52
" The number of deaths per day was very high during the months of March and
April, so much so that on the 17th day of March there were 1,984 cases with 1,637 deaths,
and in the week ending 29th March we have the record of 7,763 cases with 5,967 deaths."
(a). All the five Municipal towns in the district were infected and suffered severely, the
aggregate mortality amounting to 7 per cent. of their population. Details are given
below :—
Name of town.
Ráekot
Kliánna
Ludhiána
Machhiwara
Jagraon
...
...
...
Population.
10,225
4,004
48,885
5,656
19,871
Case-
1,331
618
3,080
909
2,730
Death.
944
547
2,241
550'
2,162
Percentage of
death to
population.
9"23
1366
4.58
9.52
1077
Percentage
fatality of
attacks.
7092
885
7092
58.4
79.19
Ráekot was infected early in January 1902, and remained infected for 15 weeks, - the
disease ceasing on April 19th. Muhammadans suffered more than Hind
s, as they refused to
evacuate, while most of the Hindu- population went into camp, though they did not altoge-
ther abstain from visiting their houses for daily necessaries.
The outbreak in Khanna Town commenced on January 25th, and ceased during the
third week in April. The spread of the disease was very rapid, and during the week
ending March 1st, 163 cases with 140 deaths occurred.
The population were panic-stricken, and with the exception of the Muhammadan
quarters the town had a deserted appearance in the latter part of the epidemic.
Plague broke out in the Ludhiána Town on January 25th. Previous to this.5
Imported cases had been discovered and had been promptly dealt with, the patients being
segregated and the house they occupied disinfected.
For about six weeks the disease was confined to the northern half of the town, princi-
pally inhabited by Hindus. At first the progress of the disease was slow, but it increased
very rapidly during March, and during the week ending March 29th not less than 472 cases
with 317 deaths occurred. After this the number of attacks and deaths declined, and by the
end of May the epidemic was particularly at an end, having lasted 18 weeks.
The severity of the outbreak varied in different mohallas, those inhabited by Muham-
madans suffering most. In one mohalla alone 411 cases and 285 deaths occurred; in another
mohalla inhabited by Kashmiris no house escaped, and in some houses as many as six per-
sons died.
The number of cases among Muhammadans was 1,771 and 1,296 deaths, and among
Hind
s 996 and 774 deaths. The Plague Medical Officer notes':—
" Nearly one-third of Hindu population left the town and went to other places.
Several respectable families evacuated and went into vacant bungalows in the Civil Lines
and took shelter under canvas and grass huts. Muhammadans neither migrated nor
evacuated and remained where they were. " Great difficulties arose in the disposal of
Hindu corpses. People were unwilling to carry their dead. Hired carriers had to be-
employed, and at one time even sick were left to themselves and to die by their own rela-
tives. In the case of Mussalmáns, on the other hand, feelings of sympathy for sick and
dead grew stronger and stronger as the disease became severer and severer. Sick were
tended carefully and the dead were given well-attended burials.
u One of the many causes that contributed towards the spread of the disease was the
constant shifting of families from house to house ; whenever a house became infected its
occupants went into another and thence into another, and so on."
Machhiwára Town was infected on February 10th, and the disease lasted 17 weeks
Of the epidemic in Jagraon Town Dr. Fateh Chand notes :—
"The town is the second in size in the district, and its formation differs. The Hindu
portion is of pucca buildings and bazárs and is by itself. The Muhammadans occupy
' Agwars.' They are detached mohallás that hem the main town like a horse shoe. Total
population is of 19,871 souls. Muhammadans predominate.