Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1879-06-02

so high, that the citizens can thoroughly |
inspect it every time they 60 past, and |
see for themselves whether 1t is clogged, |
either above or beneath the floor. The
farmers usually draw load away from
itevery spring, but have not done SO this
year. 1t looks as though it might be
guilty of much mischief, past and pres
ent. Running along side the road and
just in the rear of the house is 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.
H. Cheney. Near the bridge the chill
dren have been accustomed to get water
for drinking purposes, and it was surmised
at once that there was poison in the
water. Investigation shows, that if not
poisoned, the water was at the time it
was drank not wholesome or clean. Mr..
Cheney's 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 almost 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 brother mineral substance. This
water reached the brook above the
bridge. There is nothing about the
barns or house of Mr.. Cheney that shows
any signs of slovenliness. In the barn
yard, however, water is standing in the
? low place in the middle into which a
large quantity of muck has been drawn.
1t is possible 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 into the brook.
Another source of supposed contami-
nation of the water, is the carcass of a
horse that died one year ago last winter
and was buried, unbeknown to the own
er, 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 it now lies partly
exhumed, by parties who have been try.
ing 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 possible that during
the melting of the snow, some pois
onous 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 washed from the hillside, sixty oil
eighty rods distant and been borne
; along in the water. The nature of thai
poison, and the contagious character
so far across the land, are sufficient tc
; disprove this theory. The last, and a:
one physician thinks, the most probable
cause of the breaking out of diphtheria
in the school. is the fact that the chill
dren of one family, noted for the terribly
unsanitary conditions of their house and
: persons, attended school in the filthy
clothing that they wore, while getting
: up from the diphtheria, which they had
u a short time since. 1t is thought thai
5 they may have brought the disease il
their clothing to the school house, an(
L hence its spread. If the above reasons
S are not sufficient to account for sickness
/ and death in this afflicted communit,
0 others might be suggested. The mis-
G fortune has been the result of ignorance
u or willful negligence in taking evel
. ordinary measures toward preventin!
g this disease, or some other disease, attack
/ ing the community. A condition o
e affairs about the school house and tn
III brook, that has created or invited disease
u uncleanly homes, carelessness in regar,
l. to the further spread of the disease. ant
ii the peculiarities of the location ma
lie each have had something to do with tn
sickness. This is not the only place i
Vermont where like causes are liable
y produce the same results. and the lessor
L ought to be needed by making every
y body more careful in regard to the SAM
re tary conditions which prevent disease
n. With all our fresh air. pure water, chea
r. soap, and cheap labor, there is no ez
II cuse for misfortune as terrible as thi
I'D one.
ID The authorities of Newark ought
rs take means at once, to prevent the fur
81 Their spread of this disease. and to pu
every house where it has occurred in
10 clearly state. The water of the brool
h. which has borne the chief blame fl
IN the sickness. has been sent away to
II analysed, and it will soon be learne
!, whether the sickness resulted from
- fNho c;olr fno Tn a