18
or imported. Then began the plague, though at first, as in Karachi, very
slowly :—
For week ending 5th March
" " 12th "
Cases.
... 3
... 7
Deaths.
2
7
Mr, Dodgson found that a large family of goldsmiths had allowed 3 deaths-
to take place in their house before the news spread. He reported that all the-
houses had been disinfected and cleaned, the plaster scraped off walls and floors,
and the roofs taken off. All the inmates had been promptly removed to camps
outside the town, with the exception of two Native ladies, and all the neighbour-
ing houses to each infected house had been vacated. Gangs of coolies had been
placed under the divisional officers, and depots for lime and disinfectants esta-
blished in convenient spots.
On the 19th February a copy of a telegram was received from Government
urging the importance of watching roads leading from infected places.
These instructions were on the 20th sent to all District officers, with the sug-
gestion that Police should be stationed under a responsible officer at suitable points
to stop and send for examination by a Medical officer any one with severe fever
trying to enter the town. The Collector of Karachi was asked to take steps at,
say, a distance of a day's journey from Karachi on the main road to detain any
sick or suspicious persons attempting to leave Karachi.
On the 17th February a report was received from the Civil Surgeon,
Sukkur, Surgeon-Major Corkery, stating that a case of plague was reported on
the 12th idem, and in the face of great opposition he had removed the patient,
a girl of 10 years old, accompanied by her mother and brother, to the sheds
prepared for such cases. Dr. Corkery disinfected the house. This was the first
case of plague reported from Sukkur, and the first case of forcible removal of a
patient anywhere. The result is significant. Ominous silence followed, and
soon it appeared that the people of all ranks had banded themselves together with
one accord to defeat the authorities. On the 26th February, Dr. Corkery report-
ed that besides the one case which he saw and removed, a few suspicious fatal
cases had occurred which were not brought to notice and which the relatives
had palmed off as deaths from natural causes. A very large number of the
population immediately deserted Sukkur. There was a rush of the healthy to
tíhikárpur, but the measures there and in other big towns were more or Jess
dreaded, and the bulk of those who had sick in their familes—and there appear
to have been many—fled to the neighbouring villages. The country is well
cultivated in that part of Sind, and villages are pretty close together. A day
or two after the removal of the girl, the sister-in-law of a Municipal Commis-
sioner took the disease and was immediately secreted in a village 5 miles off,
where she died, poor creature, "possessed of the devil," as her brother-in-law
pleaded. How many perished in these villages before their condition was-
known and help could reach them it is difficult to say, but in the Sukkur
Táluka the excess of reported deaths over the normal was 436. The fugitives
also crossed over to the left bank of the Indus, and infected Rohri and the
villages in its neighbourhood. Some 10,000 people are said to have thus
suddenly decamped.
Surgeon-Major Corkery set himself to find out the truth. He traced one
family to Rohri, where 4 deaths occurred. Spies were placed over a suspected
lane in New Sukkur. A sick man was caught as he was being placed in a boat
with a temperature of 105° and delirious. This was on the 2oth. Next day,
the 26th February, the same date on which the first two local cases occurred
at Hyderabad, a search was made in the lane. One dead boy and two sick
were found, and these were removed to the isolation sheds, and the other inmates
to the health camp. There was only slight opposition. Clothing and beddinng
were burnt, and the houses fumigated and locked. It is to be regretted that the
Municipal Commissioners of Sukkur lent no assistance.
The Collector of Shikárpur, Colonel Mayhew, was asked to go to Sukkur
his head-quarters. He had already been there, and anticipated the request.