The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-09-04
Progress of the Yellow
Fever Scourge.
A DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE EPI-
DEMIC IN THE SOUTH.
How Yellow Fever Began in New Orleans and
was thence Scattered Broadcasu--The Desc
lation of Grenada and the Terror in
Memphis-sad Incidents of the
Epidemic.

| by the first of August the plague, of which
accounts have since come disjointedly day
| by day, was fairly started. During the first
week in August from ten to fifteen patients
died every twenty-four hours, or about
twenty-five per cent. of all who were
stricken. The news carried fright to the
cities and towns along the Gulf, and quar-
antines were generally established against
the incoming of the dreaded fever. The
| terror was especially great in Texas, and
| neither passengers nor freight were permit
ted to come into the State by railroad or
boat from the infected city. Even the mail
service was suspended, so fearful were the
people that the deadly disease would reach
them. Along the Mississippi river meas
ures almost equally stringent were early
adopted. Maurice Mayer, who slipped into
Vicksburg before the boat on which he had
come from New Orleans could be examined
by the health authorities, was fined $3.50 and
com PEELED To qrlt the city. Business
throughout the whole Southwest was at
once disOrdered, and in a great measure
stopped. New York merchants were told
by telegraph not To send goods that had been
ordered, and in most instances no such
countermand was necessary, for there was
good reason to fear a spread of the scourge.
aud who could insure the lives of the debt
ors?
The disease held its own in New Orleans,
| and little more, the death rate increasing
steadily, so that on August TO- twenty
| persons died OF it. Thereafter the Health
| Board refused to give the figures for publi-
cation perhaps being ashamed that their
| neglect of duty had helped the disaster. if
not caused it. The streets had not for fiji
| teen years, or since Benjamin f. Butler
| cleaned them, been so foul. No precautions
OF any consequence had been taken, aud the
/ ait " in a Tn fa n poG
| to the yellow enemy. Yet, as though pitt
| full, the fever was not quick to Stay. 1t
was not of an excessively virulent type at
| first The authorities sought by activity to
| do, too late, what a little precautiOn might
have made unnecessary. They washed the
streets by flushing them with water from
| the river. They spilled carbolic acid every
where, and, soon losing faith in that disin
| fectant, used Il great quantity of fresh
| burned lime, strewing it plentifully in the
| fOulest parts of the city. PHYSICIANS
nurses, and medicines were furnished to all
| yellow fever patients, regardless of ability
| to pay. All of these things failed to drive
out the fever; how much good they have
| done in restricting the ravageS can only be
| guessed at Certain it is that the number
| of cases rose TO an average of hundred
| day. and the fever became so Virulent that
| thoroughly acclimatcd persons were at
| tackled almost as readily as others. Even
| those born and raised in the city were nu-
merously stricken, particularly men whose
systems were already full of the poison OF
| alchOhOl. Although indifference to danger
| is a sentiment that, as abundantlv proved
| by experiment, is begotten by the presence
| of pestilence, fugitiVes from New Orleans
| were numerous after the dreadful extent of
! the scOurge was realized. 1t said that 50,-
| 600 residents have fled from the city, scat
| tering themselves over the country and get
| ting into quaTantined places in spite OF all
efforts to keep them out. They are in the
| main of the wealthy classes, The poor are
| IoF in Hardly
/ business is now done in the city The COM
! mouest vehicles in the streets are under
| takers wagons and physicians carriages.
Letters cannot be sent away, and all Gem
munication with the outer world is by tele-
graph. Gloom and CONSERVATION fill all
| minds. This is the sixth week of the fever,
| and it is tradition that If the sixth week
of yellow fever does not bring its end 1T
| cannot be checked before cold weather
! There is no indication of an end in New
| Orleans. The new cases are now averaging
| l25 a day, and the deaths range from thirty
| to forty. The work of caring for the sick
| has been systematiZed, and the city is at
last clean. Late news is prediction of
| storm, which will be likely to bring crisis
in the disease-a change for the worse or
| better.
OF course the yellow fever could not be
| confined to New Orleans, with her people
scattering in all directions 1t was in vain
that municipal authorities formally voted
that visitors from the plague spot should
| n
| was more to the purpose, but too late to be
ALWAYS effective Point Eads, s. settlement
| of wOrkmen on the jetties at the mouth of
the Mississippi, few miles below New Or
! leans. was the first place TO which the fever
| went. In malarial marsh, &c is not sur
| prisino that an uncommonly fatal form of
| the disease killed every person that 1t at
tackled However, the residents were few,
and those who could get away lost no time
in doing So Work on the jetties is forgot
l.. ha tlan M :
i ling with activity, is described as a hospit-
| al. Only the patients, nurses, and physi-
clan, are there.
Dread of the pestilence was quickly
shown throughout the South, and measures
of safety were hastily taken in most of the
larger cities. In most instances rigid quar-
antines were established; but some cities,
| like Louisville, did not attempt to exclude
all visitors from the infected region, relying
| rather on more enlightened sanitary de-
| lenses. There were villages, however, that
| were supiue in their fright, and did nothing
| to avert what they dreaded. Grenada Was
one OF these, and for her all the possible
horrors were reserved. Grenada is in Mis-
| sissippi, at the head of steam boat nayiga-
tion on the Ealobusha river, 275 miles north
of New Orleans, in a direct Lille of railroad
communication. The population was about
606-enough to make village needing an
efficient Health Department, without hav-
ing ore. The fever broke out suddenly,
and with great violence, on Aug. 10. The
first persons to be stricken down lived near
where an old sewer had Just been opened,
letting out great stencil from decaying
carcaSSeS, and the physicians believed for
awhile that the fever was typhoid; but
thew soon recognized it for what 1t was
yellow fever in its worst possible aspect.
There were eleven cases and three deaths on
the first day; on the second, twenty-one
more persons more were stricken and seven
died on the third, the figures were ITO nd
eighteen. The place had been handy
| 20, Nov nrla fin W
ried the fever that they meant to leave be-
hind. One story is that the scoufge came
in dress received by Grenada belle from
its maker in New Orleans; but it is only
certain that the dress came to her and that
she died. There had been no quarantine,
and one or many of the from New Orleans
without doubt brought the disease The
inhabitants, halt of whom were negroes,
had been living as though NTH was not
dangerous in hot climate during peStl-
leutial season. There were no public sani-
tary regulations, aud the streets were never
thoroughly cleaned. 1t is no wonder that
the seeds of yellow fever, sown In such a
field. sprang up quick and rank.
The Mayor OF Grenada too late became
| energetic, and his energy spent itself chiefly
in cries tor aid. He autographed to Mem
! phis, eighty miles distant. for physicians
and nurses, and 20 more distant cities fcr
money. He exhausted himself with two
DAYS Of sleepless activity, and then fell be-
fore the fever. It Is a popularity OF the
disease, that many of its victims do not
know when it is fixed upon them. 1hey
ascribe their unusual heat to some other
cause, until their strength if gone in dash,
. and they sink into utter collapse. so it was
, | with the Mayor. He thought his fever was
! | simply the result of hard work and excite
ment. He was In che telegraph once,
|. where he had gone to send one more frantic
appeal for help. when sudden weakness
/ overcame all his energy. He took a pen 10
write and il fell from his foreeless fingers.