Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1878-09-05
!. DESERTED CITY.

l have thought to supplement the wires by
! the mailbag trris!1t promising that the MSS.
shall! - tl:Ir" II :"ren processes of tlisinfec-
"a: j. .tr,c i ,i::, .','; into the box. O. it
i. 40 t. '.u:.:<. :,s:,,~ YOU. There are gallons
,. car;,::.r acid wing; about, and burning tar
| anu sui pnurnns i,.nles |efoul the ait under the
profession Of purifying it. When ! look out
on the dark, silent street. and these vapo1'
waited through the open window, | feel the
opprcssiveness OF the presence of death with
that horrible odor of carbolic acid which
rises from the little saucers beneath the coffin.
1t is
CITY WITHOUT A PEOPLE,
this. The echo of my music, as whistle to
| keep my courage up, comes back in sort of
| wall that jars on my ear. 1t is almost US bad
as midnight stroll in a graveyard, ones i'm
agination assisting to picture the hand Of death
reaching out from the corner of every bad
| smelling alley. To have lived in Memphis for
the past ten DAYS is almost to have grown gray
with fright. The wild panic which seized the
city, til" scramble FOR fnothold on steamboat
deck car-platform the agony OF fright pic
tured everywhere, on every ones face. were
trying enough to the stoutcst. More trying,
however. it has been to see the death rate
gradually crawl up. to sec familiar names
on the death-roll and in the record OF tue
smittcn, to witness the monster fingers of
death relaxing and stretching forth to grasp
wider hold OH the doomed city. Then
THE HEARsEs BEGIN TO GO BY on A TEoT,
and a man mathcmatically inclined could sit
down and figure ON his chances. and from the
ratio of ''deaths'' to new cases. learn that il
attacked by fever he wonld hold the chance of
| one out of two principals in a duel where but
one pistol was loaded Will. ball the space being
| over 4 handkerchief. and he must choose his
| weapon blindfoldcd Ugh! l am but human.
| and shivcr at the thought No wondcr. then.
that so few are left, held by necessity or 4
| higher purpose noble and philanth:opi:. No
wonder that five physicians have turned pa
| tients themselves and on their own prnscrip-
| tons sought cooler cline.
The panic that made oars silent sleeping
| city, however. was 4 GodScnd. 1t snatcheu
| from the monster the human lives upon which
| he feeds. To increase the exodus has been the
| aim of the benevolent societies.
| You have read Of the governments charity,
| of it's thousands of tents and its thousands of
rations. q gratis presentation to our distressed
| city. The tents pitched high hills in
regularly governed camps about the city.
| THE BENEvoLENCE OF A HUNDRED CITIES
is sending food for their poor unemployed oc-
cupants, and ''leave the city or die, is the cry
of the true men who are fighting with all of
human strength this awful scourge. Strange
to say, many will not accept their offer of safe
ty, but cling to their howell homes though death
grins upon them from every crack in the wall.
Yesterday the negroes held a n1ass-neeting, and
an effort was made by the mayor, our member
of Congress, and others to get them to agree to
go out into camp, play gentlemen of elegant
leisure and refined ease there. and be we'll fed
free of charge. Do you think they
would consent? No., they wouldn't. You see
they remember the plague Of 1873, and that
then the saffron reaper jumped the black cars
in his harvest Of death. 1t is useless to tell
them that negroes are falling like sheep in the
streets of Grenada and Vicksburg. for they
still cling to their theory and demand to be fed
in the city at their homes. Already dozen
negroes have been attacked by the plague, and
there is every evidence that it will spread
among the race The hearse will have to
| take many boxes from their homes before
their faith in their exemption can be
shaken. In the surrender of life and prop
erty into their hands, however. by the
exodus of white people, they are discharging
| their trust with faithfulness that reminds
one of the dark days of civil war, when the
| slave protected the home, protected the wife
and little ones, while the master was bivouack-
ing far away the field Of battle. For the