Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-04-24
THE CHOLERA.
Arrival of the disease at New York on ship
board-I3S deaths on the voyage.


rom the New York World. of Friday.
- The report published in yesterday NOR
ning's World to the effect that the steamship
Virginia, from Liverpool, had arrived at
this port with the cholera on board, created
the greatest CONSERVATION. The disagreeable
news was received at too late an hour for the
publication of any details covering the real
facts of the case. Full particulars, however,
will be found in the following recital of the
voyage of the vessel
The steamship Virginia, of the National
steam Navigation Company, left Liverpool
on Wednesday, thei4th of April and reached
Queenstown the next day with one thousand
and forty-three passengers on board the
greater number of whom occupied the steer
age. At the time of the departure of the
vessel a slight diarrhea prevailed on board,
but no more than passing notice was taken
of it by the surgeons.
ORIGIN OF THE DISEASE.
On the sixth or seventh day after leaving
port, and, as it is said, while pursuing the
same course followed by the England a few
weeks previously, several of the passengers
who had been complaining of dysentery be-
gan to show symptoms of cholera, and on
the Sth day the surgeon pronounced 4 num-
Der of the most seriously i'll as suffering from
that dreadful disease.
The news spread like wild-fire throughout
the ship, and for time the greatest conster-
nation prevailed among the well passengers.
One after another fell under the ban of the
plague, until seventy-seven persons were
stretched in their bcrths, laboring under the
fearful tortures which the victims of this
terrible scourge are ever certain t. suffer.
The well passengers, fearful of catching the
disease, for long time refused to lend their
assistance to the surgeon of the vessel, and
almost without the slightest aid he and his
assistants were obliged to work by them
selves for the relief of the sufferers. Before
arriving at this port thirty-seven persons
had died OF the pest. In the steerage, in
which the disease broke out, there were two
compartments, one for women and the other
for men. Between the two is an iron air
tight bulk, by which means any epidemic
arising in one compartment is prevented
from extending to that adjoining. But the
disease nevertheless ragged in both with equal
fury, proving that persons of both sexes
infected with the disease before embarking
had been the promoters of the contagion.
STRANGE COINCIDENCE.
A peculiar feature of the disease, which
is worthy of special attention is, that when
the Virginia arrived in the same latitude in
which the passengers of her sister ship, the
England, were attacked with the cholera,
the first unmistakable symptoms of the real
nature of the illness of those on board were
made manifest. This, if true, would seem
a. Il
ly advanced by many prominent medical
men, that certain currents of air on the
ocean are deadly in thei- effect in causing
the cholera, while the atmosphere a mile
distant from the particular spot, that, if
known, would be avoided by vessels pur-
suing a course running through 1t, is free
from any contagion. Another remarkable
circumstance concerning the spread of the
disease on the vessel was that the German
passengers were the first TO show signs Of the
epidemic's existence on board. To this fact
the surgeons are directing their attention,
with view to finding out the primary cause
of the whole plague.
BURYING THE DEAD.
Amid the terrible scenes in the Storage,
where the Frustrated lay livid and gasping,
one that struck even greater terror TO the
hearts of those who had as yet resisted the
attacks of the disease, was the occasional
vista of the surgeon or one of his assistants
10 the berthS of those who were found to be
suffering the most, and whose bodies, when
dead, were removed and thrown into tbs
sea. Even those who were not dangerously
i'll, but who lay in their berths suffering in
tenselv, now and then, as the twinges and
gripings and discharges incident TO the dis
ease decreased in their intensity, had the
appearance Of osrpSes, livid in hue, the
ewes sunken in their sockets, and the lips
turned blue and tightly drawn up, pinehed
and cold as in death. But to them the doc
tors visits were not paid the most frequent
", but to those berths wherein few mo-
ments before he beheld unfortunate men
struggling in the last agonies of death. Body
after body was carried out terrifying the
living, who saw as it were, their own fate
pictured in the ghastly countenances Of the
upturned faces of the dead. With only
mere sail or cloth wrapped hurriedly round
them, and without even the funeral fornali-
ty of prayer, the bodies were slid over the
side of the vessel and consigned to their last
resting place.
ACTION OF THE HEALTH COMMISSIONERS.
On the arrival of the Virginia at the
Upper Quarantine, where all the incoming
vessels are examined before being allowed
TO proceed to the city, DIR. Burdett left
Staten Island in small boat, about 81
O'Clock on Wednesday evening, and soon
aherward boarded the infected ship. On
descending to the hold or steerage, the sick
were found lying in the double-tier berths
He Immediately pronounced tho disease
Asiatic cholera, and proceeded at once to
notify the Health Officer of the port.
10000 BUSHELS