The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-09-25

AT the hour appointed for public service
an interesting address on Protestant Mis-
sions in Greece was delivered by DR.. HALO
pothakes, missionary from Athens.
Presbytery then adjourned until to-mor-
| row at 0 o'clock. Closed with prayer. G..
Yellow Fcyer-Its RavaseS In Memphis
and Shreveport.
Private advices and the letters of CORE
spondcnts from Memphis and Shreveport
give far more terrible account Of the raw
ages Of the yellow fever in those places
| than can be obtained from the meagre tele-
graphic details.
IN MEMPHIS.
In Memphis the disease first made its ap-
pearance in locality, reeking with filth and
degraded humanity, known as "Happy
Hollow" The population Of that place be-
fore the fever decimated them numbered,
perhaps, one thousand souls, and was COM
posed of negroes and 4 low class Of Irish.
The district is situated on the river bank,
and the habitations consist of rude novels
and shanties, in which goats and pigs strug-
gled for the mastery Of place with their
owners.
For several days previous TO the 18th IN
slant the fever had been creating havoc in
Happy Hollow" although the fact was not
generally known. On the night Of the 18th
the presence of the pcstience was first made
known publicly, and on the next morning
Sunday the Board of Health officially de-
clared its existence in the city. Up to Sat-
urday night thirty-nine deaths, it was an
nounced, had occurred in and about "Happy
Hollow" On Sunday the death-roll was
augmented by fourteen deaths which were
Of nt
ton was given. Many bodies, it is said,
were thrown into the river. The tldings OF
Sunday produced widespread commotion
in the city, which almost resembled panic.
| peope hurricdly packed up their clothing
and left by boat and train. The streets were
filed with hacks either bearing away the
scores of refugees or doing service i'll fllne-
| raj trains.
On Tuesday twenty more deaths occurred,
| although the telegraph reported a smaller
number, and on Wednesday the death list
footed up seventeen, making, with those pre-
yiou>ly reported, ninety deaths. In the
mean time the pcople--those who could con-
vcnicnt|y get away-wcre fastening from the
city in crowds, and wncn, OIL Friday the
! 18th, services were held in the leading Pro-
| tcstant churches most of the church-goerS
we're found to have left the town. On that
lay the principal streets of the city were
deserted and wore mournful look, as, in
obedience to the Mayors proclamation, many
of the places Of business were closed. For
the twenty.four hours ending at O'Clock on
last Friday night the deaths from fever num-
| bered twenty-five. The pestllence had made
| its way from "Happy Hollow" and
"Piuch,' where it had previously prevailed.
and had spread over every part of the city
| and in the suburbs. Shelby, a fashionable
| street, had its victims lis well as Happy
| Hollow"
Hourly applications were made to the
| Howard Association for nurses, hut in the
majority of cases, although over eighty were
in constant attendance upon the sick, this
| needed relief could not be obtained. The
| large wages Of So per day were offered for
nurses, but without avail. The regular pay
| for permanent nurses is S35 per week, with
| board and travelling expenses paid. A cor
respondent who visited "Happy Hollow y
and I" Pinch " saw at least twenty fever pa
| tents in the throes of dissolution. In one
shanty could be seen the CHASTITY spectacle of
the father of the family ian Irishmau) sitting
dead in his chair with his head fallen upon
| his breast, while on q rude bed near by lay
his wife dying. Two girls, daughters of the
couple were also sick in the same room. All
four died during the night, and were buried
| in the Pottcr's Field. In other shanties three
bodies ready for burial were found, in Others
one or two, and in others still whole families
were either dead or dying.
The Board Of Health vainly endeavored
BY two or three devices to stay the peSti.
lence. They turned the water from the
plugs into the dirty cutters. and Tor two OF
three nights in succession the gas from the
street lamps was permitted to escape al
night as a ti>infectant. BY Saturday morn
uy last number Of the streets presented Z
funeral appearance, Il majority OF the house:
occupied by the poorer classes being closed
and nearly all the corner groceries and meat
shops being shut up.
IN SHREVEPORT.
| Passengers on Shreveport steamer
which reached New Orleans on the 18th
describe the pesilence and dcStitution il
that town as irightful beyond all telegnpheC
reports. Fully one-half of the 5000 or 900
inhabitants had fled in every direction, many
of them only to die on reaching Il place o
apparent refuge. The sickness was the
Mexican vemito. and had been brought tt
the town by the Transatlantic Circus, {
strolling company from Vera Cruz, which
had travelled along. the line Of the TeXa!
Pacific railway. and had left the seeds Of the
contagon along their route. Two other
causes, in the opinion of the citizens, aided
to intensity the malignant and fatal charac
ter of the pestilence, and these were the un
healthy condition of the town, arising from
the removal of the Red river raft and the in
fected atmosphere caused by the stencil o.
dead cattle upon Sunken steamboat, the
Ruby, which lies in the river near the town
While the circus was in Shreveport seve
r,l of the members died Of the disease, anC
after it left others OF the company who re-
NAMED also perished So fatal is the fever
that but few who are attacked recover
Three DAYS is generally the longest limit o.
the sickness, and many die in forty-eigh
hours time The poorer classes were the
first TO suffer, but it has now spread through
all ranks of society, and many prominent
peope have died. In some cases whole
families have been swept away. The first
case of yomito occurred on August Both,
| when Mrs. Stoner died; then Il gentleman
who had nurSed her was FRUSTRATED and ded
| in his turn. Following these were the cases
of three men who came to Shreveport from
the raft in the Red river, where they had
been working. They were all three taken
sick with the vomito and died. These
deaths caused panic, and the deaths follow
ed thereafter with frightful rapidity.
The negroes had generally escaped the
pestilence, but the quadroon element had
suffered. The town, with its deserted streets,
wears a gloomy appearance, and so many
have gone away that there are barely enough
left to bury the dead. The blacks are fright
ened and demoralzed, and it is difficult to
hire them to nurse the patients. AS gene
raj rule, the digging of the graves is per-
formed by the old men OF the town.