pany and other brewers are said to have many sick | horses on their hands. In Niagara street a dealer | in produce has two fine animals very sick. Erb, the livery stable keeper, in William street, has several that cough severely, but he thinks they are | only sufferiag irom colds. Wednesday atternoon Mr. Kiernan, of Elizabeth, had four valuable horses stricken down, and that night a gentleman, { of Newark, attended to them, doctoring them for a | | lung disease, und now they are reported improving. The Newark horse car companies state that their | beasts have as yet shown no symptums of being | infected, js m In Elizabeth | the disease is beginning to show itself. On Tues- | day night Dr. Green bad two horses taken with it, and Mr. J. C. Van Fleet has two or three that ex- | hibit the first symptoms. Kernan & Clark's stables had @ case, it was immediately removed. The | stables of the horse railway company were free from disease yesterday, but how long they wiil re- main so is yet to be seen. Mr. H. H. Piexotto has a horse sick with the disease, and Dr. Bailey's horse | is reported to have been taken with it. ' ON STATEN ISLAND. ——_—_.____ | Staten Island, despite the salubrious sea- breezes, has not escaped from the horse epidemic. | ‘The disease has not as yet assumed a very virulent | form, but its mere presence is suMcient to create | alarm in the minds of those fortunate enough to | possess equine favorites. The horses belonging to | the brewers are almost every one suffering trom | laryngitis and indeed very many of them are utterly unfit for work. A HERALD reporter yester- day visited Staten Island and upon landing at Clifton proceeded at once to Scott's livery stable, | near the ferry house. The proprietor was courte- ous in the extreme and volunteered to. assist the writer in collecting information. Mr. Scott has now two horses suffering from the epizootic fever, but he does not fear any evil consequences will result from their malady. His method of treatment, he said, is a simple one—not a properly ventilated box and not to allow them to do even the easiest work until they were en- tirely recovered. A few days ago one of his fast trotters was taken sick and coughed violently. In 4 paroxsym it vomited about a quart of mucus, and in a few hours was quite weil again. Mr. Scott was of opinion that there was but littie danger of the disease say jatal if persons were careful not to use their animals directly they became con- valescent, as, having been of their teed, they would necessarily be weak, and to work them in that condition would be perilous. At the depot of the horse cars there is only one animal out of a stud of thirty-tive that t# coughing, id the urbane superintendent seemed much re- joiced that the disease had not been acquired by the others, ' Mr. Jacob Vanderbilt's horses. are all well, and, indeed, most of the steeds owned by private gen- tlemen have as yet escaped the disorder. In Tot- tenville, New Brighton, Factoryville and all the Villages the disease is rapidly acquiring headway, especially among horses possessed by venders of produce, &c., and carriers. On the farms and homesteads in the country the aren does not prevail to any great extent, and those whose teaius are aMicted with it, not comprehending what is really the matter, treat simply for @ cold—perhaps the best course they could pursue. A veterinary to dose the patients, to keep them well clothed in | 3 practising on the fsland informed the re- r that to bleed a horse suffering from the mal- ady was a mistake that would, in nine cases out of ten, prove fatal, as It would only tend to further weaken the pattent. He thought it good treatment to keep hot mashes constantly under the horse's nose, as the steam arising therefrom woul relieve the cold; to keep perfectly clean and deodorize the stable, and not to “hitch up” directly the disease began to evanesce, THE DISEASE THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY. The Disease Previnal Matat and More Virulent Rochester. Rocnester, N. Y., Oct, 24, 1872 There was a heavy frost last night, but the ree ports this morning show that the horse disease haa taken on a severer form tian ever, Last evening there were no horses to be seen in the streets, The store keepers are delivering goods to their city ens tomers by means of hand carts, The police ordi- nance prohibiting the trundling of carts on the side+ walks have been suspended, Persons who have con- tracts for building houses have ended work to a great extent and discharged laborers, It ia now evident that the anunals took the disease from twelve to thirty days fore it was discovered. A few fatal cases are ported this, morning and the disease has appeared among the canal horses here and aiong the line of the canal. ‘The suspension of the street cars is a great incon- venience, There is great diticulty in procuring conveyances for tuucrais. Horses ‘Recovering Rapidly in Buffalo. BUFFALO, N. Y., Oc The Worse disease has passed its crisis here and is now abating. But few horses have died, and these more from bard usage tian from the effects of the disease, ‘The canal horses here have almost entirely escaped, No boats have stopped and none Will be, Grain is moving in large quantities as usual, The treatment of the disease here has beem very successiul. Three Fatal Cases at Newburg. Newpurg, N. Y., Oct. 24, 1872. The horse disease has made its appearance if this vicinity and three deaths have occurred, A Great Scare Occasioned in Boston, Boston, Oct, 24, 1872 Out of nearly twelve thousand horses in this city at least eight thousand are sufering from the horse distemper. The omnibuses have ceased to run and few horse cars are on the streets, To-day the city has presented the appearance of a deserted village. Should a storm occur, as now seems probable, not one horse will be seen out of doors, for the railroad companies have declared their intention to imme- diately house all their stock so soon as the weather becomes inclement. Eight yoke of oxen were put to work to-day at the business of conveying goods from leading business firms on Franklin street and vicinity to