The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-09-26
Graphic Story Of a Memphis
Refupee.

Through the summer there had
been, as there always is, a good deal
Of talk about yellow fever, but, as it
got along into August without any
cases, a good many people began to
think we would pull through. There
were others-and thousands of them,
too-that were all ready, packed, and
with all preparations made, to step out
on the first indication of the fever. 1t
had been at work in New Orleans for
some time, and as the warm season
advanced it began to make Roadway
up the river. Then Grenada caught it,
and, with the memory Of its ravages in
1878, the people generally became ner-
Gus and excited.
"AbOut the l2th of August we had
our first case, supposed to have been
brought up from New Orleans on the
steamer Golden CrOtcn. There were
two of them, and they stopped with
Pat. Winters, who used 70 be Recor-
der. Both of them died at his house.
The first death, though, was that of
Mrs. Blonda, an Italian
1.-The first news we had Of her was in
the morning, and in the afternoon she
was dead. Did you ever see a panic:
Well, if you didn't you can't form any
idea Of it. Nearly everybody was wild.
You could see it In their eyes. Why,
they came rushing into the stores to
buy things, and the way they went for
the railroad ticket office was some
thing l had never seer before. The
streets We're Gro ,vded with drays and
wagons of all kinds. and every n of
them was full of trunks and travelling
bags and furniture. on the way to the
railroad stations. You couldn't get a
hack OF anything else that run on
wheels for love or money. And in all
the hustle and movement there was
something else that seemed soter1ibly
ominous. l felt it as l did at the time
of the fire in Chicago. l was there
then, and | j had my share of sensa-
tions. 1t seemed as if the place was
doomed. l can't tell how or why, but
it was like waiting for some awful
crash that was going to blot out things
forever.
Ion that first rush about fifteen
thousand people left town. A great
many men sent their families away
and went themselves afterward, when
the disease came out so bad. There
was SO much baggage at the railroad
depots that it wasn't all carried out for
a week. My family remained there
until about two weeks ago, when l sent
them away.
Then there was a calm for a day or
so, but as soon as a few more people
died there was another panic, and al
most everybody that could get away
went, and they went in a hurry. Those
who went by railroad had already<
bought their tickets. The roads out
of town were full-SOme Of the people
in wagons and some on horseback, and
a good many afoOt-any way to get out
of Memphis. Then the city began to
look empty. By the Goth or the 22nd,
a good many of the business houses
closed up, and then it began to look
like ~desolation. You could 90 along
a block and for all the signs of life you
would see you might as we'll be in that
old dead Memphis in Egypt.
The infected district at first was
around the Memphis and Charleston
and the Louisville and Nashville de-
pots. There are very few houses with
living people in them there now, al
most all dead, and some of them rot
ting to pieces in the houses. All the
railroads but the Little Rock are run
ming their day trains now, but they
lave taken off their night trains. PEG
pie stay in after dark, because the night
air is too dangerous to be out in.
Il tell you, it was awful to go down
town every day, and see and hear
what was going on. One day it would
be We'll, Hamilton went last night,
and I've just heard Carson has got the
black vomit.' Then somebody would
come along with the news of some
other acquaintance dying or dead, and
it seemed as if you could see death in
the air. And the next day the first
thing you would hear would be that
the man you was talking with the day
before was down with it, and a BAD
case. Most of the doctors stood up
nobly to their duty, but there were a