, 1865-11-10
THE CITY.
the CHOLERA
Its RaTsges In Chieaga In Past years.
The City Panic.strhken and the
People Deeimated.


the dread valuation In view uf the excitement
now felt in the city on The subject !: may not be
auafEs to glance briefly at the history Of the cholca
clssees fell victims to the seourge- and the death
eaSt threatened 10 make The cemetery utofe popu-
lous than the city Of the living; Anything morn
scatce. and general recolections Of the period arr
~ that exist in the memories Of those now living
who were then In ihe midst Of the carnage.
son at Fort Dearborn. We knc.r nothing more
tna9 ,hs tast that neazly one-hac Of the ao1diezs
!. This was time when Chicago was little more
thsn poet--nothing more, except that tbc county
toward The civilization ef this section Tie @ .wo
Or three huss which dotted the swanpy
shore Of the Chicago river were not near
&c on sf me .s eaRansa o se oops 'f a
garrison. ltuas not TIL s1xteen. years after that
date, when The city ot Chicago had been bud our,
Cd, iaEe % popaaton u; satsesea % hefe and % con-
saa able to and resi for The sole Or bis foot. Then
ss sasay 81 ysR, ~,
for the purposes Of Infection, with undgained
strcets, naIshy eon, and river which had been
dt sale!ed ihe asoeH the he pesenee sats sa'eh r
turned ailer 1ts ant rebound, asasn md again to
say The e p hs e 1s h d.
gsants, nanJ Of whom sclened and died. For
lew days no general notice was taken OF the fact,
but then sonc o. thoss sho bad eeep settled hsrs
died IN y sew hours. Othcz enaaRra9ts arriving
were seized With the complaint and died OF IKE
fSSe e eSa e ,Sd Se lso1si o hs
dead, utterly failed 10 meet the wunt. Then The
truth burst In O. the minds Of he people. and the
panic sss terrible: Very many le the c1ty n haste,
tide Of emigration had eet In too strongly to allow
Of . decrease in the population, which augmented
some five thousand Ia the course Of the succeeding
cases, attacked, the 1asares Of tho disease were
chiefly confined TO the eIn1grants Just arrived. on
whose health he l a'taaiion and undaiaed A eoadi.
son We have no definite record Of. the
extent Of the mortality, IS yery many died and Eege
buried. whose MINES even were 1nknovu- The
agslnst 56o tor The Jear preceding; an increase
ID the morality. or nearly three hundred
PER cent after allowing dor he lns5sase q popal
Number. Tho following are The deaths reported IN
s.; April. 20; May, is7; June, IL; July. II
7emSes, asSss, q; beeem5es lis mortality ef Jny
vas one In aNy-sl Of he entire populatsou, more
thaa the PEI eentags for The whole Of 1ast ysar:
md the people thousht it had iet item, never to
return, Many Of those who had len the city IN the
summer nom came back, Ana affairs renewed the
aspect Of health, which had before been supposed
appeared in July Of the following yeaz. At The cloae
q Which month = mortality 81 sso was recorded
nambez Of deaths reached the enormous dgure o!
iti, or one m 81 Of the entire population. The
next month It decreased 10 ia, and in October fell
70 ~. Cholera had again suspended operations foF
The pesf'enee resppeared IN August Of the year
ancceeapg {1ss1h but With diminished violence,
tembcr 1Gl. We know not how many Of ths4a died
from cholera but the average monthly mortality ol
the rest Of the year being bat y, the choiera may
be considered chargable with the exces.-'1s N
July. 1850. the cholera aend come again, and his
stay was oflonger aurattun- He remained with u
four months. the mortality betng-JulL3 lq: Az
from cholera tnea ceased, and the disease not ap-
pealue At Ill In ls5a the people began to breathe
more freely, seeing roosn to hope that the scourge
The worst, however. was 70 come. In 1851 the
disease appeared In teu-foa Eisulence, and, II
anxious to Commences bis fell work 90 ear1y as pos
shle. the month Of june hsd scarcely set In when
lie destroyer began his ravases.. a few scattering
eascf had occurred as carly Is April, but the fact
had been streuuons]y denied By the press q the
City. and the peof.e seemed determined to dlsee p
i,Sst The Board Of Health persisient1y denied ii
moss .han doubled ip de Preceding month, D.
