The Waco daily examiner. [volume] (Waco, Tex.) 187?-1888, 1878-11-23
THE PLAQUES OF THE PAST.

With mixture of awe and submits
ion. In the recent epidemic 1t has
)een attentively studied in almost
very light, and now that IL has ceas-
ID, concerted efforts will be continual
I'd to discover, if possible, its nature
and prevention. Howcvertlc inves-
tigation may result, II will have a
good effect in disseminating intelli-
gcncc in regard 10 yellow fever, and
thereby robbing it of some Of its ter
rors. The worst feature of the pes
thence in olden time was the demon
alization fright, which accompa-
MED them. The following brief
sketch gives a vivid idea of that
decentralization which fortunate
ly does not belong to our visitation:
Its most frightfnl attack was centur-
les ago, when, under the name of
Black Death, It wiped away, accord
ing to some estimates, one-third of
the population of the Old World; but
in modern history it has appeared
not less than three times, and num-
bered its victims by tens of thou
sands.
The first occasion was in 1876, at
Milan, Italy. Cardinal Charles Bor-
romeo was then archbishop; he was
so universally loved that his flock,
his clergy even, besought him to save
his life by fight; but the shepherd
was faithful to his sheep, and would
not desert them In their bitter ex-
remity. He refused to leave, and
throughout the many weary months
during which the plague lasted, was
constant at his post. He seemed to
bear charmed life, and when all but
he and a few faithful ones like him
self appeared TO have abandoned all
hope, he assembled his congregation
under the mighty dome of the mag
nificcnt cathedral, and there, after
solemn High Mass, knclt down and
prayed God to take his life as an ex-
piatory offering, and deliver his pco-
pie from the curse.
Its next appearance was in Amster-
dam, Holland, in 1868, whence, in the
following year, it crossed the channel
and visited London. From the fol-
flowing February until after the first
frost of winter, its rayages were hor-
riblc. In one month not less than
10000 people died, and the city so
soon afterwards to be consumed by
fire, was half dcpopulated. The
symptoms were the same as they had
been in Milan. A raging fever of a
typhoid character was accompanied
by malignant tumors on the inner
side or the arms and thighs. The pain
was excruciating, the thirst torment
ng, and patients died by hundreds
in the very delirium of madness. Nc
Borromeo was there to direct the en-,
ergies of the priests and nurses
There were deeds of hcroism done
but it was not heroic age. Tho
profligate Charles III was ON thu
throne, and the Earl of Rochester and
his set were scarcely the men TO fol
! low in the footsteps of the grand
archbishop.
i When the pcstilcnce was at it,
height, the condition Of London wal
| frightful. Whole streets bore upon
the doors cross, roughly painted in
| red, with the inscription, "The Lord
have mercy upon us" as a sign that
one or more If the inmates were
dead or dying. The grass grew in
the thoroughfarcs that used ito be
crowded, and where brilliant carri-
ages had travelled to and fro at every
hour of the day, only the tracks OF
the dead cart were seen. There were
none to bury the dead with appro-
pirate or even decent ceremonies.
Huge pits were dug in the outskirts,
and the bodies Of men, women and
children, uncofiincd, almost naked,
were hurled in by the hundred.
Corpses were left TO tester and rot
even in the lanes and alleys, and for
some days 1t appeared as though
enough would not be left alive to
bury the dead. 1t was carnival of
crime. Thieves and housebreakers
roamed the city at will, and hired
nurses, impatient of the slow APP
proach of death, murdered their
charges by the hundred, and enrich
ed themselves with the spoil. Quack
doctors, fortune tellers, sellers of
amulets and charms, and even ven
ders of poison, reaped huge profits.
The last and third appearance of
the plague was at Marseilles, France,
in 1921. The Parliament of Prov
ence attempted 10 establish military
cordan around the city, but fugitiycs
escaped and carried the disease else
where, and II was not until nearly
10000 had persisted that the plague
abatod.
Wherever II has appeared, an out
break Of crime has always accom-
panied the plague, but everywhere,
also, there have been noble men and