Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1853-08-26
fFrom the n. o. pelta, Aug. H..
Tbs pcatiIenoe.

TEbs I5cat;Janoe
t,s ,-553s:,; Ia
! Still sonwaEdS sIalks tne aIeautlA peStllehce
Though our micteg sselLs 70
give 1t strengEh ana tIcIeaseu ap-
pear TO sharpen rather than glut lts savage apPe-
tite. ltleaps over gu barriers ana spnfns all OPP
posluon. Beginning WIN 1le pgots tne lsnoIant
ana desolate,i u mas AcquItsu stshslh "
DEFY all the appliances OF wealth. OF comloIh OF
science and OF art. IL can no longer DC tauhtea
with undue virulence toward the lower classes;
II has established by most gloomy proofs, ltS ttie
the epithet of general leyeller. The rlch, the
lovely, the gifted, the virtuous the slrong as wen
as the yotariesof vice and desrtunonS the poor
and the vittuous, heignoi ant and the imPrnaent
-all alike fall before the remoEseless slckleo Oh
the great destroyer and are gathered INTO one
common harvest OF enths
There are few, ifsanys parallels IN history 70
the present visitation. Buta week or so ago We
were involved in unpleasant controversies win
medical gentlemen as to whether the disease
which was taking off several hundred .ot our clu,
zenS weekly, was an epidemic. II was chaFseG
that we were exciting panic In announcing anu
declaring the fact. Two weeks nave scatceS
passed, and the epedemc has become a pesuSnce'
one OF the most Destructive mangnant aHu uiS
treSsing which ever tellupon people. consul
ering the number OF persons liable 70 me eleaem
ic, (the unacclimatedO there IS nothing IN history
to equal the present mortality Deaucung ouE
native population ana those VINO nave udu TUG
NSSANAA-H~SAt
as a large figure to fix the unacchmaIeo al Su,vuu
at the breakingout ofthe fever. OF that number
at least :, 600 have already been buried, ana eV-
cry day adds two hundred more to the ghastly rec
ord. 80 ....,.
Should it conhnueilh the same rallo' thls Irlght-
full number will be swelled 10 5'UUO by lhe MIST
of September, which IS usually the dale When tne
epidemic begins its ravageS IN our city: For Inc
week ending on the 9TH OF August lis victims
were one thousand. That Tor the week now pas
sing Will be as large anu thus unless some SUD
den and unlocked Tor change occurs, the montn
of August will be held ever memorable IN our an
mails for the largest proportonate mortality whlcn
has ever occurred IN the history oil peSulenceS. II
will equal the violence OF the Black Plague OF the
Fourteenth Century, and exceed that otthe Lon
don Plague in 1864.
The latter has been regarded the severest Pest-
ence OF modern times. anu yet, out OF a popula-
ton of Eve hundred thousand, 1t only slew sixty
thousand IN one year, whereas the present cpl
denic is destroying at the rate OF Jour thousand
month, out of total population of not over eighty
thousand, and Of population liable to the dis
ease, of not over thirty thousand 1t is true that
previous years of this city there have been days
which have exhibited larger Tortalityin one day,
but on no other occasion has the aggregate week
ly mortality been as large, the progress of the
disease so steady regular, and unbroken! What
is tine worst ssDect Of these facts is that the sea
son for the prevalence of the endemic has barely
commenced.
In 1s47, the deaths 10 the beginning of August
did not average ten a day. We have therefore, at
Mt least three months for the pestilence 10 run
There is no hone that it will terminate its career,
unless with the exhaustion of material At the
present rate this event would not appear to be dis