Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-11-28

More About the Virginia Epidemic.
HINTON (W Va, November 27th.-The
rumors of the plague in the extreme south
ern part of this State, in western Virginia
and in eastern Kentucky are fast giving
way to startling facts. The center of the
afflicted district is in the center of Dickin-
son county, Virginia. in the midst of the
Cumberland mountains, and over one hun
dred miles from the nearest railroad station.
The greatest restitution prevails, and the
cold weather is sure to cause such mortal
ity as even the present state of affairs has
not begun to equal. The last rainfall was
on August Sd, unless it has fallen within a
week. The last person arriving here from
that section was a commercial traveller for a
Baltimore house, who left Leesburg one
week ago yesterday. He says business is at
stand-still, and crops failure. Many
families have not bushel of grain nor a
head of live stock left The medicines are
exhausted, and the physicians are nearly
all dead from overwork. Corpses lie for
days unburied. In many instances water
is carried three and four miles in
buckets. No running water is left,
that which is used being found
in pools in the deeper holes in the creek
bottoms. Louisa river has not sufficient
water i'll it to float a chip, save in the pools.
The fish are dead by tons. Indeed, there is
not live fish in six or seven counties. The
water evaporated, and that which was left
naturally retained all the salts and min
erals 1t is believed that drinking this
water produced the disease The disease
is not contagious That belief arose from
the fact that everybody was taken with the
same symptoms, the ignorant population
not reasoning as to the real cause. The
lack of sufficient and proper food greatly
increases the mortality. The latest esti-
mate places the number of deaths at 1000.
The patient is seized with vertigo, heavy
fever, complete Inconsistencies with lnvol-
untary discharges much cOlored with blood,
and death ensues in about ten hours, the vic
tim suffering intensely. The scenes ofdistress
are terrible All the people are poor
mountaineers, the most OF them living in
log houses of two rooms, occupied by from
two to dozen persons. In some instances
the disease has swept off whole families,
the last members to die being left unburied.
Up the mountain pass and along the small
streams in the valleys are to be found
scores of houses unOCCupied, because their
owners are dead. Animals suffer the same
symptoms rs men. The cries of children,
begging for food, are pitiful. If relief is
StIlI II lllSl Dt SOOl1. DGIOIt lIlC lOtNiS oil Z
blocked with snow. There is little of the
plague in West Virginia, only portions of
Mcdowell, Mercer and Logan counties SUI
fering The deaths there do not exceed
200 but the loss to stock and crops will be
100000.
AID FOR THE SUFFERERS.
WASHINGTON, November 27th.-Dr. J. 3.
Hunnibell, of the Red Cross Association,
loft horo r,ifrht 10 ybn lbco of tho
mysterious disease prevailing in Virginia,
and afford aid to the sufferers.
\ Spiritualist Doctor" On Trial.
CLEVELAND, November 27th.-At the pre-
liminary examination of DIR. George Burris,
the Spiritualist who murdered Sarah Welker
1T Gambler, the prisoner testified first
met Sarah Welker at her mothers, at a
Spiritualisti3 circle. eight months ago.
am a medium. a man is controlled not by
himself because he is working under the
influence all the time. His mind is alb
sorbed. The spirit that controls me speaks
any tongue. | am controlled by the spirit
of an Indian chief. | learned the Indian
tongue while | was under spiritual control.
When am not under control | know moth
ing of the language. This chief never con-
versed TO me in regard to this lady. She
had been ailing for some time. AS a me-
dunn | have power to control pain and dis
ease. The more developed | get the more
power | have. | have relieved headache
and neuralgia ! am not responsible for
what | do when under the control of the
spirit of this chief. | would not be respon-
sible. l treated Sarah Welker several times
in a circle at her mothers house. | also
treated her in her last sickness. | have
never known what disease | treated unless
it was something simple. November 14th
there We're three mediums in the house OF
Sarah Welller We all treated her. l give
magnetism to support vitality. | was with
her every night from that time until she
died. | was present when she died Ny
belief is that her own spirit left her body
Sunday night. On that night she went into
a trance, and her spirit left her at that time.
give this as my opinion
The next witness was Sarah Jane Bur
ris, wife of DR.. Burris. When she came
on the stand her eyes were swOllen-shut,
and her face was covered with bruises.
She testified that the doctor had often
treated her He did it by rubbing and
slapping her. In reply to a question as to
what was the matter with her eyes, she
said After the doctor came from the
body of Mrs Welller he thought he saw
the same spirit that was in Mrs. Welker in
me, and began to slap me in the face and
choke me- After he had choked me so that
| fell to the floor he placed his mouth over
my eyes and sucked each one in turn to get
the evil spirit out. His object was so to over
come me that he could control the spirit
| thought he would kill me, lam afraid
of him when he is under the control of the
spirit of the Indian chief"
and il is feared that Burris will be lvnchcd'
Fortunes yyo,, and Lost :, oil
o.r.,.<T W - o-4l. WI,
II, w 81, i3eii
tao vi @ ~ D'''ieI County, d.
% oNc 2'' d lew "ee"S ~ W. young men
..o1 ~ 'iliI tH"h I"llleI meyer invested
P''ooo tlIc IIoIlVy my H'-Iil an AZ, on
~! -: pul = eii ileai 'iIc III
ilPS anu II - ~ " De 1iiJ Ia so VI wei
"a tiio Uii'i ls''I III csil
iUi men 'c''. va Ill'liey diIu
1iiee 10Y WIS oiie amy III 'lry
l nc SIe@' elisiiel pesdh 70 uecille' ana
~ ~" ilil';I 1t,t GOO 20 eiS d uiy. III
o'ca'' vi nav IllS $500 "p,ecc, 'Lc men are
iioS 1ilII niuCl ~ fieot, NfaI tIle meyer
anu Lllil,s "eiis efe ownS"Ip sch9ol as
~ ~ 49, 500 W. ltsi' d.,
str1ck in the district the Directors refused
$40 OOO for the school property. Since then
the surrounding wells have drained all the
oil from the pool. and the value of the
school lot is once more rated at $500.
Farmer Marshall ON whose farm oil was
Fl O60 fnr II week before was satisfied
with an offer of $3.50, 900.