Uncle Dick and Lisa's Old Time Animal Tales

     One of the most sickening affairs, if, indeed, it is not the most horrible, which it has ever been our duty to chronicle, happened last Saturday on the premises of Mr. Solon Kelly, about eight miles from Huntsville. There was a hog-killing in progress, and two colored men, Robert and Dennis Patrick, got into a dispute about each other’s share in the year’s crop. A long kettle filled with water was near by. The water in the kettle had been heated to such a high degree that they were waiting for it to cool a little in order to scald hogs in it. The water was so hot that they were afraid it would “set” the hair of the hogs. This was the high temperature of the water when the brothers began to quarrel. Dennis, who was the elder, told Robert that he would put him in the kettle if he didn’t shut up, and Robert, the preacher brother, told Dennis that if he put him [Robert] in that water he [Dennis] would have to go with him. Dennis caught Robert and pressed him backward in the direction of the kettle. He pressed him, both of them having their arms locked meanwhile, until they both went headlong into the kettle of seething water. Their piteous, awful screams and moans soon attracked others to the place, who finally extricated them from the white-hot caldron. They retained their senses when first taken out, and their intense agonies were simply beyond description. They at once complained of their hot clothes, and when these were taken from their limbs great flakes of boiled flesh went with them, leaving their bones exposed. Their beards fell out and their hair dropped from their heads. They had literally been cooked alive! The sight was such that those who witnessed it were wellnigh paralyzed with horror. All possible measures of relief were tried during the night, but Robert died next day and Dennis died on Monday.-Huntsville, [Miss.] Independent.