Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1858-02-12
From the Winchester Home Journal.
nv. wallace EstffI,s Card--Coneluded.

Morgan of Nashville to DIR. Wallace Estill.''
If French gentlemen had any letters or intro
duction from Mr.. Morgan to me, they never
were delivered, and of course L never could
have given the advice which am represented
to have given to these ''French gentlemen"
Nv acquaintance with Mr.. Morgan is very
slight, and / have no recollection of ever
having received letter from him upon any
subject whatever. / am certainly under obi
cations to Warren for his highly wrought eu-
logy. hope Warren's good opinion of my
candor will induce him to withdraw his
charges against Sewannee, and make the
dnaessde hOaOrdbLe. His charges, presume, are
founded upon rumor alone. judge he knows
nothing personally of Sewanee and its sur
rOundings.
In addition to milk-sickness, Warren has
long known that ..the vicinity of Sewanee
was not exempt from epidemics;' but so
many other objections present themselves that
he had not before mentioned it; and in cor
roboration of the fact, quotes from the Mont
gomery Mall presume that Warren and the
Montgomery Mail speak from rumor, and not
from any personal knowledge they have of the
facts. Will they permit me to speak know
ingly from observations made on the spot at
the time this epidemic cholera prevailed at
the Tunnel The Montgomery Nail states
that he was credibly informed, that in the
year 1852, a large force employed in construc-
ting the Montgomery Gap Tunnel, had their
camp on the top of the mountain within three
miles of the proposed location of the Univer-
sity and that cholera then and there broke
out among them, causing from fifty TO sixty
deaths. Is the Montgomery Mall aware that
at the Tunnel there is a depression in the
mountain, and that when you get on the top
at that point you are seven hundred feet be-
low the proposed site of the University, and
still in the limestone region? If not, L know
it to be the fact. The proposed site instead
of being three miles from the tunnel is double
that distance. The number of deaths at the
Tunnel in '52, instead of being fifty or sixty,
was thirty or forty; these are slight eXaS-
erations, but go to show which way the wind
blows
was. in part the medical attendant upon
the operatives during the construction OF the
Tunnel, and previous to the appearance OF the
cholera | had observed local causes enough TO
produce any sort of epidemic disease. noti-
fled the contractor of the danger, but ne did
not see proper to use prophylachc measures
The hands occupied little, dirty, temporary
shanties, stuck about among the rocks and
mud The slaughter pen was situated IN the
midst of these shanties, where all the beeves
were slaughtered, and the Offal thrown out TO
purify and the raw hides were hung up Ill
large quantities in an old house close by,
creating an intolerable stencil. The weather
was hot and sultry, with frequent showers and
beaming down With intense heat. The water
used for drinking was strong limestone, OF rain,
the sun breaking out between the showers and
scarcely fit for a dog to drink. Under this
state of things, would the M1H think it I'M
reasonable that epidemic might make Its
appearance? 1t was produced, and witness
sed it. The first night it broke out four deaths
occurred: in the morning, believing it was
best to get out of the malaria as soon as pos
sible | advised a retreat. A general stam-
pede took place. Such as had houses in the
valley retreated to them; those that had no
homes retreated to the sandstone region on
the top of Scwanee, where there was pure wa
ter and pure air, and where no original case
occurred during the epidemic BY the advice
of Dr. Cheatham. of Nashville, and myself,
the old shantes were burned; large quanti-
w of lime was burned and scattered over
Tunnel hill-new shanties were erected
operations recommended, and the hands con-
tinued healthy until the work was completed.
This is the history of the cholera epidemic OH
Tunnel hill. In 1854, few sporadic cases of
cholera occurred among the Irish employed Ill
the construction of the Sewanee road, at the
adjacent limestone region; but the hands
were Immediately removed to the work on the
top of the mountain, and there was an end to
the disease The montgomery Mail" thinks
that these facts could not have been known
to the Trustees who so implicitly relied up
on the testimony OF the owner OF large tract
of land. covering pretty much the entire tract
of the SeWanee Railroad" Here again the
"IMfiL' make slight eXageratiOn of facts.
If he had said that the owners of a large tract
of mountain land, covering pretty much the
entire tract of the SeWanee Railroad on the
side of the mountain, patriotic men, had ten
dercd TO the Southern University the free use
of their timber, stone, &c, for building pur-
poses provided the location should be made
on Sewance. then he would have stated the
/ IL a,.,J to tIai ns of of
the "Mal," that little sordid self-interest
could have induced Inc to make a false state
ment in relation to the health OF Sewanee,
hurl il back with that contempt that 1t merits.
/ have said. and ] repeat 1t without fear OF
contradiction. that SO far as regards the health
of Sewanee, there can be no sort of doubt. 1t
is situated on the plateau of Cumberland
mountain, far above all malarial Influences; ii
has an atmosphere pure and bracIng; has an
abundance of pure limpid freestone water,
gushing out from beneath the conglomerate
sand rock 1t is also well supplied with chaly-
bCate water of the purcst kind. The scenery
is most delightful. For many miles around at
various points on the bluils, you can stand
and see the valley spread out like map be-
fore you, dotted over with farms and villages
in the distance, and extending until il seems
to mingle with the clouds. You can even
look over "Old Warren" and her blue Short
Mountain in the distance. Ben Lomond il,
however, eclpsed by Il bold promontory that
stands out between il and Sewance.
! have for many many years been in the
habit of sending my patients, laboring under
chronic disease, particularly chronic dlarrhea,
to the plateau of Cumberland mountain, and
| have never been disappointed in seeing the
good effects OF the fine mountain air, and the
pure free-stone water. And | sincerely and
honestly believe there is 40 spot upon this
Green earth that would sooner risk my health
than at Rowe's Spring. ON the top of
Sewanec. | should feel that | was there as
free from the dangers of mIlk-sickness as L
would in Nashville or Charleston; and as TO
poisonous malaria, should feel that L was en-
tircly above it,
have made the foregoing statements with
"A strict regard To facts, with view of vindi-
eating my county from the vile calumnies
that have been heaped upon it by Warren,
aud spread broad cast over the land, as be-
Heye' for sinister motives W.