Connecticut western news., 1873-11-07
A Fever Stricken City.
The Ravages of the Yellow Fever i'm the
 City of Memphis-A Heroine.

City of Memphis-A Heroine.
 Some parts of the city of Memphis are nearly absolutely abandoned. You can walk square after square, day and night, without finding soul to talk to without finding an open door or see- ing light or any other signs of life. Death and fright have carried or driven the people all away. An owner ot property in what is called the stinfect. ed district" directed his agent as a matter of charity not to call on his ten ants for pay on the usual day, and some time after, when going through the neighborhood, it was found that all his houses were empty. Those who had not been taken by the plague had been driven off by terror. Business is at a perfect standstill, when, had it not been for the epidemic, Memphis, would now be in the flush of trade and commercial activity. A large proportion of the private residences are closed, giving those funeral appearance which even have had no such sad occasion of mourning within their walls. Most of them, however, are associated in the minds of the citizens with scenes of dis ease and death. Very few ladies are met on the streets, save those wearing the badge of some charitable society or the weeds of mourning. The street cars are never crowded, generally hay ing but one or two passengers, and are scarcely more numerous than hearses. Theatres, of course, are all closed, and so; too, are more than thirds of the bar rooms. I. Stopped in one of the open ones to light my cigar, when I found the keeper engaged in writing on @ sheet of note paper with broad black border. ., The story was told with out the use of words, and, accomplish ing my purpose, I left without disturb ing him. Woe and desolation are on all sides, and never can be described by pen. ..-. ... r.-st. .e's
 Still there is bright side. Acts of heroism and charity are many and glorious. Memphis has promised to erect a tall, white shaft to the memory of young girl who was yesterday laid in her grave at Elmwood, and the name of Mattie Stevenson will be more deep ly graven in the hearts of the citizens of the stricken city" than it can be on the marble column which will mark her resting place. This little girl, of Bloomington, Ill.,, aged about eighteen, was enjoying summer vacation with relatives in New England, when, hear ing of the death-dealing pestilence here, she resolved to come and do what she could for the sick and dying. Fear ing that friends and relatives would stay her if they knew her intentions she gave no intimation of her purpose till she presented herself to the Towards as @ nurse. A doctor. applied for an att tendant to wait upon poor, dying wo- man, who was in the last stage of the fever and was suffering the bangs of parturition. Mattie was sent to him, and, though greatly surprised at seeing this seeming child, her words were such that he could not refuse her aid. She went to the bedside of the dying, and the attending physician reports that she seemed to know what to do by inspiration. The destroyer, however, had too nearly. Accomplished his work. That night, with no one near ;her but this volunteer nurse, the mother and her safron-hued babe were added to the list of mortality. Reporting the facts at the headquarters of the How ards, she was sent to the Lehner House to await instructions. Before she had time to rest she was called upon again. This time there was an old man and wo- man sick at No. 433 Main street. $ That morning they had taken in charge four orphans whose parents had died in the next house. Two of these children were now down with the fever, and Miss Mattie was asked if she would go to them. .. ,--... ~:r. -3 .,:~ M
 "[ will, she said, and in short 6I1Of cI, ho, I, o1r children. One of the Towards was placed there to assist her. The sick were kindly nursed, and in few days they, with the other two orphans, were placed in comfortable homes.
 After this duty was performed, our heroine from Illinois was sent to house on Concord street, where a man by the name of Sullivan was down with the prevailing malady, and four others were threatened. Here she gave as- siduous attention until MT. Sullivan died. Prostrated by overwork, she be- came affected by the contagion, and was carried to the Walthall Infrmary, now patient herself. As uncomplain- ing in affiiction as she was unfinching in the performance of her self-imposed duties, she became pet of the doctors and nurses, who bestowed upon her every attention and used every effort to save her life, but all was in vain. Her pure spirit has ascended, and her con- jsecrated body lies in the grave at Elm wood.
 It seems that this young girl came to Memphis without sufficient clothing, but refusing to accept any intended for the sick, and refusing pay for her ser vices, she wrote home for few needed articles, and the day before she died the box arrived. She was then, of course, too i'll to know anything about it, and MT. Langstaff, President of the How ards, opened the box to find some trace of the girls history. The box con- tained two neat calico dresses, some cuffs and undergarments, and several small packages of delicacies suitable for the sick, and which had evidently been put up for such purpose. They were carefully replaced, while the by islanders turned away with tear -dimmed eyes and silently left the room.
 The heroine's grave is at prominent point not far from the gates of the cemetery, whither it had been con- ducted by funeral procession.
 Miss Lulu Wilkinson, of Memphis, whose self-sacrifcing devotion to duty has been akin to that of Miss Steven sons, was stricken about the same time. These two noble women were patients together in the Walthall Infrmary, and, as stated before, were the recipients of every attention that kindness and love could suggest. The one has gone to