Alexandria gazette & advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1822-1824, 1823-10-25

summer menths Of the preceding 4 years:
After considering the above facts, we shall
probably assign the GOODNESS st the season
10 its natural cause"
THE LATE SiCKNESSAr NATCHEZ.
NATcHEz, Sept. 27.-Atrer the lapse
of Jour weeks, we are enabled again 10 re-
sumo the publication at the MIsssippIaa,
and we trust that the late tearfu' disease
which has ravaged the city Of Natcbez,
will serve az full apology tor the suspen-
SION. Indeed, il was utteriyimpossibtet 10
have avoided it, for OF five or six Journey
men employed. all we're taken down with
the fever, and three have died Under
these circumstances, we were necessarily
compelled 10 suspend further operations
10 our business until returning health ena-
bled the surviving printers 10 resume 'heir
work. hose VINO have died from this
office were iiessrs. S w n. CESSNA anu
William Livingston, formerly OF N YORK,
ani J. L. .Mattingly, OF Kentucky
In no preceding year has the mortality
been 50 great. In the years 1917 and
1919. the cases were not, either year, e
DUAL in nsnner TO those of the present, nor
were they equal in fatality. To publish
IN, d,s,resses and mIsiortunes OF our CITY,
is an ungrsteiuI subject. but II becomes
our melancholy duty 20 record what we
have been compelled 10 witness, that The
SITUATION OF Nalchez should be neither ex'
sygersied nor paiilated. Out Of a popu~
and 10
hav. lost three hundred; although the
official returns OF deaths tall short oi u -
This discrepancy iii numbers arises rom
The many who have lett the CITY, died anu
were buried in thu country.
TO sccDsni Tor this visitation upon
city generally healthy, is more than We
can pretend 10 do satisfactorily; but We
certainly believe that the late overflow
was the prime agent 10 generating the nls
ease. Some have attributed 1t to cutting
down h. streets We are inclined 10 hol'i
to the former opinion, allhoug b the result,
as following the ievelling OF the hills IN
the city, was predicted many years ago,
by the late DR.. John Shaw, whose opin'
ions were certainly entitled to the highest
respect aud coDsi IeraiioB. But were this
the fact. every Year would prove unIiprm
ly u,hes llby, whereas, with the exception
Of the two years above mentioned, VIZ.
1917 and 1919, Natcbez has, for whoe-
some atmosphere, riyaIled any part OF the
state Ut Mississippi.
For some days past we have had IN
commonly cold weather tor the season,
bul we Tear net sufficiently so 10 ensure
safety veto returning inhabitants. There
is on the Louisiana side of the river. Mis-
sissippi wide extent Of low ground, we
believe OF nearly 40 miles 10 width. This
part ni the country was entirely cover
ed by rhe ,ate food; covering many farms
of cotton and corn, and drowning, il is
said, great numbers OF cattle aud horses,
and leaving vast quantities OF fish in the
low sw amp, These swamps have since
become perfectly dry; and the vegetable
and annual pulretactlon must have gene
rated tb. m,asma which ha, spread its
deadly influence over our city itwas re-
marked ter about two weeks previous 10
the arrival OF the disease, that there was
continuance of westerly breezes, which
| doubtless waited over the poisonous va
pours OF the n Westerly swamps This sp'
pears to u the most rational manner o
4, counting for the origin OF The disease. al
there certainly existed no local causes
| Within the city which could justify the ide;
tina, il was generated within the. limits.
We shall atfrrd weekly information o
the state Of health in the city, and sbal
acauaint our fellow .cilizens al what time i
would be prudent 10 enter their homes.
lAlis,issipptan.