Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1867-10-19
NEWS IN DETAIL.
THE YELLOW FEVER IN NEW ORLEANS.
FerForS OF the SeOurge-Deserted Streets
Sad Death Scenes

the CINCINNATI Inquirer
ForlOrn and deserted streetsl Dustv.
dry payements, and cutters reekinp
with stagnaneyl At every turn a FIN.
neral. This one composed of two car
riages, In the foremost of which a little
white coffin resting between the parents
on the seats, tells of a loved child TAX
en- remOrselessly away by the destroyer;
that one preceded by a hearse, the
horses dressed with nodding plumes of
black, and scores of carriages following.
slowly, mournfully, as another and
another goes to his grave. This is the
story OF every day, of every hour, in
this afflicted, crushed, heart broken
city. You, at distance, simply hear
each day that so many deaths were
reported yesterday" This is bnt the
bare outline of the terrible recital, and
nothing but actual presence here could
give true idea of the distress which
prevails, and of the complete disorgan-
cation, financial, commercial and social,
existing IN consequence of the cpl
demic.
The number of deaths now exceeds
so per day. This is comparatively
small when compared with the pOpnla-
ton of the city, or with the number of
persons attacked. But it is the rapid
spread of the disease which now ez-
cites alarm. In one day last week
there was an increase of sixteen In the
number of deaths from the fever. On
Monday, the 9th inst, the total NOR
tally reported was rs, a greater num-
Der than is usually reported in an en-
tire week in the early summer season.
OF this number 81 were from yellow
fever.
AS L write cab rattles by in the
street below, and looking ont / SEQ
seated in it poor young fellow, Just
seized with the disease. He has not
probably been sick an hour, and yet is
perfectly, entirely helpless. He is
wrapped in a coarse blanket, and is. to
all appearances, unconscious. a saffron
face, half-clOsed eyes, his tongue hang
imp out, bis head rolling from side to
side, these are the symptoms which
mark him yellow fever patient. By
his side sits some faithful friend, who
is taking him to the charity hospital,
that great receptacle for the poor and
needy, where now nearly a thousand
victims lie parched, delirious, and many
of them dying.
And, alas there is an even sadder
side to- this already sad enough picture.
Died, an unknown white man. -
There are very MANY of these. Men
who have homes. wives, children, are
taken sick upon the street, and, soon
deprived of reason, are found by the
police and taken TO the hospital. Every
DAY the police reports show number
of persons picked up sick and destitute.
Some are able to give their names.
others are not Only yesterday, as /
was riding down Magazine street in a
Car, saw, lying upon the sidewalk,
before an undertaker's establishment
poor fellow, a middle-aged man, evil
IDENTIFY a labOrer. He was writhing
with pain, while the hot sun was beat
ing and glaring down upon him with
all its power. Some good Samaritan
was stopping over him and doing all in
his power to relieve the poor mans
suffering. And yet many in the car
barely turned their heads to look at
the sad sight, and then went ON talking
and laughing again as if it were moth
ing.
Directly opposite, in a gilded bar
room, men were drinking and carous-
ing. The click of their glasses, the
loud laughter, the merry upTOar were a
more than ever hollow mockery, when
contrasted with the scene over the way.
But when night has stolen over the
city, then 1t is that the real gloom |
comes. And yet this is strange, for
snch radiantly moonlight nights we're |
never dreamed of by young lovers as
those which we are having now. One
who looks up through the trees of La |
fayette square at the mellow moonlight
of midnight, who feels the cool, brac- |
ing air, almost like that of our Louis
lana winter, finds it hard to believe |
that on all sides of him the sick, the |
diving, the already bereaved are lying |
or weeping. But there is loneliness |
and a gloom on the streets at night /
which makes ones footsteps resOund |
with a weird echo.
Many have left the city, and those
now here feel the greatest safety in re
naming. La Rue's Carnival minstrels
came here, as L told you in a previous |
letter, to fulfill an engagement at the |
Academy of Music. They had played |
lllIGb u1kDAH WIbh AAACAA hRtuIs mr. 1
Stanley, who had preceded them few |
days, took the fever, and died at the |
City Hotel. They threw up their en-
gagement at once, and left by the same |
train that carried off Gen. Sheridan
Since their departure it is stated that |
one of their number, AInsley Scott, |
has died of the disease at Canton,
Miss, and that another of them, Cal. |
Wagner, is also sick with it.
OF the police force. composed now
principally of discharged soldiers,
about fifty are off duty on account of
the fever. Among the soldiers, it was
said week since that one hundred and
sixty five deaths had occurred. In the |
navy it has not been so bad, with the |
exception of the gunbOat Mahaski, of
which 1 have already written you.
All this is a terrible picture for one
to draw, and sadder one to witness.
We had hoped from the long absence
of the yellow fever that its strength |
was broken. At no time since 1858 has |
it prevailed to any extent in New Or
leans, and people had begun to think |
it's appearance In an epidemic form a |
thing of the past. But now again, af- |
ter nine years, it comes once more, in |
vading nearly every household. Mean- |
while, emigration has poured IN from |
the North and from Europe, furnishing |
an abundance of material for the de- |
stroyer-a harvest ripe for the sickle. |
This epidemic will be terrible draw
back TO this section. It will stop emf
grafton, it will hamper investments and |
will shake the confidence of all not |
horn here. who might have chosen this