Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-06-06
THE NEWARK FATALTTy.

ihB PURPOSES VI impure Whter from u DrOOk
near the school house. On the first of this week
it was announced that up to Saturday night
IL children had died, and no one could doubt
the published statement that great excitement
prevailed in the little town over the strange CD
visitation. Meantime several different stories
were started as to the nature and cause of the
malignant disease-one statement being that
the infection was diphthoria, another that it
was blood poisoning from taking foul animal
or vegetable matter into the system of the
children from the water of the brook, and
still another that it was poisoning from Paris
green used on last years potato tops.
Fortunately, however, rs throwing light on
these disputed points, and as giving full par
ticulars of a case Mt once so sad and so UNI
usual, we find in this weeks Orleans County
Monitor, published at Barton, that its editor,
a gentleman of undoubted candor and RELIABLE
ity, has visited the scene of the calamity, and
gives his readers the result of his observations
in full. We copy largely from his article,
not only because it is Of interest as matter
of news but because it conveys n practical
lesson and terrible warming to parents,
oehooA NOllihAAACthf uuNl llublt blltltlA VI ull
communities, large or small, in the peril
which they incur in neglecting to secure suit
able sanitary conditions about all places,
whether of public or of private abode:
Diphtheria of n most fatal type broke out
in the Cheney district near the Coe single
factory in Newark, about two weeks ago, and
since that time, up to Saturday last, eleven
phillrap huup Hi.I fTl., ,Itgoug.. ,ft
the scholars who attend the school at the
school house near j. Ii. Cheney's, and nearly
every scholar, seventeen out of twenty came
down within five days from the commence
ment of the school. Prompt measures were
at once taken to afford relief, and in most in.
stances, whore the disease had not advanced
to the formation of n membrane in the throat
relief was afforded; but in other cases, when
the system had absorbed the diphtheria poi
son, medicine had no effect the patient turn
ed purple and black, and died in a few hours,
the body becoming putrid before il was cold
besides those who attended the school, other
children in the families fell sick in a few days,
some in II few hours, after being exposed to
the coutagion ofthe disease. Several adults who
waited upon them were taken sick immediate
ly, and have been, or are now, in n dangerous
condition though none appeared to be at
tackled rs severely RS the school children
Quite n large number are now sick, and the
disease is spreading beyond the limits of the
little neighborhood in which it broke ont.
with n liability that other fatal cases will oc-
cur The family of John Aldrich was most
severely afflicted, he having lost his entire
family of five children, aged from six months
to thirteen years. Himself and wife are sick
but will doubtless recover. All the members
of other families have been attacked, but on
ly two have died in any of them. There have
been no funeral services, and the dead bodies
have been hurried to the graves nearly as
soon rs life was extinct There is great dis
tress and alarm in the neighborhood, and
though neighbors and the citizens Of the town
have done what they could, further assistance
is needed for the afflicted. The disease hav-
ing broken out in the school, nearly all the
children being attacked the same day, it was
generally believed that they were poisoned
There being many conflicting reports, we con-
cluded to visit the scene, and learn if possible
the facts Last Friday with one of the ply
sicians who attended several of the patients,
and with others we visited the place, and will
state what we saw and learned letting our
readers form their own conclusions The
neighborhood is in rough region deep
down between high hills, whore several small
streams unite to form one of the branches of
the Passumpsc river, and the school house
WutIC lut htuOluTh ulltlutu hCiOOl htlDub I'M
der steep side hill just at the edge, or part-
ly within the highway. 1t is one of those
old, musty, untidy, unpleasant houses, the
like of which may be found in far too many
places all about the country. II was built on
the lower side of the road on ground that is
wet in the spring and the front side is now
so low that water in the spring of the year
runs into the door, in quite large quantities,
and falls into the pit under the house, through
a large crack under the partition that separates
the shed and entry part from the school-room.
The house is now banked up on all sides, the
dirt averaging one foot above the stills, with
no sort of ventilation under the house except
quite a large crack in the floor The dirt
with which the house is banked was shovelled
up close around the house, and the pits out
of which it was dug are now partially filed
with most filthy water The school-house
was washed" after fashion, some days be-
fore the commencement Of school, and then
tightly closed until school opened. The privy
is most conveniently situated, standing about
twelve feet from the front door of the house.
1t is well ventilated, however, as it stands on
blocks so high that the citizens can thorough
ly inspect it every time they 60 past, and see
for themselves whether it is clogged, either
above or beneath the floor The farmers
usually draw a load away from it every spring,
but have not done so this year. 1t looks as
though it might be guilty of much mischief,
past and present. Running along side the
road and just in the rear of the house is a
small brook now large enough to fill a spout
one foot wide and four inches deep. A few
rods above the house, road crosses the
brook and runs up steep hill about fifteen
rods to the farm buildings of j. II. Cheney.
Near the bridge the children have been ac-
customed to get water for drinking purposes,
s. a. tl,ot
poison in the water. Investigation shows,
that, if not poisoned, the water was at the
time it was drunk not wholesome or clean.
Mr.. Cheneys barns are built in sag in the
side hill that at this season of the year is wet,
the water now working out under and below
them in quantities sufficient to be visible al
most to the brook, five hundred feet away.
In the ditch beside the road leading up the
hill past the barns, small stream of water is
now running that is quite red either from
oozing through the manure, or from ochre or
other mineral substance. This water reaches
the brook above the bridge. There is moth
ing about the barns or house of Mr.. Cheney
that shows any signs of slovenliness. In the
barnyard, however, water is standing in the
low place in the middle into which a large
quantity of muck has been drawn. 1t is pos
sible that this water is slowly making its way
into the streams that run out from under and
below the barns. Another small stream of
water makes across the road in wet times and
falls into the brook just above the bridge, So
much for the bad water that finds its way in
to the brook.
Another source of supposed contamination
of the water, is the carcass of horse that
died one year ago last winter and was buried
unbekuown to the owner, three rods above
the bridge on a level with the brook bed,
and only ten feet from it. The carcass was
removed year ago to knoll forty or fifty
feet from the brook, where il now lies partly
exhumed by parties who have been trying to
discover the cause of the disease, which has
been called poisoning. The corruption is not
yet fully absorbed by the earth, and it is pos
sible that during the melting of the snow,
some poisonous matter found its way into the
brook it may still be working out through the
low ground where the horse was originally
buried. Another poison theory, perhaps the
most absurd, is that Paris green may have
,,o,l,o1 from, thp hillside sixtV Or eighty rods