Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-10-18
ScOURGED BY DISEASE.
Glimpse Of the Horrors ofPlague-
Sticksn Cape Tewn.
GENERAL FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE,

CAPErowx, 6. A.. October 1.-THE small
po1 is increasing with fearful rapidity, and
for the past week or ten days the number
of cases officially reported has averaged
from sixty 10 one hundred per diem. Fur
thermore, the doctors are confident that q
like number of cases, at least, is concealed
from their knowledge. Three small Pox
ambulances are now kept Constantly going,
and the Lazaretto is full to oyerffowinS; IN
fact, cases from the suburbs have been re
fused admissjen, and the accommodation
is utterly Inadequate, The lazaretto is sit
uated on the reHs, bordering the lageons OF
town, and consists of q numterof coryugat.
ed iron buildings and some bell tents.
Seven doctors in all are employed there.
One of the medical men reports that UP 70
few days ago the proportlon OF desths
among the colored patients averaged IS per
cent OF these attacked; but he is happy to
state that now, although the number OF
cases is
Increasins with saea wenaerful Rs-
P4dity,
the type OF the disease is less violent The
greatest mortality, OF course, obtains
among the unJaccinated patients, the num-
Der of deaths amongst the yaccinated be-
ing comparatively small (of sixty.three
deaths reported the other day, only three
had been vaccinatedl and on the whole,
the believers in the discovery OF DR.. Jen-
ner have every reason to have their faith
strengthened. The Malays endure the dis
ease with stolid indifference. The reckless
method pursued by them in conducting
their funeral ceremonies tends to greatly
help the spread Of the disease. On an
average there are nearly o dozen Malay
of enall roN victims saen in Iana
Town daily. The body, covered simply
with cloth and on an open wicker frame
work, is carried on the shoulders of its CO.
religionists through the crowded thorough
fares in the middle OF the day and under
the burning heat of semi-tropicll sun,
and this is one of the rapid ways by which
the germs of the disease are disseminated
broadcast through the town. The munich.
pal authorities, though anxious to do so,
are utterly unable to, put n stop TO this
most reckless, nay, murderous proceeding,
for they fear, should they forcibly inter.
fere with these fanatical religious rites, q
Moslem insurrCction might occur. Ii is
currently reported that some of the Malays
are deliberately
Attempting to Spread the Disease
among the white population by infectinG
clothing and money. but il IS difficult TO
believe that so fiendish an idea could be
carried out even by the lowest scoundrels
in existence.
The doctors, after attending smallpox
patients, take every precau.ion not only
against taking the disease themselves, but
also to avoid communicating it to their
other patients. The chemists are doing a
thriving trade in disinfeetants, and adyer-
tise all sorts of ''sure preyentitives,n to bG
carried in the pocket or worn around the
neck, with the result that nearly every per-
son one meets exhales an odor like q per-
ambulating drug store or walking. hosPit-
Gl. Indeed, during this sore aftiiction the
doctors, chemists and undertakers are the
only individuals who are making both ends
Hps5h THE depression in trade consequent
there is almost total collapse OF business
so far as the country trade is concerned.
Farmers will not permit strangers 10 APP
proach their hemesteads and decline TO go
even to their ordinary market towns. The
store keepers are complaining bitterly: no
one will attend any amusement, and in
fact the proverbial oldest inhabitant'
does not remember a parallel state OF al
fairs,