Husted's Cow Stables

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HUSTED'S COW STABLES.

It seems that the people of Brooklyn, Common Council and all, have been—to speak plainly—completely fooled by Mr. Husted, the owner of the cow stables in the Seventh Ward, which were recently the subject of discussion in the Common Council.¹ In the early part of the present year the Common Council passed an ordinance to protect the Public Health, one of the sections of which reads as follows:

SEC. 20. No person shall have or keep, or permit to be kept, between the 1st of May and the 1st day of November, in any year, on any premises owned or occupied in whole or in part by him or them within the city, more than three cows in any stable or other inclosure or upon any lot of land of not more than 2500 square feet in superficial extent, or more than four cow upon any lot of not more than one acre in size, of more than twelve cows upon any lot of larger size, under the penalty of ten dollars for each cow above the number hereby permitted for such stable, inclosure or lots respectively, for each day such additional number shall be so kept.

As several of the owners of distilleries in the city keep huge numbers of cows in stables attached to their distilleries, the ordinance, it was understood, should be considered to apply only to establishments of the kind hereafter erected—so as to permit those then in existence to die out without annoyance. Relying on this, and knowing that the stable of Mr. Husted was in a very old and dilapidated condition, the people aggrieved by it resolved to bide the time when its extinction would gradually be brought about by time. But a fire having occurred by which the stables were destroyed, the proprietor forthwith commenced to rebuild, in defiance of the ordinance and of the feelings of the public. When his building had advanced some way, he asked the Common Council to exempt him from the operation of the ordinance, or to alter the ordinance itself, so as to sanction in perpetuity the nuisance which it was the design of the law to do away with. He obtained an acquiescence with his request, the application being wholly ex parte, and no opportunity being afforded for hearing the sentiments of the residents in the locality. At the next meeting, however, the inhabitants petitioned against the nuisance, and the Common Council, after a careful debate and consideration of the subject, revoked their former resolution—which had never become law, not having been signed by the Mayor—and forbade Mr. Husted to commence reerecting his stables. But he had been proceeding with his building all the while, and still proceeded with it, until now he has new stables completed, and is prepared to inflict his half putrid cows and their poisonous, alcoholic milk, on the people of Brooklyn for half a century to come.

The question to be determined in regard to this matter is, whether Mr. Husted or anybody else, relying on his wealth and audacity, shall put the ordinances and the authorities, the wishes of the people and the public health, alike at defiance. If the Health Ordinance is worth the paper on which it is printed, this offender is liable to penalties amounting in the aggregate to thousands of dollars; and if those in Brooklyn to whom the execution of the ordinances is committed are worth their salaries, they will forthwith proceed to recover those penalties from him according to law.

We understand that Alderman Scholes, who led the opposition to these cow stables in the Common Council, is still determined to have the law executed in regard to them, by bringing the matter under the cognizance of the Board of Health. To enable that body to decide as to what kind of a nuisance it is which calls in this case for their action, we close with the following extract from a tract issued by the people in the vicinity, who desire thus to enlighten their fellow citizens as to the nature of the abomination which it is endeavored to perpetuate:—

"Let us examine the Cows' Hospital: It is an institution attached to a Brewery in the seventh ward of our city, in the midst of a growing and rapidly aggregating population, where from 1,200 to 1,500 milch cows are brought from green pastures, placed in close brick stalls, dark and ill-ventilated, with a trough running through each stall, into which is poured three times per day the refuse swill from the brewery, in a very sour and heated state, after having gone through the process of distillation. The swill is poured into the troughs at a heat which renders the cows feverish after a short period of incarceration. They are soon attacked with a peculiar disease which renders their milk poisonous and their meat unwholesome. They are often compelled to milk the poor animals while hung in skids to keep them from falling. This peculiar disease wastes the cows to skeletons in time; their teeth become loose, their eyes glossy, their tails rot off, and when dissolution is about to take place, they are sold out to low butchers, and find their way to the tables and mouths of our citizens. Their milk is distributed in as respectable circles as any in our city, labelled on the wagons, pure milk from various adjacent counties. It can be proved that at least thirty daily rounds of this milk are served in respectable neighborhoods in the city of Brooklyn, aside from what is served up to the less sensitive denizens of New York. This diseased meat has also been traced to the stands of three or four respectable butchers in our avenues. This can be proved."

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