American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-08-12
Awful Devastation of an Indian
Village by Cholera.

One of the dark spots in Indian vii
lage life is the periodical visitation of
some epidemic which enters almost
every howell and carries off one or more
of the occupants. The villagers may
have been living happily together, their
minds perplexed about nothing more
serious than the state of their crops,
their cattle, or the ordinary gossip of
their little community, when suddenly
the destroyer appears, and the scene is
simultaneously changed from peaceful
ness into terror and confusion. A sad
instance of this fact has occurred in this
Presidency within the last few days.
Where there was once a thriving, pleas
ant little village situated on the sea-
shore, there is now a deserted collection
of huts. Not a human sound is to be
heard in the place from morn till night.
Most of the inhabitants are dead, the
victims of a terribly sudden invasion of
cholera, and the survivors have
left every thing in their
huts and fled to the adjoining
mountains. 1t is one of the most alarm
ing, and, we might almost say, awful
visitations which we know of in the his
tory of any village in this Presidency.
Golwood, the place we are referring to,
is midway between Bombay and Surat,
and on the Bombay, Baroda and Cen
trail India Railway. Being close to the
sea, officers of the company have hith-
erto looked upon it as kind of SANTA
rum, as it possessed many of the adj
vantages enjoyed by Tecthul and Bulsar,
the recognized sanitaria of Guzerat.
Here the guards of the goods trains
used to change, and many of them had
their residences near the station. Alto
gether, the population of Golwood
could not be more than 200. Last week
cholera, which is now preying around
Ahmedabad, suddenly entered the vii
lage, and slew victims right and left.
On the 4th inst, the first day of its ap-
pearance, no fewer than fifty-seven
people out of the small population
died; on the next i. day twenty
three died; twenty more died
on the 9Th; and, when we had our last
advices from Goldwood, there were
eighteen new cases, of which three
fourths were hopeless. The survivors
and every poor wretch who could move
have fled to the adjacent hills, where
they are now huddled together and
struggling to exist on such food as they
can find in that barren locality. Such
was the terror and helplessness of the
people when the outbreak occurred that
they did not bury their dead, and bod
les lay rotting in the streets for two
whole days, during which the stencil
was abominable. No reason for the
outbreak has been assigned, and the
fate of Golwood furnishes one more in
stance of the mysterious movements of
cholera. The misery of the people was
aggravated by the fact that there was no
doctor at hand. A Mr.. H. b. Wharton,
permanent way inspector on the B. B.
& G. 1. line, has house close to
the village, and when the epidemic
appeared the people ran to him
for help. He was the only European in
the station, and they naturally thought
the sahib might be able to help them.
He happened to have a small supply of
cholera mixture and chlorodyne, but it
was soon exhausted among SO many ap-
plicants, and Mr.. Wharton could do
nothing but listen helplessly while tales
of death were being told him on every
side by panic-stricken people. Mr..
Wharton says that the cholera was the
most virulent he had ever seen in the
course of long experience. He saw
people die within thirty minutes from
the nome mt of attack. The village was
filled with lamentations, and natives
rushed wildly hither and thither. Many
people died in the streets; while run
ming away they were seized with the
pangs of the disease end dropped on
the spot and soon expired. Bombay
Gazette.