Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1885-01-07
body Of Toe wife, and the third child. .
baby tWo years old, lay by her side.
II HAn MN nr srr

1 10y wv yeoEe oa1, t6g Oy 1ef 6loe.
II HAD DIED OF sTAHvATIox,
And IN its hanger hsd torn the breasts
OF rs mother with its testh. GIades
| sstle aud Laban01, tvo Kentucky vii
laaes, are almost depopulAted- A.
StadesvIlle there lived a Methodist cir.
eolf rider, the Rev. Joseph Eumons.
wno received $50 for his wears SALARY.
tne most OF u coming.frogr a mission
ary society. He had a wife and three
enildren 20 support on this. When the
plague broke out 10 the village. be de-
voted bis whole time 20 the care of the
sick- he was At ouce physician and
nurse, and when the disease had run its
fatai course, be gave the dying the con
solatIen of his faith. Almost without
neip, for the people In their terror gave
up all hope and sat down TO die. he
made ro1gh collins and dug shallow
graves 20 bury the dead. When at last
nis wife and two Of bis children be-
came victims, there sas no one 70 lend
him helping hand. In one day they
we're all dead. and on the next day be
knelt alone beside the one grave which
De had dug with his own hand. More
than one half Of the people Of this vii
lsge have died, and the rest would glad
ly leave II they had the means, or
knew where shey ought 70 20 to escape
the plague.
out Of populntioa OF 2a,eOO people
IN the stricken section, more than 100
deaths have been reported, and we'll in
formed people like Or. Bair Of Mount
Pleasant village and the Rev. W. II.
Childers, the presiding elder Of the Bar
bonrsville district of the Methodist
Church. say that at least 800 psopls
have died from its effects, the most of
whom were children.
To add 10 the distress, fores. fires have
broken out in the mountains and are
sweeping everything before them. The
trees vith the mast, on which the peo-
pie depend to fstten their hogs, ars be-
ing destroyed, oornhelds are burned
over, and cabins and barns swept out of
existence. One village. Perrytovn, Va,
was nearly burned mp this week; only
three or four isolated cabins ont of six
ty buildings were left. The people are
camping out vhils erecting new houses.
With the exception Of three or four
neighbOrhoods. there has been lnothing
like panic among the people. They
did not seem 10 realize the extent OF the |
r4vages OF she plague, and talk about it |
vaguely as
A DrsPENsATIoS or GOD,
Which is not to be prevented or over
come. They are what their friends call |
Easy -goiRg, bat all the rest of the world |
call them lazy. They seldom see a |
stranger, and bat few csn read or write. |
They know little or nothing Of the |
verld beyond she mountains, and, il |
offered free transportation away from |
where they are dying like sheep, they
would scarcely accept the offer.
The plague began when the wells and |
springs went dry, and Was doubtless the
result OF using water that WAS impure.
The new physicians here say that the
water contained mineral poison of
some kind. because only mineral poi
ION would have produced the gripiaes,
he burning fever and thirst. and the
bloody excavations that marked the dis
'ase. They say that ores of copper
md arseuites abound in tue mountains.
! be scarcity of medical help and the
peculiar habits Of the people undeubtsd-
y snads the disease more fatal. When
'nce member Of q family was
stricken the rest we're pretty sure to
'Ollow, and this was due in many cases
% lack of proper care for the sick
md TO failure to properly dispose OF
he excreta. The people usually tried
o Doctor themselves, and this gensr-
lily increased the fatality. Besides
! great variety of patent nostrums,
he favorite remedies were liberal doses
II hot mutton tallow, hogs grease
mixed With bnrnt (mulled) brandy, de.
Of tobacco and blackberry
oots, and all sorts Of herb teas, and az
II stages of the game whisky. There
IRE not over fifteen physicians in the
light counties, bat IL there had been q
ID ldred the people in many sections
would not have hired them. In 1854 a
limilar but less sirulent plague ragged
through these mountains. There were
more physicians then, bat they knew
ess Of medicine than the people they
ried to care for. Qainins and oalomel
Eere the fsvorite remedies, aad the con-
lequent deaths created not unnatural
,rejadice In the minds of the people.
The cfors have been short for tve sea-
IONS. and there voald have been hard
lines during the winter IL the plague
asd not come. Relief committees have
been organized in the larger villages be-
F0nd the mountains. but the only out
side relief received 20 far was 1890
rom the csttlemen's convention in st.
Louis- The things most needed are
medicine and competent ply
,icians and nurses.