Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-08-25
FLORIDA'S PLAGUE
DESCRIPTION OF THE TERROR
 THAT PREVAILS.
THE PANIC IS UNUSUAL.
THE STORY OF A WOMAN WHO IS JUST
 FROM THE SOUTH.

She Admits that Fear Drove Her Away.
 Shameful Treatment of B Man and Ills
 Wife at St.Augustine-Left in the Swamp
 for Twenty-four Hours Without Food
 water---Hanging a Health Officer in
 Emgy.--Trains Guarded With Guns.
 PHILADELPHIA, Pa, Aug. 25.-A lady who has just reached here from St. Augustine related this story to a areporter of the con dition of affairs down there: Il suppose that am the only person who left Florida on account of fear. Everybody else had business North, or wanted to go fishing, or needed trip, or something of that sort. ] came because was afraid. It was not so much the yellow fever that was afraid Of, for there had not been case of 1t in St. Augustine or near there when I left. It was the fear of the fever that feared. l never imagined anything like the panic. It was simply terrible. Here IS one illnstra- tion in hospitable St Augustine:
 gentleman living south of the city owns cottage at Pablo Beach, the sum- lner resort near Jacksonville. The day be- fore the fever was proclaimed in Jackson vile this gentleman's wife went to Pablo to visit the cottage. The day after the proclamation her husband went in hot haste to bring her home. They were met at St. Augustine depot by excited citizens, made to get into vehicle, and driven to 8 swampy region couple of miles north of the city In spite of all protestations and appeals they were left without food, with nothing to shelter them from the sun or the dew or the rain. without even blanket to put between them ana the wet earth Then the citizens held an indigna- tion meeting, and resolved to burn in efdgy the President of the Health Board for per mitting suchpeople to pass through the city The delecate woman and her husband were compelled to stay in that swamp for twenty-four hours, When they were f. nally permitted to go home the poor woman's face was all cracked and bleed ing from exposure to the sun. Why, it was dangerous to have a twinge of rheumatism or pound your finger
 People would say at once that you had yellow fever, and you would most likely be banished to the swamp. As for hu- mane system of quarantine or any kind of hospital for possible fever cases, nothing,of that kind had been done or attempted when l left. The chances were that perfectly well person who fell under picion would die from enforced exposure and privation. did not leave till the last moment It was simply q deserted village we left behind us. Even the doctors ran away, and most of the drug stores were closd up. Last winter there were twenty seven doctors in St. Augustine; when 1 left there were four, and not one of these had ever seen 8 case of yellow fever. The crowds of workmen had all gone. Business of all kinds was utterly dead {; nearly all the stores were closed and de serted, and the merchants are all in dan ger of ruin, l think, because such crowds of their customers fled without paying their bills. Whole rows of dwellings were closed and abandoned, without an article of furniture having been removed. tremble when think of the condition of 1 those houses when the proprietors get back 1 after frost, unless the authorities get 8 trmer grasp on the situation than they have now. Every tram went out crowded, i and scores of people went inland to camp out. How they are going to live I'm sure 1 l don't know, for supplies of food are low enough even in the towns. We did not go near Jacksonville or any other place where there was any suspicion of the fever.
 We went to Palatka, to Gainesville, to Dupont, to Live Oak, on the Tallahassee road, and so on to Weycross, Ga., and . everywhere we found the same degree of panic as existed in St. Augustine The whole State seemed possessed by 1t. A 1 wild there were 2,OJO fugitives from in- terior parts of the State. They had to spend the nights in the streets, and special trains were made up for them. The regular trains would not begin to carry all the refugees. Yes, the panic is unusual. i There have been worse vlsitations of the fever than this without causing half tho terror l suppose the reason is that this time the fever Is at Jack sonville. That, no doubt, makes 1t especially disastrous. You see Flor ida is bag, with Jacksonville for its mouth. Pretty much every body and every thing going to or coming from any part of the State passes through Jacksonville. The official announcement of yellow fever there drew the string tight around the mouth of the bag, and tied it into hard knot. At once people in every part of the State felt that they were fastened in, with the future full of all sorts of horri- ble possibilities, privation and want among the rest. I'll never forget the experiences of that journey. We were classed as dangerous refugees. We were locked into our car. At nearly every station were men with shotguns to see that no body got of the train. Occasionally. at some little deserted place, we were per mitted to leave the car and exercise our cramped limbs. We wore nearly starved. IL was almost impossible to get anything to eat, no matter what price we might offer. At one place 8 he. roic man did pluck up courage enough to hand me 6 tin cup of chicken broth through the car window and that was all had for nearly two days. This state of things lasted long after we got out of Florida, and, in- deed, it was not until we neared Richmond that we began to feel that we were not