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[CHAP. VIII.
The first suspicious case—a man with buboes—was discovered on or about the 23rd
November 1897. Looking back now with one's present knowledge, one sees that one ought
to have been certain from the fact of there having been other deaths in the house that it was
plague. At the time, however, I was not certain. The man was segregated. And the
Assistant Collector, Mr. Hatch, came and stayed at Jalgaon and watched the illnesses and
deaths. On marking down in a map the houses where deaths had lately been occurring, it
was obvious to him that there was something wrong in a particular part of the town. And
the discovery on the 2nd December of a bubo on the body of a dead woman showed him
that it was plague that the people had been dying of. So I went to Jalgaon.
The Europeans available when plague became an established fact were Mr. Hatch,
Mr Pogson, Mr. Priestley (of the Police Department), and Messrs. Sibbald and McCarty,
Abkári Inspectors. Subsequently, Mr. Firth of the Staff Corps came and rendered valuable
assistance till he had to go to Bhusával to take charge of the new camp there. And still
later Dr. Stewart came from Bombay, and is, I am glad to say, with us still.
A Mussalmán member of the Municipality—Mr. Itbárkhán—has behaved excellently,
and voluntarily devoted the whole of his time to plague work throughout. Another
Municipal Commissioner, Mr. Lahanu (who is also Police Patil), has been doing all in his
power to help ; and has exercised his great influence most beneficially.
Mr. Hatch and I both agree that the man to have as Mámlatdár in an emergency of
this sort was Mr. Karandikar, whose name I have already mentioned favourably to Govern-
ment. So with the Commissioner's permission, I brought him to Jalgaon, where he has
fully satisfied all our expectations. At the same time a number of kárkuns, vaccinators,
Abkári sub-inspectors, and so forth, were brought in from the tálukas: the town was divided
into wards : and search parties assigned to them : the wards again were distributed among
European superintendents : and plague cases were searched for. A plague camp and a
segregation camp were of course erected. Police were stationed on the roads leading east,
south and north to stop any one who had not a pass, and 2nd and 3rd class booking from
Jalgaon and the station on either side was stopped in an eastward direction. Going west-
wards was not forbidden, as it was thought that a certain number of people would be sure to
go away and that it was better to give the stream an inclination back towards the infected
Bombay Districts than forward towards uninfected Bhusával and the Central Provinces
and Berárs.
The object to be aimed at was to get the townspeople out into the fields as quickly as
possible, but not to frighten them so much that they would go beyond the fields and into
other villages and, infect them. The inhabitants of the infected part had to be taken out in
a body: if they went voluntarily so much the better, but go somehow or other they must.
Before taking them out, however, a camp had to be run up to receive them. As scon as it was
ready, they were all taken out to it. It was thought that perhaps there might be some
difficulty in getting them to comprehend why they were to go out. And as it was desirable
that whatever was to be done should be clone by the people good-humouredly, I asked the
two most respected and influential Mussalmán gentlemen in Khándesh—Khan Sáheb Sayad
Jamal of Bhadgaon and Khán Sáheb Dáda Miya of Páchora—and a retired Risaldar-Major
of Chálisgaon to do me the favour to come in and help in explaining matters to the people,
and I am glad to say that, thanks no doubt in great measure to their good influence, the
people of the infected part went out cheerfully and without a murmur. The people in the old
town—chiefly cultivators—had, in the meantime, following the excellent example of Mr.
Lahánu Pátil (whom I have mentioned above), all gone out into huts in the fields; a number
of people in other parts of the town went too, so that in a short time the whole town, except
two semi-detached parts and some merchants' shops, was completely emptied. And, on
these two semi-detached parts showing signs of infection, the people of them too were turned
out, and the shopkeepers were subsequently all removed to a new bazaar organized in a jowari
field by Mr. Pogson—whose marked gift of organization has, I may note here, been of the
greatest assistance to us throughout this business: so that the town is now—but for the pujaris
in a few temples—absolutely deserted. The people are all living in huts in the fields : search-
ing in the town has been given up, as there is no one in it ; but sowars, and some European or
other, go round the fields every day and make enquiries about sick people.
The disinfection of the town has meantime been pushed on as fast as possible. Labour
being unobtainable, I got in a number of pattáhwállás for a short time: but about 100 coolies were
then got up from Bombay : and the cleaning of the houses, the opening of the roofs, the wash-
ing with perchloride and lime, has made such progress that probably by the end of next week
every house in the town will have been done.