The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1878-09-13
THE JAWS OF DEATH.
The Story of a Memphis Refugee just
Arrived From the Stricken City.
The Stampede on the First Alarm and
Rush Out Of Town of Ten
Thousand Persons.


Thousand Persons.
Fearful scs1 1fS Am0nG the Dead a.t. and
of HerOism.
From the Chicago Times.
Up from the jaws of death that have |
closed upon striker Memphis; out from |
its deserted streets and its fevered at |
mosphere laden with the insiduous pois- |
on that in four weeks has wasted it from |
a pOpulous city to a hamlet, comes the |
long procession of refugees, seeking that |
safety which is denied them in their
homes. Here and there one drops by
the way, and to stranger hands his poor
body is indebted for Christian sculpture.
Others, with the smell of fire still upon
their garments, reach a safe haven in the
north, and to them the experience of the
past month appears ike a dreadful
nightmare. 1t is no little thing to have
shaken hands with the yellow pestilence
in its lair, and to have lived on intimate
terms for month with the grim sOver-
eign of the shades. Men who would IN
hesitatingly face discharge of canister
hot from the braZen throat of a cannon
have been known to cover and cringe in
abject fear of the destroying angel mani
fest in this awful form. There is,
of course, that herOism, daily chronicled
by the dispatches, which is impelling
men to do all and dare all for the sake
of poor stricken humanity, but it is not
in the composition of every man to be a
hero; nature herself has forbidden it.
And when a man not stamped with the
heroic brand finds himself in an envir-
onment like that of Memphis, or any of
the other fever-burdened communities of
the south, ordinary prudence should die
tate the immediate removal of his person
to a more healthy latitude.
Among those who have found a refuge
in Chicago is Mr. G. E. Witesman, for
merly a resident of this city, but since
1871 in the employ at Memphis of the
dry goods firm of B. LOawenstein &
Bros. Mr. Witesman left Memphis last
Saturday, arriving in Chicago on Tues
day of this week. A reporter of the
Times found him yesterday in the Office
of Mr. G. NJ. Hardy, and received from
him the following account of his expert
ence with the destroyer:
"Memphis, you know" said the gen.
tleman, lis ordinarily a pretty lively
town, and for city of fifty thousand or
so, its streets, before the fever came,
were reasonably busy. Now it is quiet
as New England village ON Sunday
afternoon.
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
| -
Roadway up the river. Then Grenada
caught it, and with the memory of its
ravages in 1878, the people generally be-
came nervous and excited.
about the 18th of August we had our
first case, supposed to have been brought
up from New Orleans on the steamer
| Golden Crown. There were two of them
and they stopped with Pat Winters, who
used to be recorder. Both of them died
at his house, The first death, though
was that of Mrs. BlOnda, an Italian wo-
man. She died on the corner of Front
and Washington streets.
'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 to the
railroad ticket offices was something
never saw before. The streets were
crowded with drays and wagons of all
kinds, and every one of them were full
of trunks and travelling bags and furni-
ture, on the way to the railroad stations
You couldn't get hack or anything else
that run on wheels for love or money.
And in all the hustle and movement
there was something that seemed so ter
ribly ominOus-I felt it as l did at the
time of the fire in Chicago. l was here
then, and had my share of sensations.
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.
"On that rush about fifteen thousand
people left town. A great many more
sent their families away and went them
selves afterward, when the disease came
out so bad. There was so much bag
gage 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 calm for a day or
so, but as soon as a few more people
died there was another panic, and almost
everybody that could get away went,
and they went in a hurry. Those who
their tickets. The roads out of town
were full-sOme of the people in wagons
and some on horseback, and a good
many a foot-any way to get out OF
Memphis. Then the city began to look
empty. By the Goth or 22d good many
of the business houses closed up, and
> then it began to alook like desolation
You could go long block, and for ali
, the signs of life you would see you
l.. 10 - hot -
l in Egypt .:E7Ipp ,nf.o,od d,.,ric, =. fro, NO,
around the Memphis & Charleston an6
I the Louisville s. Nashville depots. There
r are very few houses with living people
I in them there now-almost all dead anC
some of them rotting to pieces in the
houses.
:, "An the railroads but the Little Rocl
e are running their day trains now, bu
I they have taken off their night trains
People stay in after dark, because the
night air is too dangerous TO be out in.
o 81 tell you, it was awful to go dow
l. town every day, and see and hear wha
was going on. One day 1t would be
9 ''Well, Hamilton went last night, anC
: I've just heard Carson has got the BLACK
. vomit.' Then somebody would come
> along with the news of some other &C
quaintance dying or dead, and it seemed
as if you could see death in the air.
"And the next day the first thing yoJ
would hear would be that the man yoI
Is was talking with the day before wa
down with it, and bad case.
"MOst of the doctors stood up nobly
to their duty, but there were few tina
skulked out almost on the first sign"
"Can you give me the names of any o
the medical gentlemen who deserted -
"Yes; there were DIR. Malcolm, DR.
Hewett, DIR. Herming, and DIR. Morri
son. DIR. Morrison was the Jail physi
clan, and when the fever broke out Their
he ran away, and DIR. Abercrombie wa!
appointed in his place, In 1873 tn,
worst infected district was in the neigh
borhOod of the Jail, but there was no fe
yer among the prisoners. This time
% when it made its appearance there, tn,
prisoners confined for slight offensea
% were discharged, and all the other vel
ones were taken to Presidents Island
about four miles down the river. Tn,
tclergymen of all denominations stayeC
e at their posts, and as they have no con
r gregatiOns, they have nothing to do bu
k attend the sick.
e 81 tell you, there are some awful sight
L in Memphis now. There are only abou
V thirty-five hundred people in Memphi
n now, and something like thirteen hun