Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1854-10-25
EVENING STAR.
Re-Appearance Of the Plague in I Iondon.

A story has been circulated in this country
OF OF the frlghtful re-appearance. of the London
fiague, which ravaged that city a hundred
ana nifty years ago, the contagion having been
derived from bones disinterred in carving a
new sewer through Argyle street, by digging
" an unusual depth. 1t is asserted that ply.
sicians have pronounced that the disease il
not the cholera, but that it is undonh, eS,v
the plague. and that it is propagated bv con,
tagion, and Is even more speedy in its fatal
enects than the cholera. The writer of an
artlcle without date, which is copied from the
home Journal, says that The disease. in q
week from the time at which it broke ont had
completely ravaged the streets in Soho and II,
Immediate vicinity. At the present moment
Poland street, Argyle street, and others are
Siosed against ali passers. Half the shops in
are radidly closing At two O'Clock in the
oay, scarcely dozen persons may be met with
In that great thoroughfare In those streets
which the disease is most speedily depopu,a. a.
ting, the dead bodies are placed in the onon
ar Immediately that life has departed from
tnem. 30 great is the fear of contagion Ihave
seen In two inst anees, half dozen bodies Re-
Ing carried OH In black sacks, like bales of
goods, for burial. You will easily Judge how
great fright this has created Eyerv one
VINO Is able to do go, has fed. London, gen
efaiiy at thus time just emptying, is now half
dspopulated.
The London papers do not contain snythip,
TO countenance this story, beyond the fac
which has been rep eatedy stated, that the
cholera has prevailed in London to a greater
e1tent than In any year since lS49. The deaths
from choiera Ia that year to the 23d of Sep
temoer had carried off L. 264 persons This
year there has been in ten weeks to the sams
date, oS53. The latest sanitary report pub
llshed ln the London Times of Sept. 27. saw
the cholera Is slowly retreating fro hoh-
don, but it destroyed last week 1884 live
and 10 persons died from the allied disease
diarrhe The deaths from cholera in the
next preceding week were l549, and in that
next preceding 2050 The numDer Of deaths
from all causes during the last week in L;hl.
don, in population OF 1857, 236 was 2504
here was district in London in which h {
cholera prevailed for short period SO fatally.
that a sewer in the vicinity obtained the des-
lgnatlon OF The plague pit, the disease 4
that quarter being attributed in articles which
appeared in some of the papers to the open
ings into The street in that vicinity for the ven
ulatlon OF some OF the newly constructed Sc y
ers. At a meeting Of the Metropolitan Sewer
report was made, upon a thorough invest. a.
ton OF the causes of the particular yirujauce
OF the cholera in that locality.
1t seems 10 have been fully accounted for
oy the excessively crowded and filthy state of
the houses, and the want of drainage commu-
nicating with the sewers recently constructed
and which had been charged with being the
cause q tho disease The report of the engi
neer, who had Inspected 207 houses. Represents
them as in tho most disgusting state of tlth
from the attic to the cellar, aGd entirely with
ont drainage, and no intination is given that
the disease is of a different character from tie
disease which prevailed elsewhere. There -
no indication Of any panic in any part Of the
CITY, or any unusual suspension of business,
or desertion of the city by any portion of the
population, more than in any or rdinary seasor