The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-09-21 00:00:00

THE YELLOW FEVER IN AMERICA.

The mail advices from America confirm the tele-
graphic despatches as to the increasing ravages of the
yellow fever epidemic in the South. It was estimated
on the 4th that there were 12,000 persons suffering
from the disease. The state of things at Memphis was
dreadful. Ninety bodies were buried on the 4th of
September, and from 40 to 50 still remained unburied.
In consequence of the odour arising from the dead
bodies and the inability of the authorities to meet the
emergency, it was suggested that the dead should be
burnt. The following despatch from Memphis on the
3rd will give an idea of the fearful situation :

"The atmosphere is heavy with the stench of dead bodies,
Several corpses were found to-day, and no one was able to
tell where or how they died. It is impossible to describe
the condition of affairs here. There is some improvement in
the movements of the undertakers since the citizens' relief
burial corps have taken matters in hand, and to-day the
number of interments was larger than on any previous day.
The number of new oases and deaths to-day are considerably
less. Destitution and want are on the increase. White
persons who cannot stand all nay in the clamorous crowd of
negroes that throng the delivery windows of the supply
depots are suffering from lack of provisions. hundreds who
have sick families cannot leave them long enough to procure
food, and it is next to impossible to get any one to attend to
their wants-

Some agitators in Memphis had attempted to get up
trouble among the coloured people, but the effort was
unsuccessful. Great difficulty was experienced there in
getting carpenters to make coffins or in getting hands
to dig graves. The fever was spreading rapidly into
other places. At Grenville, Mississippi, it broke out
on the 31st of August, and in four days HO persons
were attacked, the deaths being 14. A panic was
created at Union City by a report that a man had
brought into the town a sick child whose mother had
died from the fever. Twenty negroes were employed
to hunt the offender, and no doubt if they had found
him they would have lynched him. Two hundred
families have left Union City and taken to the hills
nine miles off.
From Baton Rouge a despatch says :

"Eleven deaths from yellow fever have occurred here,
four of which were within the last 24 hours. Many are down
sick, and all business is stopped. Our financial resources
are insufficient to relieve the distress, and we are compelled
to ask the country to aid us. Our people are meeting the
situation with great firmness. —LEON DASTRENENSKI,
Mayor."

The following despatch is from Port Gibson,
Mississippi :

"Sept. 2.—Four hundred cases and 55 deaths out of the
550 persons remaining in town. Twelve hundred have fled.
The distress is very great, the sick dying with no one to give
them a drink of water. Some nurses are on the way from
New Orleans and Chicago. Help and funds are needed.—
JAMES A. PAGE, Iresident Howard Association."

It was estimated that 2,000 persons were sick in
Vicksburg, and the nunber was increasing. A board
of volunteer nurses six men and 24 women, had been
despatched from Washington, and assistance in money
was flowing in from the other States of the -Union.
The coloured people of the South had made an appeal
for assistance to their brethren of the North. The fol-
lowing is from the Coloured Preachers' Aid Society :
"Our people are suffering, dying, and destitute. For
Heaven's sake relieve us all. You can by sending us means.
We are not able to bury our dead or to nurse and feed the
sick and destitute. The most of us have no employment, as
all business is suspended. Send us contributions of money or
provisions speedily."

The New Orleans Picayune gives the following
account of all but a very few of 576 persons who in
that city had fallen victims to yellow fever up to the
24th of August : " One hundred and four were under
five years of age; 68 were five years old, but under
15; 113 were 15 to 25; 232 were 25 to 45; 52 were 45
or upwards. There were 379 males and 195 females.
All except 17 were whites. There were 290 natives
of the United States and 275 foreign born. In the
list of foreigners who died are 71 from Germany, 69
from Ireland, 35 from France, 39 from Italy, and 22
from England. The number of native Frenchmen—
viz., 7,550 at last census, is just half the native
Germans, and the rate of mortality in one case is
just half, &c. It should also be observed that of the
158 natives of New Orleans who have died fully 140
were ehildren under 15 years of age."

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 16.

The number of deaths to-day amounts to 73, and of
new cases to 108. At Memphis, there is a slight and
scarcely perceptible decrease in the fever, the deaths
up to noon to-day not exceeding 40.

NEW ORLEANS, Sept, 17.

The weather has again become warmer. One
hundred and eleven deaths from yellow fever occurred
yesterday at Memphis, and 23 at Vicksburg.