Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-04-05
YELLOW FEVER.
HISTORICAL FACTS CONNECTED
WITH THIS SCOURGE.
Personal Experiences and Sugges-
tions Duties of California
Authorities.

Written by :. r Hawley for the REooRD-UNIoN.I
NUMBER I.
The RBcoRD-USIoN few months ago
did me the honor 10 reproduce one or more
editorial article frommy pen from the Seat
tie Herald, W. T. upon the subject fyeliow
fever, and what to me, at that time, seemed
the imminent danger of the importation
Of that dread scourge in the State Of Cali
fornia. Fortunately my fears in that re-
gard we're not realized in the summer and
fall Of 1888: hut 7 am none the less per
suaded that prudence and humanity de
mand of the civil authorities Of California,
both State and municipal, rigid
application Of all the means and appliances
at their command, with view to the pre-
yention Of the possible importation Of the
disease during the coming season, and the
isolation of any sporadic case which may
and in nv opinion such cases will present
themselves-occur rs the result Of the
termination Of those seeds Of the pestilence
which, with inconccivably fatuous crimi-
nality. the health officers of San Francisco
permitted in the latter part Of November
last To be brought into San Francisco, in
the shape of two stricken seamen from a
vessel coming from an infected port, and in
the further, and none the less dangerous,
shape of clothing and seamen's bedding
transferred from the same ship into the by
no means healthy portion of the city which
constitutes the rendezvous Of seatariug men
when ." on shore.
undertake painful task in preparing
this article for the REcoRD-UNION; pain
full because il leads me TO speak Of posi-
bic calamity to Il State which holds the
first place IN my affections. | perform the
task in accordance with permission granted
by the proprietors of the RECoRD-U UNION,
in compliance with a request made by my
self | ask a candid hearing, since | know
myself to be actUated solely by desire to
avert an impending calamity. Califor-
mans, as individuals and as 4 class are too
prone TO trust to luck and to their glorious
climate. Neither of these things will avail
them in 4 contest with the yellow fever.
The things needed to quote the summary
ofSurgeon-G General Hamilton, of the United
States Army, in his late report on the sub
iect of national quarantine, to which |
shall refer again in the course of this arti-
Gle are municipal cleanliness, isolation,
hospitals, national quarantinee.' To these
may he added State and local quarantines
even though the latter be shotgun quar-
antines," which, as Mr.. Cable says in his
article on the great epidemic Of 1858, ex-
planned themselves to the merchants Of the
Mississippi valley.
The RECoRD-UNION has already given
It's readers an article from my pen upon
nv observations of the yellow fever in
Shreveport, La. in 1858. ! do not think
that il viii be time or space wasted to re
peat something, at least, Of what | said
upon that subject. The year last referred
to will always be memorable, as one of suf-
fering and dismay Quoting from Mr.. Ca
bles article, to be found in the Century for
July. 1888. and to which | respectfully re
fer the medical men and State and munici-
pal authorities of California for many de
tails which have not space 10 give, / find
that in the cemeteries Of New Orleans
alone, "between the lst of June and the
lst Of October nearly eleven thousand per
sons were buried. To these must be added
the many buried without certificate the
hundreds who persisted in their fight, and
the multitudes who fell IN the towns to
which the pestilence was carried" For,
let il be remembered and this Is the key
note of all that I wish 70 impress upon the
minds Of the readers Of this article, as MIR.
Cable says on the subject OF the final
triumph Of the advocates of the ne
cessity and efficacy Of quarantine: The
technical question of the tever's contagious
ness remained unsettled but It's trans
portability was fearfully proven in a multi
tude Of interior towns, and its alacrity III
seeking foul quarters and It's mahgnancy,
there were plainly shown by It's history IN
this CITY New Orleans).' Let me quote a
word or two more from Mr.. Cable before
coming to the Shreveport visitation: " On
the eth of August 1858, 22S persons died,
there having been for the week ending
August 9th, 917 deaths from yellow fever
and 1877 deaths from other causes, the lat
ter BENG In itself an ahnOrmaliy enormous
Geath-rate" Further on he says: Many
sick died In carriages and carts many were
found dead In their beds in stores and in
the streets Again: ON the week ending
August 10Th the mortality was 1884
Desuair seemed now the only reasonable
frame of mind. Those who would have
fed the scene saw no escape. To leave by
ships was To court the overtaillng stroke Of
the plague beyond the reach of medical
aid, and probably 70 lind a grave in the
sea, while to escape to inland towns was 70
throw oneself into the arms of the pesti-
lence. carried there by earlier fugitivcs"
now take up the Shreveport visitation.
This town Of, possibly, at that time, 5000
l. . Sc ri ,git
the head Of navigation on Red river. Some
hundreds Of miles below are located the
towns of Alexandria and Natchitoches, the
former above and the latter below an inter
yenine obstruction to navigation at low
stage of water. known as q raft Some
time in August, 1853, possibly earlier, the
fever had made It's appearance IN both Of
these towns. and was teartuily destructive
No one in Shreveport however feared, OF
pcrharz ever dreamed Of a visitation Of the
plague. Owing 20 extreme low water there
had been for weeks a total embargo upon
steamboats, About the middle Of Septcm-
Der sudden rise D BED river was followed
by the appearance Of q steamboat with
freight from New Orleans and the two
towns lust above mentioned. Among that
freight was crate Of cocAory packed in
straw. SIS usual the work of unpGcking
which fell to the lotof = young man named
Hamlet, ard that work wss his last on
earth. The next day hewas in the tolls Of
the epidemic His physician, an English
gentleman Of irrcproachabe standing and
OF fully average attaIumcnts IN his profes-
sion, found himself wholly at a loss for a
proper method Of treatment. Calling DR..
h. l.. Sc,ugss. who, a few days after, fell q
victim 70 the same destroyer, in consulta-
tion, he, together With myself, who at the
time was reading medicine with Dr.. s,
called on Ar Hamlet. The apparent ma
Lightly and Intensity of the fever, the
wholly strange and terrible symptoms, the
nauseatinc smell filing the patients room,
In fact everything connected with the case,
nonplussed DIR. Scruggs as much Is had
been the case with the physician in charge,
and it was not until the black vom;t made
It's appearance that the profession in
Shreveport who had been generally con
suited in the matter, admitted reluctantly
that case Of yellow fever had appeared in
Shreveport Small breathing time WIS
sVo,rat b1,gsy..r for r,.g-ats b., fe-s than