| at coueealmeut was now. however, useless. The
people died at ths 1ate Of sixty per day, and the
rumble OF the deAth wagon WIS heard continually
long home, In the majority Of cases unfollosed BY
| moutpIs; No u r. On Friday and SATURDAY. the sth and
'u the 5ss s5ss M q heses and
Taes ,he ase noSs 81 nafa1a % shone @ ous @ Il III ii
ouF now e esy aeToea enssS
By lie dcathatreke which jsli I'll aroaad theln,
worked almost without cessation; their 1aboss wera
| fearful, but they had heir reward In seeing the
plasue dlmlnIth ls viEuleuce. and in receiving The
thanke Of a eratefnl people. The de5,hs occurred
be taken ol them. The intezneats In the hEst week
Of July were ~ in the second week 25s; Of these
about three fths were credited to choleta. though
greaser. OF these 49l tnte1ments, only The names Of
SIS could be coneetea. In The 1cnaainiDg half Of
1he month the deaths we're 9N-total for suly Bill.
ssdaee 10 II. whom eholsts VS. ). credited viii
sGi; the deaths il different divisions Of the city
were: soath, 2Ga; North, 2sss; West, ZIG; not
s. ana ii toa
death record for those two months IVES 0 large In
ilsel but eeatcely greater than that Of he single
month OF july. Ihe disease Wis driven from the
city IN the early part Of November md has notsiucc
been teen In our borders.
The type Of the disease in 1852 was peculiarly
mediateiy. Df. Bddees, now 1ealth of1cer, uas,
duzing the cholera season, stricken down BY dyzen-
teg. Two friends, apparently in tho enjoyment OF
pEl1ECk Hfl1s }loleQ 0l[& IN L0E 20fEno1N a0G 03
evening both wore dead. 4 man who vas working
for him started TO- dinner at noontime. quite sel
then but was dead by sunset Scores OF sueh cases
the epidemic. II Ills Sesr the Common Council Il
fnrn1x medicines at The ctys expense md estab.
lished tariff Of prtea TO be paid to The City Ply
6cian for vsita to the afflicted at their honlee the
pest house on cars and vessels where they were
struck down.
The mt casc, N 1861, wns n 4 boarding house
near the old Lake House. at the junction Of Kinzte
North
locality. The next case WAS that OF Irshwoman.
living IN tlhy little hovel, ont on the pra3tc, at
munication could be traced between the caaes-they
occurred about The same time and there had been
no Communication With either Of the per~ons at
ihefe ~ss asy choleis-yet they wera 6oth fnlI
specimens Of the t1ne Asiatic cholera. Dr.. y. =.
Davis, one Of 9uE oldest and best phy.lcans was
eholefs wss likely sgsin to iasase lie ety. he re- re-
ported bo,h to lie board OF Health, aecompany yi1s
biz report With a communication setting forth the
adF1sabfiity Of employing some Immediate and
stringent sanitary regulation. The Boatd, however.
confident in view Of the healthy summer or 1859,
pa no attention e bis commnnsatfon on 1eyona
ordering The establishment Of quarantine for emil
grants enteEing the city.
here-was no foreign importation; It occurred
| first, for considerable time, In Isolated cases,
that It always broke ont IN the uIaat Or nth md
! which Dr. Davis was chilled was In b7ick- yard,
where sone torty Of alfy men were employed. They
al hsea tose;ner 10 seePnT
aotmttory had 1ntte low ceiling, no windows ut
the e1des, no ventilation IN the roof only one email
window at each end. md all The heat steam and ef
aaEta from the kitchen aud dining room ro:e 70 IT,
pol!9tfns the atmosphere, already poisonous With
the trraths ind e1haations Of the men, who were
@ Il = Il hes sa5s r. sas e sa s
stricken down at once, and the remainder lied in
lea:h 10 germ1nate soon attesward. They could
moi, however. be followed, OF any knowledge gained
Of how laEse proportion or them fell yicnms to
the Plague In the spr5ug of = estraosdtnaty pre-
August ed the Board Of Health had The sattsactiop
Of adopting resolution the cittz
on The entire freedom Of the city from any epidemic.
cholera in an epidemic form, bat no season las
been free from sporadic cases. The experience Of
the uast shows that this p1asue always, when Ii
appears here at all breaks out In the fr1t week OF
ing to spring forth from caufes indigenous to the
localities In which they appear. Is bot intended
By this statement to 1dEance the idea that the
chofeta u not brought here and IL not contagious
its man1scslatlons, wnleh would =eem to tndicafe
That thero art CAUSES Inherent tn our atmosphere
and out soil and our normal state Of p-c.emiueut
flth which fayor. II indeed they do nor actns1ly
proper direction Wll no doubt ease our city from
much OF the fatality which wifi otherwise be inevl-
table. II the city be allowed to remain IN lts pre-
sent dlshy condition, md ne hops to see the COM
when a1oried By the Common Councll, viii have
the desired effect,
THE GREAT STORM.
4Jnwr, n1o 81 ar.o T noo ~ %ha t2wnna11.