Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 142, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 December 1903 — Two Thousand Turks Massacred Monday. [ARTICLE]

Two Thousand Turks Massacred Monday.

r . 'I. , . Monday was the big turkey day at B. S. Fendig’s poultry Ijouse. From early in the morning until late in the afternoon a continuous procession of wagons loaded 'with Christmas sow s, kept coming and going and by 6 o’clock Mr. Fendig had paid cash for-nearly 2000 of the turks that will soon be carved in many of the most fashionable homes and hotels of New York City. The unusually large number of turkeys that were sold here Monday was probably due to the heavy storm Saturday, which kept a great many of the farmers at home who would otherwise come in on that day. ’ The price paid here Monday by Mr. Fendig, w*s fifteen cents per pound, just twice the price he paid two years ago. The large number that came in that day will necessitate him shipping another .car-load and his pickers worked nearly all of that night in preparing them for the packing P'ocess. The turkeys after being dressed and cooled are packed in barrels, each containing from 15 to 20 fowls. They are then ready to bej stored away in the cars which generally ho'd about 120 barrels. Ben has Shipped all of his poultry to New York City, where the price paid for them is much larger than in Chicago. The enormous price which the New Yorkers are paying for Christmas turkeys this year can be accounted for from the fact that poultry of alt kinds has been unusually scarce in the last year. The turkeys that are being shipped from here will probably retail on the New York market at 25 cents a pound.