The fellow paid no heed, and Master signaled a policeman, who put him under arrest. I learned afterward that he was fined twenty dollars and costs, besides losing the use of his horse for many weeks and having to pay for its board during the time. The treatment was given free. A little later Master obtained a policeman's star for himself.
(It is quite common in cities for the humane detectives to wear their star under a civilian's coat.)
He engaged actively in the work all the year, reporting a hundred cases or more. For the benefit of persons who think such a society unnecessary, and who imagine there are few cruelties being perpetrated on the dumb creation, I will mention a few of the cases where Master interfered.
A woman scalded a dog until his hide peeled off his back; a man got angry at a neighbor and shut the latter's dog in a cellar until the poor animal starved to death; two young fellows raced their horses until one horse dropped and had to be shot, and the other was practically ruined; a drunken man drove a horse ten miles with a dislocated knee; a jockey drove a horse a mile with one hoof torn off; another disemboweled his horse with spurs; three men, in fits of anger, cut pieces from horses' and mules' tongues; another shot a mule and went away without waiting to see if it was dead, and it was found alive two days after; a colored man overloaded his team, and when they were unable to start the load he buried an axe in the shoulder of each; dozens were arrested for driving lame and galled horses, several for using unshod animals on the ice; four blacksmiths for inhumane treatment of horses they were shoeing; two men for leaving cows and calves unprotected until they froze; some for underfeeding domestic animals; a number of butchers were fined heavily for rough and inhumane treatment of animals to be slaughtered, such as punched their eyes out and the like.
Then there were countless cases, not on record, where kindly advice induced people to be more humane, and I heard Master say that he had spent two hundred dollars out of his own pocket for horse-blankets, new collars, easier bits, etc.
And now, if there is any evidence lacking to convince the indifferent and skeptical of the need of humane societies and brave men to work, I wish they might hear some of the tales of woe and abuse that were repeated to me that year while boarding at a city livery barn.
I remember one handsome pair of imported Arabian horses that were stalled one night there.
To look at them, I suppose they were proud and happy, but they said they were neither, they had had to leave their own homes, and be brought across the ocean; and through all that dreadful voyage, they said, they had been obliged to stand up. The swaying of the vessel made them dreadfully sick, and every cord and muscle in their bodies was strained. They were very home-sick, and neither the climate nor the food agreed with them.
At another time a noted race-horse was there, "Queen of the Turf," they called her.