The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-02-26
THE PLAGUE.
Some Experiences from One Who Has
Been Amongst 1t.
Best Method OF Checking It's Progress
Probabilities Of Its Reaching
Western Europe.

when the rumor came to Bagdad that the
plague had broken out at Hillah, village
on the Euphrates near the ruins of Babylon.
1 was then planning an excursion in that
direction, but these indefinite reports did
not deter me from starting on my expedi-
ton, though against the protest of some pru-
dent friends among the English residents of
whom was the guest. A few days after,
when 1 seached Kerbella, a sacred city of the
Mahometans. containing the shrines of the
two grandsons of the Prophet, and great
resort of Persian pilgrims, 1 found that the
plague had reached that place, and the in
then, to my horror, 1 was informed that the
pasha of Bagdad had suddenly
DECLARED QUARANTINE
of the infected district, with strict orders to
shoot any person who attempted to cross the
line lest he might bring the dread disease to
that city. / was inside the Gordon sanitaire,
and my native attendants were in despair.
There were no Europeans nearer than Bag
dad. and all communication with that place
had been cut of. How 1 escaped by a night
ride across the desert 1 do not here propose
Bagdad in safety, and was received by my
friends with open arms, almost as one risen
from the dead. They had given me up, and
were preparing to send by the next "drome-
Diary mali" to Damascus, and thence to Lon
don, an obituary that might have brought
grief to relatives in Cleveland. When came
afterward to realize my narrow escape / was
not surprised at noticing a slight reserve of
manner among the more timid, and that /
was tabooed for a few days for fear | had
brought with me the seeds of the dreaded
scourge.
THE NAME SUGGESTIVE OF HORROR.
The people of the West have no concep.
ton of the horror which the very name of
the plague suggests to Oriental nations. To
US it is something indefinite, associated, per-
haps, with the great fire. that devastated
London 200 years ago. But to them it is an
ever present reality. Nearly every year
there are rumors OF the breaking out OF this
terrible scourge in some part OF Arabia,
Persia, or the Southern ports ofthe Mediter-
rauean. In the memory of many persons
yet living in Turkish Arabia the horrors of
1881 are yet vivid, when in a single month
90, 900 people. nearly half the whole popula.
ton. persisted miserably in Bagdad I met
while there wealthy Italian, the only sur
vivor of all his family during this visitation
of the plague. His thrilling accounts of the
incidents that passed under his Own eyes
had horrible fascination to me in view of
The panic which l saw around me in coffee
shops and bazars.
EVERY HOUSE CASTLE.
In Oriental countries the houses OF the
better class are always built with solid out
side walls round an interior courtyard,
which supplies light and ventilation to the
apartments. To this there is usually SIN
gle heavily barred gateway opening on the
narrow street. In each of these dwellings,
at the time of the pestilence. were gathered
the family and servants. No communica-
ton was had with the outside world, as
complete isolation wes their only hope
while the angel of death was passing by.
Each house was provIsioned as for siege,
and those who escaped were indebted to the
stringency of this non-intercourse. When.
by some accident, the disease was intro
duced, all medical treatment seemed inetfect-
ual. and as one after another of the inmates
1 persisted, their bodies were thrown at night
1 over the walls into the street to be dragged
1 away to the river. There were no solemn
I rites of burial, and all human affection
seemed desdened in the struggle of each fol-
! mis- own life.
THE BRITISH REsIDENCY
I was situated, as now. surrounded by gardens
/ on the bank of the Tigris. The disease YVES
| introduced by a cat, which had erawied over
/ the walls, and was sondled By one of the
children. In six days, out of 81 inmates Is
had persisted, and the survivors saved them.
! selves by embarking on boat and floating
down the river TO the Persian gulf
In very many cases whole families per
/ inhe5, and their jewels and other valuables
! became the prey 70 robbers My narrator
/ did not tell me, but heard from other per
/ sons, that the founds ton of his wealth was
! laid at this time of general anarchy and law
I lessness.
In 1772 the plague was still more destrucs
/ i've OF human life. At that tune over
j 1000, GOO people persisted IN Arabia and
! Persia. Bassorah, then iourishing city OF
| 600 inhabitants. at the mouth of the
Euphrates. was depopulated, and has meyer
/ since that time attained one-tenth its former
| population.
EXPERIENCE OF AN ENGLISH SURGEON.
DIR. Colville, an accomplished surgeon OF
the British army, who has been for u years
/ stationed at Bagdad and made this disease
a special study, stated to me rs the result oil
| his experience that with careful treatment
about one-tnird the persons attacked could
| be saved. The plague is not in any sense an
/ epidemic like the cholera, but is strictly a
/ contagious disease, even more so than the
smallpox. Like the latter il is more virulent
during the cold weather than in the warm
months. Squalor and filth, which are hot.
1 beds of cholera, stimulate the raveges of the
plague only so far as they would increase
! the fatality of any other malignant disease.
| II once introduced into a village swept by
as In the slums OF cities 1t is mistake to
suppose that the plague has its origin in the
| filthy habits or impure air which are sup
| posed to be characteristic of all ORIENTAL
/ towns. The personal habits CT these people
are. as a rule, cleauly, although their large
cities are usually crowded within walls, and
sanitary regulations are rarely enforced by
! their rulers.
HOW TO cHEcK TEE DISEASE.
Complete isolation and the strictest nom
| intercourse enforced by quarantine regula-
lions are the only preventive to its spread.
| Ii the Turkish Government is efficient in
nothing else, it is most stringent and I'M
yielding in matters relating to quarantine
Ii would be more than his life is worth for a
pasha to yield to favor or bribery and there
! by permit cholera or plaques to be intro.
duced into the province or city be governed.
| The populace would storm and rsze his
palace to the ground as they once did in
Bagdad. That portion of European Russia