I recently recounted the story of the rumors that swept Hanover, PA of a Confederate invasion on April 22, 1861, when the Civil War was barely a week old.

Click here to read about the Hanover incident told by eyewitness Henrietta Stroman Stair.

Captain W. H. Jenifer, then of the U.S. Army played a prominent part in the confusion. In an article written in 1927, George R. Prowell says that Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtain sent a telegram to Hanover ordering Jenifer's arrest. He too thought Jenifer was deserting and would relay information to the secessionists.

Posted in 1860s Civil War Hanover Universal York York County horses

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1876 Pomeroy, Whitman map of York Township showing the paper mill/shinnerhannes site.

It seems like I’ve been writing a lot about ailing or dead large animals in York County. When you think about it, there were a whole lot of large animals living amongst the people of York County 100 or so years ago. Even if you weren’t a farmer, you would often have your own cow for milk, even in town.

Click here to read about York Cattle Doctor's cure.

And horses--horses were transportation, horses were tractors, horses were necessities. Cattle could be turned into roasts before they got too old, but even cows came down with fatal illnesses.

All those horses are another matter--this is York County, Pennsylvania, not France. That’s where the rendering plants came in. Rendering plants basically recycled dead animals--hides, tallow, bone meal....

Click here to read about Earnest Dempwolf's plan to build a horse and dog hospital next to his York Rendering Works.

Rendering plants, however, were subject to the NIMBY (not in my back yard) syndrome, with good reason, according to the following December 1897 York Gazette news item from Tilden [Longstown area]:

Posted in 1890s Universal York York Township animals cattle horses mills recycling

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Last week I wrote about several heroic citizens who saved a woman, a cow, and five horses from a raging five-building fire at South Queen and Prospect streets in 1857. The horses were saved by William Heffner, who ran naked into the stable and got them out.

To read the story of Mr. Heffner rescuing the horses from the fire, click here.

I just came across an ad placed in the Gazette 150 years ago by "Wm. Heffner, Cattle Doctor, Queen Street, York, PA." It shows that the veterinarians of the day not only treated the animals under their care, but often had to concoct the medications they used:

"Very Important to Farmers and Keepers of Cattle
DISCOVERED
The best Remedy against Murrian"

Posted in 1850s Universal York York animals cattle drugstores horses medicine swine veterinarians

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We often hear of terrible fires that could have had even worse consequences if it were not for extraordinary ordinary people, and well as brave firefighters, risking themselves to save other humans as well as animals. The same held true in the past.

There was an ever-present danger of fire 150 years ago. Homes were heated and cooking was done in fireplaces and stoves with flames or smoldering coals. Arson seemed also to be a popular crime. In the winter of 1857 the Gazette reports on a five-structure fire and how horses were saved by a not very well clad rescuer:

Posted in 1850s Universal York York City animals arson crime fires horses rescues

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Lewis Miller drawing showing himself, George Kuntz, and Dr. George Shaffner in a sleigh accident in 1831. Miller is retreiving Dr. Shaffner's wig.

There were no automobiles 130 years ago, but people still managed to accidentally harm themselves by other means of transportation--buggies, wagons, sleighs.... Many of the worst local accidents involved trains and resulting loss of body parts.

Some of the less gory accidents, as reported in the Gazette in late fall/early winter 1877 follow:

Posted in 1830s 1870s Lewis Miller Universal York accidents doctors horses railroads transportation

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One hundred years ago, in the fall of 1907, the Gazette ran the following article:

“A horse and dog hospital and a horse ambulance are new things promised for York. The York Rendering Works, of which E. A. Dempwolf is manager, is trying to interest local members of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and others in the matter of raising a fund for the purchase of an ambulance which can be used to haul sick horses to a hospital which will be established in this city.”

The proposal goes on to say that as the horses recuperate,

Posted in 1900s Universal York York animals history horses industry recycling

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