BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 439 



notice of the owner, would be sufficient to start fresh outbreaks if tlie 

 herd were released and allowed to mingle with other cattle within six 

 months or a year afterwards. It is such facts as these that have con- 

 vinced tl)e experienced authorities of the various countries of Europe 

 that tlie only safe way to deal with pleuro-pueumonia is to destroy every 

 animal which has been exposed to it before there can bean opportunity 

 of ming'ling with uninfected cattle. 



}'y advice of Dr. "Wray the State commissioner made arrangements 

 under whicli tliis lierd will be held in quarantine until October 1, 188C. 



INVESTIGATIONS IN TEXAS. 



Leaving Jackson, Tenn., January 25, 1885, I reached Austin, Tex., 

 January 27. There was here a public sentiment of decided hostility to 

 the Bureau of Animal Industry, an evident feeling that Mr. Frisbie, avIio 

 Avas tbere in charge of his cattle, was a greatly wronged man, and that 

 there was no reason for entertaining a suspicion of danger in regard to 

 liis herd. This ieeling had been worked up by and was based upon afti- 

 davits made by George W. Mitchell, A. T. Fitzwater, James H. Waits, 

 J. P>. and J. E. Stevens, and John W. Moore, in which it was stated that 

 Messrs. H. D. Frisbie and J. K. Lake, who comprised the firm of Fris- 

 bie & Lake, were known by them to be reliable gentlemen, that they 

 had seen X)ortions of the herd of cattle shipped to Texas frequently dur- 

 ing the past six months, that they had not known of a single case of 

 disease among them during that time, and expressing the belief that 

 these animals" were free from disease, and had been so during the time 

 mentioned. As the unregistered animals in question had been ujion the 

 farms and in the care of George W. Mitchell, John W. Moore, and A. 

 T. Fitzwater, these affidavits of their soundness carried conviction with 

 them ; they were distributed as a part of Frisbie & Lake's advertise- 

 ments, and Avere used in the editorials of the local newspapers. I A^^as 

 not able to understand how gentlemen who have any regard for their 

 reputation conld .sign such statements or make such alJidavits in view 

 of the facts aboA-e relati'd. It is evident, however, that such papers 

 would have a very great t'lfect in shaping the opinions of those who had 

 not been conversant with the history of the herd as detailed above. 



In connection with these affidavits it may be of interest to state that 

 I met Mr. O. A. Woods, of Cynthiaua, in that town on February 7, 1885, 

 and in the course of a conversation in regard to the cattle, he state<l to 

 me that he and Mr. II. Kednioiid, jr., were out hunting on Thanksgiving 

 Day, that they crossed the farm of J. K. Lake on the far side of the riA^er 

 (the one tenanted by A. T. FitzAvater), and that they there and then 

 saw one of the Jerseys lying dead in the tiehl. Mr. Woods had no in- 

 terest in the matter, and simply made this as a stat«Mnoiit of fact. There 

 is, consequently, upon the one side the admissioi) of Frisbie & Lake 

 at the meeting of stockmen, and in their letter of Se})ten)l)er 18 to the 

 Department, that their whole herd of 250 head had been exposed ; there 

 is the fact that the Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry found sick 

 cattle at the farm tenanted by Fitzwater on September 24; there is the 

 admission of four affected herds in Frisbie & Lake's telegram of Sep- 

 tember 27, and there is the statement of Mr. Woods that lu^ saw one of 

 the animals on the farm occupied by Fitzwater lying in the field dead 

 on Thanksgiving Day. On the other side there are the afOdavits alluded 

 to above, that none of the cattle on this farm had been sick dni-ing their 

 sojourn there. 



On the evening of January 27, 1885, 1 had an interview with l\Ir. l^iis- 



