Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1873-11-22
The Domain Of Death.
The Terrible Two Months OF Lifo I'm
Shreveport ns Told by a Resident

oinces III new Otleansy was NJ pnreNe- /
port during the whole of the epidemic,
and gives the following account of the
sufferings in that pestilence-ridden
city:
Shreveport lies north and south along
the Red River, and, before the days of
the pestilence, numbered II, 900 inhabi-
tants. The fever broke ont on August
28th. It became an epidemic about
Sept. 4th, and 5000 of the population
at once left the city. Since that time
Shreveport has been quarantined in
every direction. Mails for Texas are
lying there which should have gone for
ward two months ago. The lowest NOR
tality on any day of twenty-four hours
was three and the highest thirty.six
Up to October 25th there had been 720
deaths.
The cause of the yellow fever cpl
demic is not attributable to the Red
River raft. Not single case of fever
or any other sickness occurred among
the 140 men employed by the United
States Government in removing this OBJ
struction to the upper Red River
navigation. This fact in itself puts a
quietus on the theory of several scien-
lists. The causes of the fearful cpl
demic, after the appearance of the dis
ease, are to be found in the filthy con-
dition of the city and in the drying up
of the swamps and morasses in the
suburbs, producing the malaria. The
virulenee of the contagion is directly
attributable to the skinning of 200 car
casses of dead cattle and their subse-
quent putrefaction on the river banks,
about two miles below the city. A
steamer loaded with cattle sunk at that
place, and the negroes towed the dead
animals ashore, where, after being
skinned, their carcasses we're left to de-
compose. A southwest wind, wich pre-
walls during much of that season of the
year, carried the stencil which the burn
ing sun created into the city. This pre-.
pared the air for taking the infection.
The first case of the fever, however,
was brought from New Orleans but,
under the influences mentioned, it re-
solved itself into the most virulent type
of Mexican black vomit The percent
age of deaths at the most violent period
of the pestilence was 95 out of every
100. Sixty per cent. was about the
average, but there were never less than
40 deaths to every 100 persons attacked.
The symptoms began with violent
pain in the head and shoulders. Heavy
aches and numbness then attacked the
bones in the limbs. The fever then set
in and the pulse rose to 100 to 40 pei
minute. The crisis of the disease ar
rived in about three days, when the
fever left the patient; then, if the kid
neys could be kept right, the case was
a hopeful one. All of the deaths oc
Cured either from black vonit, which
is the complete putrefaction of the
stomach, or from the entire sequestra
ton of the urinary organs. There wal
hardly case of the disease where the
catheter did not have to be resorted to
The period of the disease was in eacl
case owing to the constitution of thu
patient-the strongest did not survive
week.
The treatment was simply hot mus
tard bath, with castor oil as O cathartic
Calomel, the old specific in this disease
} was entirely discarded. Fear killed {
great many. Recovery in the best case
} was matter of GOODNESS, constitution
and good luck. The shortness of tn
supply of nurses prompted the organi
: cation of the Howard Association il
J Shreveport, Mr.. J.. r. Simmons being
chosen President. The President o
} the Association in New Orleans, Mr.. E
F. Smith, came at once to Shreveport
: with nurses and physicians. Th
, deaths among the nurses did not exceed
, five. The greatest mortality among an,
, one sect was in the ranks of the Gath
} Ole clergy. They were very faithful i
/ their ministrations on the sick and tn
/ dying. The Protestant ministers wer
equally fearless of death and just as in
, defatigable in the discharge of thei
sacred duty. The telegraph operator
: were the next heaviest sufferers in pre-
portion to numbers, four out of 81
falling victims to the dreadful dis
: ease.
3 There was no such thing as tuners
: services at the churches or at tn
} graves. Every place of business wa
: closed except the drug stores and liqut
Q saloons. The churches were CLOSED
: The formalities of burial were veryf few
s The deaths were reported to the How
0 ard Association, which at once detaile
/ workmen to dig the graves. The coffi
s was taken to the sidewalk in front {
e the house. The corpse was brougf
from the house, put into the box, anC
after being closed up, the casket VIZ
placed in a wagon and driven at ga
lop to the cemetery. There it was d.
l. posted beside the undug or only pa
/. TALLY completed grave. The gray
i. digger was left alone with the corps
;" and his own thoughts. He got the be
IS into the grave as best he could. I'll
e cemetery, and especially the Potter
q field, looks like battle field with i
y newly made graves.
% There were no hearses to convey IL
q bodies with some show of decorum
), their last resting places. No mourne,
u followed the corpse to the grave. Thol
u who would have wished to 60 to the fl
3. neral of friend were required at Il
o bedside of dying wife or child. I'll
|, sick monopolized the attention of tt
= living; the dead we're regarded as b
II You'd all the help of love or affectio,
high ana low, rlcn ana poor, we
!e buried alike. Whole families we
/, swept ont of existence-not memb
% left. There are 100 little orphans wi
n have lost both father and mothe
+ They will be raised by the State of Lo
20 isiana.
20 The fever virtually terminated on Il
d Goth of October, when heavy fro
70 chilled the atmosphere, and by stiffe
ing up the ground stopped the form
ton of the malaria. Regarding myse
can only say TINT I meyer have hi