Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-12-19
DYING By

The Drought in tho Cumberland Mounts
aims Causes Fearful M~ortality-T]he Dis
ease AS Mysterious rs 1t Is n~eadly-sec-
tinus of Virginia, West Virginia, Ken
lucky aud Tennessee Enthusiastically
Not Cholera.
CHARLESTON, w. Va, Nov. Glib
formation from PerryHille, Mcdowell
County, this State, near the Virginia border,
gives frightful accounts of the ravages Of
so-callcd cholera in tie extreme southwest
en counties Of Virginia ana adjoining terri
tory in Kentucky. Making every allowance
for cXag!,eration, the hss OF lite has already
been appalling, while the condition
Of the survivors is terrible in the
extreme. No ratu las fallen in
the Cumberland Mountains, in which the
infected district is situated, fer four months,
the drought entailing not only an almost to-
tai failure OF The crops, but cutting Off the
supply OF water over a wide area. Difficult
ty was experienced i'll obtaining water for
stock in some localities as early as the mid
die of August, but no actual suffering
among the inhabitants occurred until to-
ward the end of September. when, the
ordinary sources of supply having for
the most part failed, the mountaineers were
compelled, in order to sustain life, to obtain
water for household purposes from what is
known as the poison or mineral springs
in the mountains, or from the small amount
remaining in deep holes in the beds of
creeks. A persistent use of this water soon
developed a peculiar disease, as deadly as
Asiatic cholera in its nature, which
has ever since ragged with terrible fatality
over half a dozen counties in Virginia and
Kentucky. The loss Of life thus far is vari-
ously estimated at from four hundred to
eight hundred. Among children and adults
well up in years the mortality has been
greatest, but no class has been exempt.
In a number of instances, especially
along the forks of McLean's Greek,
a tributary of the Big Sandy, and
in the valley of the Powell River,
,emptying into the Tennessee, entire
families have persisted, while in numerous
other cases but one or two members of a
household survive. Few recover from the
disorder, from sixty to eighty per cent. of
these attacked dying. This is accounted
for by the facts that pure water is still I'M
AleuiIAtDlC BIZ LidS plOICl lOOQ sllU IlGulCdl
attendance can not be had. The drying
up of the streams has necessitated the
stoppage Of numerous small grist-mills
along the mountain valleys, and the
population for the most part appears to be
in the most abject want and misery. The
locality is almost inaccessible to the out
side world, there being nc railroad within
one hundred miles, and reliable news is
very difficult to obtain; but even if halt
what is alleged be true the calamity is of
the most serious nature, and calls fox
prompt action by the authorities and the
public. 90
The symptoms are described as being like
those OF Asiatic cholera. The first symptom
is a terrible %hemOrrhage OF the bowels, and
persons attacked die or recover in about a
week. 1t is frequently fatal in twenty-foul
hours, and sometimes i'll a few hours. In
most instances it visits an entire family, and
is considered so contagious that in some
cases the party attacked dies alone, his
friends being afraid to go to him.
lit is safe to assume from the meager dc
lscription OF this disease that it is not Cholera
nordocS it bear any analogy to that dread
scourge. Nothing thus far stated will war
rant the belief that it is other than a severe
form Of dysentery, ~superinduced by some
deleterious substance in the water consumed,
or by malaria or other climatic influences moi
vet explained