Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-07-18
Did Not Know whore They were
Bound.

/
EDITOR LEDGER-It was our mis-
fortune to have been a part of the
stampeded and to have Joined the hegira
which moved 50 swiftly out of Mem
phis before the approach of the saffron
Intruder last week. Our train con
tanned twelve coaches, loaded to their
utmost capacity and upon no occasion
was there ever seen such heteroge-
neous mass.
Priding ourself with creditable
amount Of GOODNESS, amid the general
panic and basing our speedy departure
mot to a fear of yellow fever) but
consoling ourself with the thought
that we had luckily received an ur-
gent request to visit our former home
further South, we proposed to observe
our skerry companions with al
critic eye.
There was most singular want of
consistency between the marked evi-
dences Of general panic and the
reasons assigned by the generality Of
the crowd for their hasty departure
To have conversed with every person,
you would been informed by at least
two-thirds that they had contemplated
leaving ALL while and that the
asserted prevalence of the fever had
no concern in their general exodus.
Yet, in the face of such representa-
tions, you would find many who were
actuallyunable to tell you their des-
tination, SO spasmodic and hasty had
been theirretreat-that there had been
but one fully defined resolution, which
was to leave Memphis.
Many less high -mettled and more
truthful were willing to confess a
pardonable uneasiness respecting the
then recent injunctions Of the board
of healths and were putting their fam
lilies in places of safety.
u At Huntsvillee we left perhaps
some two hundred of our passengers.
The city is said to have become a
refuge for a vast number who left
Memphis, and its kind citizens
have extended them a hospit.
able welcome. All along our route
to Chattanooga large numbers ofI
people would gather about curl
train eager to catch some news and to
purchase papers. The same excited
curiosity was observable everywhere
from the little huts along the line
small groups would gather near the
track and peer into the coaches as
though yellow fever was some saffron
monstrosity at which they might take
glimpse as we glided past.
AT Stephenson our train was board
ed by two quarantine officers from
Chattanooga, who, after considerable
parleying, pickering and dallying, con-
cluded to let us pass into the city,
though said it should be the last train
until an abatement Of the fever.
Such action appears to us an evil
dence or rather an acknowledgment of
the unhealthy condition of their own
city, and from information we received
they have just cause for endeavoring
to avert an epidemic there.
From this point our passengers took
divers routes. but we were the only
one of that large number who took
the W. and A. train for Atlanta.
1t was a great relief after our
exciting journey to Chattanooga, to
enscOnce ourselves into comfortable
seat, and among a class who were
viewing the situation with calmness
and deliberation. Nearly everyone
believed the reports about Memphis
to be exaggerated, but that her trade
must be badly injured for time, and
the cause Of her trouble and distress
be kept alive and used to her detri-
ment by some of those unprincipled
vampires from rival markets. Thus,
you see, this fact has been observed by
the outside world as well as ourselves.
Reached Atlanta safely and found
the city quiet and serene, quite in
cOntradistinction to the one | had
just left. A. j. NJ. 4
LThe foregoing letter came without
post mark or caption; therefore, no
hint is contained within it as to where
itwas written. The author was
doubtless on the wing, and mayhap is
still going--ED. LEDGER.