The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1865-10-18
Cholera in Constantinople.
uFIT Ta0C-ASD DE11Is-1EREiEIE sCEyEs n TEE
cTrT-rHE ASzucAS MISSIONARIES
CoSsAsnSopu Aug. g 1885

CoSsHAsnSoPU Aug. 3 1ss5.
C5as,arulOple has thrice before been
US ted hy the Asialc cholera, but the for
mer yis.tat.Ons have been OF small impOr-
tance in comparison with the present
Fifty days have passed since its first au-
theuticated appearance IN the city, and
not less than fifty thousand persons have
been swept into eternity by its ravages
IL reached rs hight about August 9Th,
when il j. supposed that the deaths were
not Jess than Three thousand i dav iOa SOW
eral days
The published report Of deaths In the
city has never reached his point, but IL Is
known - ell that 10 prevent a general and
uncomfortable panic these reports have
been deliberately falsihed ! have made
careful Investigations upon tiis point. and
am able 10 speak without fear OF contra
dicti0n. Take a single day for example
siuCe tie decline has commenced. On
August llih the official report, as publish
Ell. represented the deaths for that day az
27S. Tie official returns, as actually made
20 the Grand Yizier aud as registered 10
bis Office, snow the deaths on that day 10
have Jeeu 1869. six times the number Pc
ported ia the published bulletins.
These puUlshed statements make the
whole number Ot deaths only about l5. 0cO.
At the rate OF August l4th, this would give
30. 900 a. the real number Of deaths, but
this estimate Is too large. Since the num-
Der OF deaths has ialle. below thousand q
day. The ratio has been very much less
Fifty thousand Is fair estimate, includ-
lug all quarters OF the ciiy-the military
garrison and the naval contingent. More
than one hundred thousand persons besides
have ilel from the city. This number Of
deaths IN addition TO those who have fed.
in population OF million has changed
the city fg0m a busy mart OF trade 10 4
city of the dead and DYING. Whole fami-
lies have been swept of in a day, and hun
dreds cfhOuses lett teAantless. know sew
eral Lngli>h families where the father and
AL the children have died within a week.
l know a family which consisted Ola grand
father, his son, his sons wife and four
children. No cholera had appeared in
their quarter Of the city: but suddenly il
came and in two days left the old grand
father the living representative or The Gnll-
ly. Certain quarters have suffered so
severely that the surviving inhabitants have
eit their houses. their unburied dead
everything not easily mOved-and have
lied in dismay to open fields beyond the
city.
AT certain points dead bodies. in some
cases uncOfined aud naked, have been
literally piled up by the scores waiting
transportation To the burial places. One
Of The cholera hospitals on the old city wall
next 10 the sea had a slide arranged, down
which the dead bodies were shot into boats
10 he buried in the sea.
Ten weeks ago one could not 20 into the
street without meeting dead bodies hurried
of to burial, and litters with those struck
down in the streets al every turn. Even
the Golden Horn was covered with boats,
carrying each from one 10 fifty dead
bodies. Those were dreadful days almost
enough 10 Overwhelm the calmest anC
most fearless man. The very sight OF al
the mourning and terror-Of all the deat
and dying, for whom YOU could do 50 littl'
was enough to crush the heart. Thing
are better now. The deaths do not proba
bly, exceed 500 a day, and men are once more
beginning TO breathe freely--tO look abOu
them apd see who is gone and who is left
Only one death has occurred in the littl'
American colony here. The youngest soI
of Rev. Mr. Washburn died TWO weeks ag'
after a few hours illness.
The American missionaries have devOte'
themselves 20 the care OF the sick and dyln.
among the poorer classes, and under thei
treatment hundreds OF lives have been saved
While the average mortality in the city ha
been abOnt sixty-hye per cent, Of thos
attacked under the treatment OF the Amer
lean missionaries the mortality has not ey
ceeded five per cent, or setting aside a
those lighter cases which might he classe
as chOle-ine. This mortality under the
J - t..Hl, 4
has been only fifteen per cent. 1t is belieN
ed that this IS greater success than ha
ever before been attained in epidemi
cholera. | presume that they will publis
their method OF treatment for the benef
Z of others. Ii they do SO | will forward yo
! a copy at once. l think l indicated, IN
: previous letter, in a general way. VIII;
this method is.
The cholera has not followed any know
laws in its progress here. 1t has been suppO
edthat it avoided high and airy localitie
but here il has ragged with the create
!. severity in some OF the highest. best vel
: tilated and most cleanly quarters Of ii
city. while in previous epidemics not
- single case has occurred.
Another singular fact is that the mo
tality among the Europeans has been muC
greater since the decline Of the diseas
than it was when it was at its height.
= Another fact IS, that those who have il'
: from infected districts, in perfect healt
= have generally been attacked with the di
II ease as soon as they reached their ne
: and, before that, healthy place OF refuge.
10 1t is said that the swallows, and sever
is other kinds of birds. deserted the city
n the commencement OF the epidemic and a
% only now beginning to return-aDd l belle
% this 10 be a fact
p It is also said that the gliding on Il
baroues in the Golden horn and BOsphOr
if has tarnished, especially in those localiti
IL where the cholera has ragged most sever
ie ~.
70 There has been nothing strange, porte
II tOus or awful in the aspect OF the heave
/. or the state OF the weather during the el
demic. On the contrary. the summer
ps been delightful. have never known nc
\ perfect weather in ConstantinOple. I
: two months before the cholera came {
~ health Of the city was better than II
m been for years and the weather has rema
II ed the same during the epidemic that
hot,