The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1884-08-07
PLAQUES PICTURE
Drawn BY . Visitor TO The che'era-ln-
fscted Districts OF Marss0liea
The Air Laden with Gases from Streams
Reeking in the Foulsst Filth.

Reeking in the Foulsss Filth.
A special cable dispatch frsm Aarseiilss
10 the New York Times gives . graphic
narrative of scenes and ns.dnns Of the
cholera district by an eye witness. 1t says;
Passing along the narrow and squalid Rue
Caisserie. over one-half he shops were
sssr 10 he closed at every crossing. From
= tenement region on the HI above a
stream of fetid water fswed across the
street and plunged down Q PRESCRIPTIONS
descent ON the other side through dark
lanes crowded with towering rookeiies
swarminQ below wi b idle men and children
PLAYING in the filthy cutters, the women
meanwhile smashing the vater about
with their brooms, under the evident I'M
rression that they were cleaning something.
Each olimpse of any one Of these streets is
enough 10 turn the stomach OF any healthy
man. The smell through all this quarter,
in which during O space Of twenty minutes
we met three laden hearses, was bad enough,
but the smell was indescribably worse when
we had driven across town to two OF the most
afflicted quarters of all Mars@iies-Ca-
pelette and the adjoining quarter.
In order t. reach them We crossed
the old ship canal. which was hlled
20 the brim with reeking water
and had its surface thickly covered with
oorbaoe and refuse of decidedly miscel-
laneo1s and revolving kind. Finally we got
on n street known as Toulon road, wide
thorouphfare without o shade-tree. Its gut
ters ran rivulets Of drab- colored water which
had oyerfown from the canal where 1t was
damned now and then by heaps Of rotting
VEGETABLES or worse substances, ine.udng
dead cats and dogs. Four out OF every five
houses were found closed. Those which re-
manned open were mainly estaminets, where,
under dirty awnings and on dirty sidewalks,
men and women sat drinking, or were already
reduced to stupor by previous drink
ing, and Junk shops in which hlthy
people were sorting rotten rags In an
unspeakably vile atmosphere. Fostering
filth was around them, and troplcal sun
beat fiercely down upon the scene, blinhng
the eyes as its rays we've reflected from the
White road, across which IN the quarter
Capelette courses stream the size OF a
main sewer in New York, winding ITS way
uncovered among the houses On lis jour
new to the sea. The stream was laden with
the sewage of the vilest Of the harselles
quarters Capelette and the adjoining
which have furnished much over
one-half Of the deaths that
have occurred ut Marseines, and IL
is an interesting fact that the hrgest pro-
portion of them were Italians. The wharfs
all along the water front were found to be
crowded with quarantine shipping, most
Italian and French, and picturesque sights
were the Mediterranean sailors, among
whom were many negroes, lying about Ia
the shade.
At the beginning nineteen-twentieths OF
the patients rec lived at the Pharo failed to
recover. For the last fortnight matters
have so far improved that only two thirds
of those received have died This excessive
mortality at first was largely due to
the fact that most cases when received
developed into hopeless condition.
The highest number that have
been in the hospital at any one time is 1l0.
and the largest number received Ia any one
day is thirty-seven. There nre two oh OF
doctors. The treatment, both he e aud ut
Toulon, In the first ages, is twenty drops
of liu ianum with three grains of ether,
with ice in the mouth 10 stop the vomiting.
In the second stages the patieats become
very cold. From ten to fifteen grammes OF
acetate of ammonia, he same quantity Of
alcohol and two injections Of morphi are
given d lily. If III patient can no breathe,
artificial respirati n # oxygen is pro-
duced and the l mbs are rubbed With
turpentine. The third stage is the
coffin. Delay in pla ing the bodies
in the ooffins is made necessary by
the fact that VIC ent post-mortem
action of the limbs takes place, caused by q
terrible reaction after death, in which the
temperature rises from extreme cold at dis
solution to 100 after it,
OF many pathetic sights the most painful
that l saw occurred in the female ward,
where one room was mostly occupied by
children. nun held in her arms by an
open window dying babe 10 months old.
Its three sisters (the oldest being only 10
years. lay on beds near by their parents,
both of whom died the same day. and there
was small hope for any of the remaining
children save the oldest. A dozen children
in all were TO be seen here, SOME of them
IN state of recovery.
Late at night / drove with my courier
outside the city to the Cemetery st. Pierre
to see the burial Of the three patients whom
/ had observed in the Pharo hospital in the
afternoon. After brief burial service,
intoned by pale young priest who looked
badly scared. three boxes were hurriedly
lowered into q trench eight feet deep by
twenty feet long, and goodly quantity Of
lime was shoveled on top. IL was CHASTITY
trench and there was plenty of room for
more collins. IL was a weird and sadden-
ing sight. There stood the tall white
houses. The dead still wore their tawdry
trinkets. and the whole WAS lighted up 90
in picture by Rembrandt by the ftful
glare Of three lanterns. Those gaping
trenches were big enough te hold heir
thousands. A concierge showed me a
burial permit. Across the fnce of the docu-
ment was written: "Choleri-urgent. and
there was requisition for some disinfect-
ant.
The same correspondent visited Toulon,
and thus depicts what he Witnessed: If in
u sanitary sense the condition Of Marssilles
was frighful, that Of Toulon struck me as
simply murderous. Although Toulon has
a background Of mountains, the city itself
is situated on fiat plain, four feet enly
above the level of tideless sea. The con.
sequences arising from imperfect drainage.
with natural want of slope, are that
the sewers have only fall Of eighteen
inches; so, with sluggish movement, the
filth of the town drops into an almost stag
nant sea. What is worse is that at the
points where these drains flow they are only
covered with plank, ond the filth, disgusting
to the nose, impresses itself on the eyes.
You not only theu SINE but You see the pub