The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-10-04
HORRORS OF THE PLAGUE.


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Heard In Memphis.
[cor. Chicago Tribune.l
As we drew near Memphis the exist
ence of plague became more and more
evident. On each side of the track are
to be observed fields of scotton boiled
out, and patches of corn with the silky
tassel long since in the sere and yellow
leaf of age. The harvest is ready in
deed, but the reapers are few. Oc-
casionally one sees a negro here and
there gathering the staple, but the crop
will doubtless be lost for the reason that
labrorers cannot be had for any con-
sideration.
Here and there were to be seen mat
tresses burning, and the patches of
fresh-turned earth indicated where some
loved one had been laid in the grave.
Five miles out of the city is to be seen
camp organized by the Total Absti-
nence Society; nearer town are a num-
Der of cars appropriated by the Louis
4 vile Railroad Company to the accommo-
dation of their employees, which is abso-
lutely indispensable to their retention
In service. The company provides each
employe with a disinfectant, quinine
and other medicines, as was informed,
and which was supported by the little
by-play of which the conductor was the
center-piece He carried camphor i'll
each vest-pocket, and, just before the
end of the trip was reached, called in
his brakemen "to medicine" Rang
manner of pupils at Dotheboys Hall,
he administered huge dose of
quinine to each, when they separated,
apparently feeling that the end was
near. When the cars came to a full
stop at the depot, he dismounted pre-
cipitately and, with handkerchief to
his nostrils, escorted lady passenger
to the omnibus and "slid." You
couldn't have hired him to go up town,
and he is certainly to be commended
for his diligent attention to the precau
tions inseparable from health As the
train passed on, the prevalence of the
disease was evidenced at every point.
AS we passed the houses which lined
the track, desolation, and death, and
the fullest complement of the horrors of
the plague stood out before our gaze,
stark and bare and grim, repulsive, ter
ror-breeding and CHASTITY. They were
enough to turn ones blood, and make
him quake in his shoes, but we kept on
to the end and reached the depot I'M
paralyzed.
AS stated in my dispatches, it is ut
terly impossible for those at distance
to imperfectly comprehend the situa-
ton here. No language can fully IL
lustrate the degree of restitution, af-
Fiction and death visible on every side.
In the streets nothing can be seen save
undertakers' carts (hearses being lux
ury accessible only at intervals), physi-
clans hurrying in every direction, worn
out, half sick, and depressed at the
prospect yet hurrying to relieve suffer
ing, and nurses moving with rapid pace
to "be in at the death" Such are the
sights, and the only sights, that relieve
the complete and incompatible mo-
notony apparent at all points. Street
after street is empty as the unmade
grave; house after house tenantless and
desolate with naught but the scamper-
ing of rats or the mournful howl of an
imprisoned dog, left by its owner in the
hurry of departure, TO Indicate the exist
ence of life. Everything about the city
bears the impress of calamity, dissolu
ton and forgetfulness. This is as true
of Adams, Vance, Shelby and Poplar
streets, where, in time of health, the
beauty and chivalry of Memphis reign
supreme, as it is of Happy Hollow"
and "Hell's Half-Acre," devoted to
criminals, prostitutes, and the incuba-
ton and commission of crime. Robe
son street has been completely wiped
out.
The air is filed with the stencil aris-
ing from burning and decaying matter,
from the disinfecting mediums en-
ployed vainly as some believe, and with
the peculiar odor of the disease itself,
which cannot be ikened to anything in
the arcana of nature, but which can
never be forgotten by those who have
inhaled the poison. These features of
the city itself are reflected in the APP
pearance of its permanent and transient
inhabitants. Severally and collectively,
though appalled, at the dimensions and
fatality of the disease, they are the BRAY
est of the brave.
At the corners of the streets, in the
lobby Of the hotel, at an occasional sa-
iooh hVPo upon ~ ohC very hcCSooieico
of the disease, knots of citizens, cal
loused to fear by the experience through
which they are passing, meet when the
days deaths are announced, and wonder
if they are forsaken and left to wrestle
with the grim visitor unaided. They
separate, called to the loved ones at |
home, to the care of the sick elsewhere,
to receive dying message or shrive |
a friend for the tomb. The following
morning one or more of them is reported
dead" and the question, Whats
necessary for his burial?" is asked al
most without ceremony, and with seem
ing haste. You'll go next" is adj
dressed to an acquaintance with feigned
popularity, and the prediction is nearly
always verified. Sometimes the victims
to the plague die without care, and are
buried only when the stencil arising
from the decaying BODY indicates its