The Hickman courier., 1878-09-13
Personal Experience of Yellow Fever.

Correspondence Detroit Evening Neu-.J
tits six weeks or rather more. since
louneed into the billiard-room of the :
Charles Hotel, and looked mt the fyin
ivory spheres as they were being maniJ
ulated by two local crack players TheI
Is yellow fever in the city. though th
newspapers say nothing on the sui
lect. One of the players as he chalk
his cue, makes a testing illusion on tn
arrival OF =" Bronze John" | have bee
feeling an ineSplicable sensation grow
ing over me; envelOping my limbs
/ covering my back, and swathing m
I chest with a garment of shuddering un
/ easiness. / didn't like the players re
mark. / inwardly wished that the Oh
ponent might beat him that game, an,
/ | strobe to one of the seats against tn
/ wall. | was about turning round t,
[ sit down, when some thing like a cricket
T.ast stuck nle on the back.-.a11d I felt {
say cricket bat9 Because It feit Is &
though a light piece of wood, fashioned
like the fattish, rounded blade of .
cricket-bat, had struck me squarely, but
not very hard across the back, several
inches below the shoulder blades.
sink into the chair. A dull, but over
mastering pain shoots through my head ;
my limbs tremble. ! stare with perth
nacity at the game, however. My favor
ite player has an apparently impossible
shot He looks at the situation OF the
ball, and whistles deprecatingly as he
chalks his cue With swift motion, as
if he had made up his mind for a coup
d'fcle, he shoots his bali against the
object sphere. His ivory globe spins
swiftly round the table, making one,
two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight
cushions, twice round the table, and
caroms. The spectators hum applause
an enthusiastic, swarthy faced Creole
pounds his stick on the floor. My head
becomes oppressed with a load of pain,
and cold chllls shoot up my back.
Where do you Hve?'' asks the
swarthy face. | look half-vacantly in
his face, and gurgle, "No. -, Baronne
street" The billiard-room, crowded a
moment before, is empty.
Nv landlady is an old North-of-Ire-
land woman, and she has kept boarding
hodse in New Orleans for thirty-years
aHer husband died Of yellow fever dur
1jng a bad season before the war, and she
st1anages her extensive business, with
lg ,e help of her unmarried daughter
IL .y room is in a building rented by heI
II -oss the way for single mems apart
l- ilts, and the roomers in that house
)f c'e across the way for their meals
ID MT be afraid, now - said the old
y lac 90 I'll get Mrs. Delaney for ye, and
a we yet YOU through. The Doctor viii
ID DC rnd in little while"
Ief .C-e me some ice-water," | cry
I'll huskl+ "quick, for the love of God !!
< she lswered that she would. Dur
I ing ever half-lucid moment in the -four
Gays, Win my stout, imperious, kind
p hearted lsh nurse gave me, AT excruci
auheiy lslr intervals, spoonful Of ice
water, and ometimes a piece of ice the
size OF haAl-nut. | raved and curseC
al my landlay. She was vile, she wa
atToclous, she was Infamous. The re
collection thatsbe had promised the ice
water, and hadheartlessly gone back OF
her word, tilleQ me with tempestuOu
I Indignation. OH if she had given mt
( that cooling drink / would have beer
Baee Mas thSta am anllR:4 a syJal yJals.li ea6Sed6i
the demon of thirst which Is now con
suming my vitals. Now / can drink th'
whole water-supply of the city. Wha
ecStacv 10 be one of the tOrty-twO incl
pipes of the Detroit Water-wOrks!
wish the Mississippi River to flow dowr
my throat. Oh! give me the ocean II
sc f with my personal Orlfice somewher'
in the Arctic seas near the frozen pole
The long night slowly fits away, anC
the blazing sun again scOrches the plague
stricken city. Mrs. Delaney, by fOrtu
nate chance, has been secured. He
last patient, a Northern business man
had died Mrs Delaney does not pretenC
to be very sorry. She isslXty years o
age, but more active than many younl
woman of twenty She knows her busi
ness thoroughly, and has no vain senti
mentalism in her composition. In tn
( intervals of my restless tumbling abOu
/ the bed, / commune with Mrs. Delaney
I Her first experience with yellow feVe
/ was many years agO-in the bad seasOl
/ of lS37-when her first husband was
victim to the plague and she was lef
/ alone with a baby to fight the battle 0
life. She married again, she tells me
and her second husband is not dead yet
/ She remarks in a crisp voice that sh
| doesn't know where he Is, and sh
] doesn't care. We change the subjec
/ | find that / can not possibly die tC
1 day. This is the second, and cor
! sequently an even number of days.
/ may die tomorrow. which Is Wednet
day, the third day; or | may become dt
/ funct on Friday, the fifth day; or | ma
( shuttle off this fiery, superheated coil o
/ Sunday, the seventh day; or / ma
/ linger in agony till the following Tue
/ day, the ninth day; but l can scOrcl
and burn, and gasp, and yell on any {
/ the intervening days without fear {
| death. / study this theory over in
wild, unconnected way, and think
! odd
"The docthers say the croisis mu.
come on an odd day; and have alway
found it so myself" says Mrs. Delane!
q Can We spit?' The change of subjet
is too abrupt, aud l stare at he
vacantly.
"Spit in that. Hump! Is yer mout
sore? 1t is. Well, that's good. Ye'
lose power o blood out of ye
mouth"
Na,1t day the -dant1r 4laaidHs that Al
afflicted with epistaxis q don't knO
whether have spelled it right. 1t
bleeding from the mouth, tongue an
gums. My tongue is swollen, and thel
are raw assures in it, and also in m
gums, and streams of blood issuing a
the time. After while my nose COZ
tributes bloody stream, and | faintI
! ask Mrs. Delaney if / am going to hlee
to death.
=" No; no danger of thai. Bleedin
is a good sign she says. | swallo
lime-water and calcined magnesi:
which, / am informed, prevents blacl
vOmit. My eyes, which have bee
aching terribly, now become fercely il
famed, and seem TO be ready to start OF
of my head. Toward evening / sign I
my nurse to hand me Il small miro
which is hanging against the wall Sh
refuses. | insist. She persists, h.
come exasperated and Jump out of bee
ana, with a firm step, walk up to tn
wall, ascend the chair, and take it down
" Yer so purity, ye must see yerself,
says Mrs. Delaney, satirically.
l can but inadequately describe I'll
expression of my face. 1t was never
good-looking countenance; nay, it W:
always homely. The criticisms / hay
heard on my physiogomy might be sun
med up in the words stern an
sour" Still it would pass in yer
large crowd. But this-this is the fat
of demon My forehead is corrugated
my eyes are glaring and bloodshot; IN
swollen lips are bloody and cracked; al
my discOlored teeth, set fast, and e
pressing murder and destructivenes
are a combination and form, indeed,
give the world assurance of fiend
try TO mitigate the expression by an a
tempt to smile, and prodnee--a hyei