The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-09-23
pLAauE.srRrcKEN MEMPHIS.
The Depsorable condition OF That Ca

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Moved by an incorrect report that the AS
ISOLATED Press reports were exaggeratlng the
depiorab1e state Of affairs in Memphis, IeYn.s
the Appeal Of that city, in its issue OF the
tenth instant, says: TO lose over 1900 Tnens
out of d populatlonpf $4,000, white and black
and I'd be expendiug over $4,000 for I1qf
nurses and forty doctors and tor ned IeIIss
digerlt, fssto Is assad reality enough q rl5ve
even stole to tears. But, besides this, thers
come the tales OF individual sorrow; OF whole
families swept away In g week, leaving not
even one Of the name; OF nurses dying at
their posts; or priests and ministers and good
| sisters following those they succored SO fast
as to appal the stoutest heart and give IS
pause amid the general wreck and RUM NO
| no tongue exaggerate them. Lispfng child
| hood hoary and venerable old age, the vags
rant and the merchant, the man OF God and
| the llnbeliever, all are taken claimed alike Dy
less is heard every hour, claiming the pity
the sympathy and the tears of the most hard
ened veteran. In this office, as we write
there are but two left Of all who month ago
We're We're employed IN in the editorial, counting and
composing rooms, and our pressman IS doWn
with the fever. Strangers to the office, as to
the business. are attending to our affairs,
while the only editor left on duty alter 5r
tween his desk and a case. This Is our per-
sonai measure Of the dreadful epidemic, and
, surely it is a sad one. Our experience is one
we will never forget, and it is com mon one
The fifth epidemic we have passed through,
} this SURPRISES them all in the horrors IL has
/ uncovered Parents have deserted children,
l and children parents, h1lsbands their wives
but not one wife a husband. Men have dropped
2 dead on the street, while others have dters
neglected only to be discovered by the death
l spreading gases from their bodies. Ministers
;, of the. gospel, carrying messages of peace, @ 6,
i; hurrying from house to house, have mad their
, weary feet arrested and their work staid by
, the pestilence that walks in the monday as at
9 night. The priest, administering the extreme
: junction. and the bride Of Christ, Wip-
S ing the death-daamp from the forehead
s of those whose friends and kiufolk are far
g away, are almost paralyzed in the sacred
t. act and die even before We know they are
Of the sick, the burial Of the dead and the
r care Of the needy living. The last words Of
}, those who are we'll are at night fareWells to
the dead, and the first IN the morning: VINO
II hour Of the day. this question is repeated, and
d the heart sickens at the reports, and the soul
a grows weary over the repetition. And yet
r. there is no relief nor any release. Worse and
J: worse the epidemic has grown, until today It
n has capped the climax, and the hearts OF the
brave men who have stood In the
p breach are hianeheds Eitth fesalsslth
le dread that annialatioa aatG swais5 "
i'd from the earth. Fear sits on every face ane
n dread on every heart. We work, not til tbs
l. shadow, but in the very face OF death. We
is meet him on every hand and atevery moment
IS in the names of his victims and in the desoIat
IS ton he has spread about u.s. Hope we have
er none. We despair OF any relief, but we arr
le nerved for the end. We pray blessings upof
le the generous who have helped US in all tht
10 States; we pray for the safety Of those Whe
le have come among us to nurse the sick ane
W minister to the dying, and we ask that bh4
"a names of the women and the men who havt
at laid down their lives for US shall be handee
,ti down forever as among the brightest and ths
Is best of earth"