the depots, One noticeable feature of the disease is the insidious nature of its approach. Yesterday not a single case was reported among the 656 horses in the Union Horse Railroad Stables, and to-night there are 542 animals ick. A mixture of tar and salt ts being used here as a remedy, it 1s Said with good effect. The Epidemic in Connecticut. STAMFORD, Conn., Oct. 24, 1872. There have been five very bad cases of the horse distemper at the Stamford Horse Infirmary. Its Appearance in Rhode Island. PROVIDENCE, R. I., Oct. 24, 1872, The horse epidemic has appeared in this city. New Hampshire Stables Visited. KEENE, N. H., Oct. 24, 1872. The prevalent horse epidemic appeared here two or three days ago, and it 1s estimated that a hun~ dred or more horses are now affected in this town, There are fourteen horses sick in one livery stable. Sudden Appearance of the Distemper im Augusta. Avousta, Me., Oct. 24, 1872, ‘The Canadian horse disease has reached this city. Many horses are afiicted with it, but there have been no fatalities as yet. The Epizootic Not Yet Seen in Chicago. CHICAGO, Ill, Oct. 24, 1872. The report that the horse epidemic has broken out in the stables of the West Side Omnibus Com~ pany is pronounced without foundation, OPINIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. General Roberts, United States Army, to Mr. Bonner. SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Oct. 23, 1872, Mr. BoNNER:— DEAR StR—In the Spring of 1868 a disease broke out among my cavalry horses at Fort Sumner, New. Mexico, that appears to me identical with that now raging among horses in our cities, and in @ very few days became an epidemic. At first ic defied all treatment, and the great ma jority of horses attacked by it died. On examining the throats of the dead horses I found the lining membrane of the larynx highly inflamed and thick ened and a thick mucus pus filling it, causing suf! focation. 1 ordered all horses on the first appear- ance of the disease to be thoroughly rubbed be- jower jaws and along the larynx down ith spirits of turpentine, causing a very severe external irritation and blister. Isaved every horse thus treated, and in avery few days entirely broke the distemper and checked the epidemic. Ido not donbt that thousands of horses, where the epidemic prevails. can be saved by adopting this treatment. It acts more quickly as a counter- irritant than any other remedy I know, and re- lieves the fever of the membrane of the larynx ina very few hours, Besides, spirits of turpentine im always at hand, and can be more readily applied than any other counterirritant. It should be thoroughly rubbed in through the hair to the skin, for a distance of some twelve or thirteem inches, under the jaws and down the neck of the horse, immediately over the larynx. The remedy is severe and makes the skin sore for several weeks, and for an hour causes great suffering to the horse. But it acts promptly and effectively, and, in yf judgment, it will be iound the best, an perhaps the only cure for this fatal malady, caus- ing such suffering and loss among horses through- out the country. My love of horses induces me to address you, and to ask you to give this communication snety place in your paper as to reach the public in the most prompt and general way, and stay one of the greatest misfortunes now threatening all commu- nities and destroying by thousands the noblest animal created for the service of man. Very truly yours, B. 8. ROBERTS, Brevet Brigadier General United States Army. A Man who Has the Epizootic. To THE EpitoR OF THE HERALD: sim—I have read with interest your account of the disease now prevailing among horses, and, with your permission, will make a few observationd respecting that disease, Last Sunday morning £ found myself suffering from symptoms usually called catarrh, but which might be more properly called, in my case, semi-acute bronchitis—viz., cough, expectoration of @ muco-purulent phlegm, soreness in the larger bronchial tubes. sneezing and a general feeling of debility. I attributed all these symptoms tothe peculiar condition of tha atmosphere the preceding Friday, which, it will be remembered, was a wet, warm, most disagrees able day. Itis not anreasonable to believe that it was on this day that the horses also contracted the disease which subsequently developed into influenza, catarrh or whatever else it may be called, Whether the bronchial tubes | the horse become affected or — not, do not know, nor is it very material to the treat ment, as in all cases it is the mucous membrana which suffers, and this membrane is continuoud throughout from mouth or nostrils down to tha air celis of the lungs. As regards the treatment, which, after all, is the most important thing to ba considered, | think the view taken by the “well- known veterinary surgeon in Thirteenth street” 19 correct. I judge so because it corresponds to that which we should adopt for man—viz., the avoid- ance of all heroic measures or purgative medicines, but, on the contrary, using cordial and stimulant remedies and giving a full, generous diet. What the particular stimulant or cordial should be in the case of the horse I cannot , but such @ one should be selected as the animal will not refuse to take along with his teed, thus avoiding ali those forcible measures insisted upon by quacks. The system is below par in these attacks and must be bulit up (not Jowered still further by cathartics), and whatever tends to do this in the horse, as in man, Will be the correct mode of treatment. Another “Timely Suggestion.” To THe Eprror oF THE HERALD :— Having had over forty years’ experience in thé care and treatment of horses, | wish to bring to the attention of the people during the present alarm- ing prevalence of the “horse infection” the most valuabie and at the same time the simplest remedy for the instant relief of colds, infuenza, coughing, &c., Which now affiict the majority of horses— namely, pure peppermint oll, applied freely im bathing the throat, head or other parts affected, Instant reliet will result, without the possibility of any injury to the animus BXPERIENOsy