Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-10-09
HORRORS OF THE EPIDEMIC.

anything else, why amt ours jist e1
good ez anybodys9
HORRORS OF THE EPIDEMIC
Some Of the Brutality and Bar
baYism Fever Has Developed.
From the Memphis Appeal.
The brutality, barbarian and in.
difference developed by this epidemic
stand out in marked contrast with
the heroism which has cost us %
many lives. scarcely day passes
that the community, bowed in sor.
row for 20 many weeks, 10 not sham.
ed by one or another of these hideout
phases OF inhumanity. As if it were
not enough that the experiences ol
the times develop cases Of total neg
lect which are brought to light when
the sufferers are past hope and be.
yond the reach Of human aid, we
havo creatures in the semblance OF
mon who, terrorized ont of all reas.
on, surrender themselves to demoni-
acal passions and express their fears In
acts that are . disgrace to our race
and blood.
The story which we copy from the
Jackson Tribune and Sun, to-day, 10 .
case of that sort, and, perhaps, ONE of
the worst that has come under our
notice. A little boy, convalescent,
sent to Milan, from Grand Junction,
by his father, that he might there
breathe q purer atmosphere and be
out of the way of the horrible sights
which an epidemic develops, took
possession of log cabin where, dur
ing the night, he was beset by . par
ty Of f1ends who, by firing upon the
lonely little chap, compelled him to
evacuate and take to the woods on the
coolest night Of the season. Any
thing more brutal than this has not
come under our notice. Then there
was the case of the fever-stricken
man in railroad car, which was un-
coupled and left on a side track near
the National cemetery, where, bnt for
the ministrations of brave friend
and timely assistance from Memphis
he would have died, as the poor fell
low did who, left in q box car near
Stevenson, was beset by q cowardly
mob, possessed of only ono idea, that
of self-preservation. Then we had
the case of the negro men, poor fell
lows. driven forth by few inhuman
persons, some of whom have since
died of the fever they thus inhuman-
ly sought to fight off. The three vic
Tins of their cowardice died misera.
bly, by the wayside, giving evidence
by the contortions of their bodies
that they passed away in nameless
agonies. Horrible to think Of such,
An incident six weeks ago would
hayc been secuted as impossible by
the very persons who participated in
it. Then there is the case Of poor
negro woman, who, dying of fever,
was rolled in q blanket and uncere-
moniously dumped into hog-hole
by her terror-stricken husband and
kinfolks. Bad enough that those who
died within the limits SO we'll served
by the Howard Association and Citi-
zens' Relief Committee should some
days ago, on account of the want Of
laborers and coffins, have had to lie
for two or three days, poisoning the
air with nameless stencil and send
ing forth countless billions of spores
to feed on the vitals of the faithful
few who have done such noble SER
vice in battling with the scourge.-
Bad enough that these horrors should
exist to appal the living, and help to
increase the awful mortality, but
when to them we add the wanton in
humanity of stoning and shooting at
q defenceless boy Of only ten years,
driving helpless fever-stricken pa
tients from the only shelter they have,
and shaming our common humanity
by leaving bodies in hog holes, food
for the hogs, we are overcome with
shame for brave people, generous
and noble people who, after enduring
all the trials Of q great war, and at
testing both their moral and physical
courage, should have their fair escut-
cheon sOiled by brutalism without
parallel.
Hearing such things, one wonders
if our civilization is really failure,
and we are going back to the days of
the London plague, when all the
bonds of society we're loosened, and
besides the disease, which carried
away so many thousands, the people
of the great capital were the prey of
an epidemic of moral cowardice.-
Were it not for the thousands of cases
of heroism, almost divine in their self
sacrifice, which we witness every
day, such conclusion would be ire
sistlble. Another case, and we close
for the present. Mr.. Ben K. Pullen,
an old and honored citizen, who is
hn1A ssn tkn tDh
right, honorable man, on Monday
last went out to Elmwood Cemetery,
loveliest of the cities of the dead, to
perform the sad duties of burying his
wife, who had died of the fever. It
was late, past 5 o'clock in the evening,
when the carriage and the hearse ar
rived at the cemetery. There was
still three-q uarters of an hour to pass
before the hour arrived, when funer-
al parties are refused admittance and
the laborers suspend work. The man
in charge of the cemetery-named
Finn or Edwards, it is not known
which-came to the spot where the
grave was to be dug, with party Of
negroes, whom he informed that they
would not receive any extra pay for
work done after 6 o'clock, thus trying
to prevent them from tho work they
were there TO perform. The negroes,
more humane than he, and indignant
at such an exhibition Of brutality be-
fore the husband and children, stand
ing beside al that remained to them
of a good wife and mother, replied
that sometimes they worked for
friendship. They dug the grave,
lowered the casket, and had covered
it out of sight, having almost COM
pleted their work, when the same
coldblooded creature, in the hearing
Of the mourning family, and almost
in their faces, said: "You have
worked after 6 o'clock, and you shall
receive no pay for 1t. Hereafter NO
work shall be done after that hour,
no matter how many id carcasses
are brought here" Powerless to re-
sent an outrage 80 gross, the father
and children passed out and ON to
their homes, their grief intensified by
an insult that all men must share un-
til It il punished % il should be-
What . contrast is this to the offer
ings OF life itself by gentle women
and brave men, who come from far
distant States and cities to nurse our
sick and try to rescue from the very
jaws Of death our sorely stricken peo-
pie. How black and hideous such
things look by the light of the hu-
manity, courage and tenderness OK
hibited toward us by strangers who
leave all the endearments Of home,
the delights Of friendship and the
pleasures Of society to brave the dam
gers Of the plague In the performance
to them of duty. These horrifying
incidents are few; thank God, very
few whereas the noble examples oi
self-sacrifice are 20 many ~ to rob
even the epidemic Of Its terrors and
lift our race and name above the deg.
radiation Of the inhuman brutes Whose
sins are after oil their own.
i 1t 10 claimed at Washington tina,
the Southern Pacific Railroad Com
pany has effected . combination with
the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fl
| ~ nA thai Aksa latte.