Juniata sentinel. [volume] (Mifflintown, Pa.) 1846-1873, 1871-06-28
INCIDENTS OF THE PLAGUE At
BUENOS ATRES.


prevailing at Buenos Ayres for some
time, a. pears to be abating. 1t is the
opinion Of the American Consul that not
less than 80 600 perisbed. and still at
the latest dates, the carnival of death had
not ceased. though the deaths daily were
considerably diminished. But fourteen
Americans have fallen victims. A cor
respondent of the New York Herald
gives the following:
The most extraordinary tales are now
being narrated by eye-witnesses Of the
ecenes related, and continually finding
their way to the public prints, and may
one day form ghastly "literatnre of the
plague" Among those current are the
following hah-dozen incidents which have
gone the rounds of the press, most of
them being vouched for, but forming only
specimen cases from among the thousands
that have occurred
In March last confectioner broke open
bis coffin while being carried to the South
Cemetery, and, feeling faint, weak and
horrihed, rushed iuto neighboring pol
peria for glass Of brandy. After
drinking it be said to the pxLpero. Il
cannot pay you, as have no money; /
hare just broke Gu. of my coffin' Every
occupant of the house fed as though
fury was pursuing them. A street mes
senger, carrying an empty coffin on his
head. enters grog-shop, and putting the
coffin on the counter, drinks till he falls
to the Aoor, and is carried away with the
coffin. An engine driver on the North.
ern Railway line was lying in agony on
his bed. Suddenly be starts up and
rushes from the house a maniac. He
meets fellow-workman, and tells him,
IL am going to catch my train His
comrade took him to his house, but be
died two hours after reaching it. In the
coxsertillos, class of poor alley way ten
enent houses, the mortality was dreadful,
and as many as seventy dead bodies are
reported to have been taken from one of
these fever dens, and the scavenger carts
were employed in the removal Of the
corpses, sometimes actually breaking
down from the weight. st one time cof-
fns were publicly hawked or peddled
about the streets, and later the Popular
Commission distributed them gratuitously
to the poor One day man came up
and asked for coffin from the Commits
sion to bury dead relative. The burial
case was furnished, and two days later
be appeared and asked for a coffin for the
same person as the first one asked for.
1t finally turned out tina. be had, with
some acquaintances, been indulging in
drunken spree, leaving the relative nn-
buried. At last one of the acquaintan-
ces died of fever, and his body was
promptly put into a coffin; land now"
said he, I'VE are going to bury both to-
geiher."
in the haste of flight from the city
many houses were abandoned, with all
their contents, and at once the thieves set
up profitable business by watching
their opportunities and carting away all
tie furniture and other effects. This has
occurred in scores of Instances, and the
police now hold large number of keys of
abandoned dwellings,. During Holy
Week, which terminated April 9, the
plegue reached its extreme violence, and
it was ct that time that cofins, or rather
simple boxes, were peddled in the streets.
At this lime also the new cemetery at
the Cbacarita was opened, and the work
men who were employed as grave diggers
actually pursued their ghastly calling by
the light of lanterns far into the night,
being unable to inter the bodies as fast as
they arrived during the day. 1t may in
terest many persons also to learn that
among these grave diggers and mortuary
laborers there was a smaller ratio of
deaths than among any other class of
people.
Relief of substantial description is
still being freely sent in by our neighbor-
ing South American cities, and there
still is large need of aid. Moutevideo
has forwarded fully $4,000 in cash alone.