The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1892-06-04
Fire and Plague.

/
CALCUTTA, May 30.--Dspatches from
Sinagar say that the whole district /!
panic-stricken by fire and plague. Th'
cholera is raging with unprecedented vio
lence. In the last week 1900 deaths hays
been reported, and probably half as
many more persons have died without
any record or notice TO the authorities
In the rural portion of the district all
work has ceased. The people die by the
roadside, and in the village streets, with
nobody to nurse them or bury them. On
account of the tardiness of burials the air
of the worst stricken villages is polluted
by horrible odors, and the ravages OF the
disease are accelerated from day 70 day.
The apparent hopelessness of their oondl
tion has driven most of the population to
theft and plunder. To accomplish their
purposes the lower classes have resorted
to arson, and scarcely night passes in a
village of any size without the setting of
two or three fires. The capital of the
district, the city of Sinagar, has been
almost completely wiped out by fire.
Early in the week cluster of houses on
the bank of the river Jhylum were set on
fire. and hlgh wind spread the flames
throughout the adjoining portion of the
city. Sinager is poorly built and the
native huts are clustered more closely
even than in most other cities. The
brands and sparks were blown so rapidly
from hut to hut that the inhabitants had
no time to try to stay the flames. They
ran shouting and screaming through
the streets and many in their terror
plunged into the river and were drowned.
Those in the section of the city furthest
from the river ran to the fields and bills
where they still live without shelter.
About two thirds of the city on that side
of the river where the fire started was
destroyed.
ON THE OTHER SIDE.
On the following night a fire was
started on the other side of the riyer.
There was no wind at first, and compar
atively little danger was apprehended.
The flames In another quarter, however,
soon frightened the inhabitants, who be-
lieYed that they were about to suffer, as
had their fellows across the river. The
people started in droves TO leave the city,
and no effort was made to stop the pro-
gress of the. flames. Several other fires
were started in the panic, and before
morning one half the rest of the city was
in ashes. Four thousand families are
and about $4,000 women and
children are now living with little food
and no cover In the open air The daily
deaths are numbered by the dozens.
Hundreds were ill of the cholera, and |
when the fires were started in the city, |
exposure and lack of medicinal attention |
has increased the prevalence of the dis
ease, as well as its fatality, two-fold.
Help has been dispatched from Lahore,
about 200 miles distant, but the relief
corps is too small TO give material aid to
The great muss of suffers The natives
have been too much crushed by the
plague and the loss of their homes to
help themselves, and those who are not
with death or disease
smoke in dazed indifference, or squat
around the ruins bemoaning their mis-
iortunes. The condition of affairs in
,ther parts of the district is less appall
ng, only because there are NO other cities
If any size. In many of the villages the
Tres have been proportionately as de-
tructive as at the capital. In the whole
district of Sinagar it is estimated $4,000
people are homeless.