The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1885-01-02
sCOURGED.
The Plngue Ravaged Districts Of Virginia
and Kentucky.

regarding the drouth and accompan.
ing plague in certain portions of vi
ginia and Kentucky has received tn
he following letter dated williamsburg
"a. Ky, Nov. 20:
o William C. Lester, a prominent a
lie torney of this place, has just arrive
20 from Mount Pleasant county, wher
ne he has been for two weeks past a
er court as acting prosecuting attorney
ut Mr.. Lester has information of a pre-
t. vailing plague, principally from Har
Of Ian, Letcher, Perry, Leslie, and Bell
Is counties, and says that in Harlan i
s. appeared to be the worst. 1t is mos
d fatal and prevails to the greatest ex
b tent up and about the headwaters o.
n Poor Fork and Glover creeks, in the
|! mountains, distance of about twenty
r five miles from Mount Pleasant. A
y large territory is being terribly atfiict-
r ed, and the people are dying very rap
] idly. In one neighborhood twelve
persons died in single day the latter
, part of last week, and there were
, scarcely well persons to make them
collins of rudely-hewn boards and
bury them. On Browns creek, which
| rises in Harlan and empties into the
| Cumberland river in Belle county, the
disease is raging with frightful fatality,
and there is no way to keep record
of the dead. All along the banks of
the streams the people are sick, and
physicians and medicines outside of
herbs and roots, with whose curative
properties the natives are acquainted,
are unknown and unobtainable. The
epidemic is rapidly spreading in Har-
Ian, and so far there seems to be moth
ing discovered to check or cure those
afflicted, they either dying in a short
time or nature saving them from death
only TO leave them such physical
wrecks that they are helpless as in
fants for weeks. In the district coy
ering the southern portion of Letcher
and Perry, the whole of Leslie, and
the northeast portion of Belle the
plague has obtained foothold, but re-
ports as to its violence are very con-
flicting. Mr.. Lester thinks from what
he was able to CLEAN at Mount Pleas
ant that the deaths run up to hundreds,
while the numbers of those attacked |
cannot be estimated. The disease does |
not prevail. at Mount Pleasant, but the
session OF the circuit court, as far as
the trial OF the commonwealth cases
are concerned, was a complete failure,
scarcely case being called but it had
10 be continued because of the illness
or death of either the defendant or
some witness.
Mr.. Lester further said that no one
seemed to know the exact nature of
the pestilence. Most people called it
lux, and it is probably very ag-
graVated form of that disease. 1t be-
gins with gripping pains in the
stomach followed with facilitating !
and swelling of the throat, {
Ind, II not fatal in three or four DAYS. t
he patient as rule, RECEIVERS. All I
eporls agree as to the cause of the I
piGemlc, 1t being attributed to the
Use OF improper water by the natives. j
Inc season has been unusually dry. c
ne streams as rule, consisting only /
u narrow threads of murky, foul t
melting, foul-tasting water, with an d
occasional pool of more poisonous il
tuH- The corn crop in all of the coun- t.
les named above is good, and starva- q
ion and want only exist because the O
.eople can spare no time from the a
lex to gather it. No mills are run is
ing on the smaller streams. In no d
ortion of the territory mentioned is II
lther the corn or hay crop less than h
sual. According to Mr.. Lester. the d.
inns which visited the lower and CEN ii
al portions of the state in the last II
Nv days do not seem to have extended h:
TO the afflicted region, and no pure ey
alter is obtainable. Truly, the stu ri
loD Is appalling, and no relief is at be
lnd. MY informant had no news. hs
'cept IN general way, of the prevail on
ice OF the plague in Virginia or West en-
rglnla. In the former state only a
w Localities in the extreme south CT
sstern part of the state are afflicted. off
t IN the latter Buchanan, Wise, Rus su
u and Scott counties are reported in WI
'ruly appalling condition. de-
LATER. SUI
a. .nui u LOOMS travelling ag;
s in Louisville, Monday, Dec. /
wing, just returned from a trip i
ough the plague-stricken district If CHI
tern Kentucky. Mr.. Loomis said: mis-
was four days in Martin county the
hout disposing of single article. str'
people are absolutely crazy; thew to
~ use LOT anything but collins.
great deal has been printed in the stol
about the situation in Mar boy
and adjoining counties, but it has g
but an imperfect reflex of the ex- the
ng deplorable condition. | know SOU
instances where whole families have :"
| within week, where neirbbor- dou
dis have been swallowed 1p in two
grave, where one man has only
lived to bury his family and his if "
1ds, and then been found dead with Ie1C
living creature near him, except in
e cases a faithful dog Flocks of e Z
p and droves of cattle that used to 81
yse on the hillsides and along the Its
Re OF the Cumberlands, now lie upoI
and rotting. While pebbles glis- spec
On the bottom of the creek beds. Whlt
wells and cisterns have been Iho'
ned to the bottom and H. s.; on that
10 longer to be relied upon for the IN
ny OF water. The ground is liter bless
parched and where vegetation for OF Tn
y bloomed luxuriantiy there is snug
lnp but decay TboH,,-J MARI