“The process of flaying alive, and even of dismembering animals before the breath has left their bodies, was discovered by Colonel Coulson to be far from uncommon in private slaughter-houses. A horrible case of cruelty to a bullock was investigated by the magistrates at Newcastle-on-Tyne, an inspector of the R.S.P.C.A. having caught a slaughterman in the act of skinning the animal before it was dead. The man did not deny this charge, but merely said that it was done to save time, and jauntily offered to pay any fine imposed.”