WAYNESVILLE, OH- James Overholt, a local glue manufacturer who has supervised a small, family-owned factory for nearly forty years, reached a milestone this past week as he slaughtered his one-millionth horse. Overholt started working at the factory after school as a teenager, where his father and uncles taught him the business of making fine glue and the art of murdering horses.
Its amazing how the years fly by, said a reflective Overholt during a break on the killing floor. It seems like it was only yesterday that my father was by my side, steadying my arm, helping me line up the shot gun to blow the brains out of that first horse. Thats a memory Ill treasure until my dying day. Overholt takes a deep, proud breath, quickly wipes an eye, and makes his way over to a large rendering vat where horse carcasses are being boiled down into a sticky sludge.
 | Hard at work |
Spry and witty for a man in his mid-seventies, Overholt attributes his youthful disposition to a healthy diet, a happy marriage, and the vigorous exercise that comes from a daily routine of butchering horses. His arms ripple with rope-like tendons as he animatedly discusses what makes his glue so special and what this Million-Horse-Milestone means to him and his business.
 | Time to die |
You know, the numbers nice...Im not about to deny that. If what Ive done brings the business some more attention, thats great. But after awhile, it becomes less and less about how many horses ONE MAN has brutally slaughtered and more and more about the quality of your goods. Overholt reaches into a nearby burlap sack, pulls out two large handfuls of hooves and ankles and casually tosses them into the now bubbling rendering cauldron.
People buy our glue because its a superior product, not because they read a story about how some old man had massacred countless horses. When all is said and done, Im just a simple man who loves his job.
I hope Ill be remembered as a moral, small-town guy who loved his family, killed hundreds of thousands of horses, and made the best damn glue that money could buy.
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