Delaware weekly Republican. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1841-188?, 1857-03-26


the National Hotel, WashingtOn-tho death oil
ut least one Of the persons who was bOdrdlng
at the house at the time, and tho dangerous
illness of u host Of others, including sundry
persons OF distnction-among them President
excited an intcrestin the pub
lie mind, and given rise to rumors which are
not confined to the city of Washington. llor-
riblo suspicious are whispered which it is diiii-
cult to entertain, yet what arc we to infer from
q letter said to have been written by one Of
the prOprietors Of the National, to friend in
this city, on Saturday, in which he states that
there is not one word oftruth in the story that
rats were found in the water at that
house The reason he gives for not denying
this before is that he thought it too absurd to
notice.
1t is said further-but with how much truth
we cannot suy--that the first manifestations
Of the sickness at the hotel were as far back us
the I'd or 3D. Of February LAST that, as the pro-
prietors then had a chemical analysis OF the |
water which discovered mineral substance
that might have produced the distemper, the |
spring tanks were closed, and water thereafter
was brought into their house from the Capitol
fountain. But the distemper, nevertheless, kept |
on necessarily. Further analyses We're made now
Of milk, soup, vegetables, in short everything
that was eaten or drunk yet, il is now positively
asserted that, up 10 this time, no clue has been
discovered to the mysterious poison.
The rat theory, them being rejected, and no
deleterous material having been discovered
in the food, there are somc who believe that
the poison was secretly administered by human
hands, to accomplish some Internal scheme,
which the imagination can only guess at. TINS
belief isbascd chiefly upon the fact that the
post mortem examination Of Mrs Adams shows
that arsenic was taken into the stomach in sui-
ticient quantities to produce her sickness aud
death, and the physicians in this city, who have
patients from the National, say that all the
symptoms are those OF poison.
The Day Book, which seems TO have been mt
special pains to investigate this very strange
affair, gives prominence to these facts and
adds:
Horace II. Day, ESD, is now lying very low
in this city. He was II boarder there, and no
doubt isanected precisely as Mrs. A. The daugh-
ter OF Senator James is also very sick and under
the charge Of DR.. Marcy. DR.. Leon has several
PATIENTS including child oil this writer, who
| is very low. That we have all boen poisoned
| by some substance daily administered to US in
the food ut the National Hotel is beyond QuGs-
ton. What that substance wus how or by
whom administered remains a mystery. The
proprictors of the house, we are satisfied, have
| used every effort and means in their power to
find out the Cause of this widespread allie
ton, but in vain. To them il is as profound u
| mystery as to any in the land.
We know ourselves OF some other parties
since laboring under the same disorder, CON
tracted while ut the National.
| a communication in tho National Intelligence
undertakes to explain, us follows, the cause of
the sickness al the National Hotel in Wash
ington city
"a large public sewer runs down Sixth
street, and receives all the waste and Nth from
| two large hotels, some restaurants, and livery
stables, public hath-house, &c. Last fall Il
stink-trap was placed at the principal opening
at the corner Of Sixth street and the avenue,
and thus the escape ofthe GGluvia previously
most otiensvc) into the open air, was prevented.
| The inevitable result would be that this pernic-
ious miasma would find its way through any
communication between the house and the
sewer, and l have Just been informed that such
communication does exist. Tho house is de-
flcient in ventilation, and large steam-boiler
in tie collar by rarifying the air, has aided in
disseminating the poison through al the preni-
ses. During the warm weather IN February
when the doors and windows We're all thrown
open, no new cases Of tho disease occurred,
but as soon as the weather became cold and
the avenues of ventilation were closed II broke
out airesh."
The Daily Jacksonian of Newark, n. j.,
says
:. Among the individuals suffering from So
jourg at the National Hotel, Washington, is oul
tellow-citizon, Col. Hamilton, editor Of the
Sussex Herald lie came on with ua from
Trenton on Friday forenoon. on his way home
f lie has lost flesh wonderfully, and is still su
ieriug from deranged bowels, producing inces
SAINT diarrheo that it seems impossible to checl
+ and that weaSeus and emaciates him very
much. lie says of forty that partcok of n Spc
+ cial banquet III the National, every opa wa
, taken down, and are still suiIering.''
John 5. Barber, Esq, president of tho Or
ango and Alexandria Railroad Company, is a
Cnlpepper Courthouse, Va, confined 10 thu
house by the same disease which has afflicted
many visitors ut the National
A letter from Washington says
" The disease which has been so prevalent
at the National Hotel is not confined To tina
establishment but is very general on the lin,
} OF the avenue, where the water used is obtained
from springs having their head ON the more el
! evated portions of the city north OF that point
| Almost every second person ] have met TO
two days, who have made use Of this water
complain ofthe symptoms that ailllct the guest
of the National. 1t is now my firm belief tina
in consequence of the sudden melting of til
: vast body Of snow, the water from the Surihc
! has penetrated the veins leading TO thes
springs, carrying with it some dclcterious sub
j. stances. / have myself been afflicted with III
o : complaint for several weeks and found relietb
$ a change of water.'
c The Board Of Health of Washington, ID. G
n have come to the conclusion that the epidCmi
IS at the National Hotel in that city was ucca'
II Toned by poisonous miasma, generated in tn
h sewers, sinks, ETC., about tho establishment
d s-,-
ii lllGHLY INTERESTING FROM UTAH.-A Wasl
ington correspondent of the New York Her
u aid says that u letter has Just been receive
III from Judge Drummond, which gives deplol
= able picture Of the condition OF affairs in tai
y The following is an extract -
y :" The leading men of the church are NOR
&c traitorous than ever. Only few days sine
+ all the papers, records, dockcts, and nno hun
u dred volumes Of the laws, were taken out
u tho Supreme Court Clerks office and burned
g And this is not the only instance of the Kind
~ l say to you again, and through You to tn
:, President, il is impossible for us to enforce III
III =, laws in this territory. Every man here hold
~ his life at the will of Brigham y 0mgi and her
IL we are without protection. | am firmly ,