Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1892-09-11

Cholera follows the channels OF trade
and commerce." said Or. Sayre. ut
follows the movements of the people.
That is its universal history, whether it
goes in the wake OF an oriental caravan,
on pilgrimage to Mecca, on the trains
of a railway or is brought in the steer
age Of chip. 1t may come In the
clothes OF persons who have been ex-
posed; a bale of rags may place nation
under the scourge. 1t is swift and In
sidious in its movements, but 1t may be
kept out with proper vigilance, and
once here, with adequate treatment, 1t
NAV be confined and finally eXtermi-
mated. ''The frost idea," the venerable
doctor continued, ''does not carry In the
case of the Atlanta, which brought
cholera here in 1865. 1t was in the last
part OF November that she came, and
the weather was cold and bleak. The
news that cholera ship had arrived
reached me late at night. l was then
resident physician. The health officer,
DR.. Swinbnrne, was absent 1t fell TO
me to attend this ship. L lost no time.
Telegraphing the mayors OF adjacent
towns, took a small dory and went to
the ship. The night was cold and
stormy. The foul hold was filled with
the sick, the dying and the dead. Thirty
had died and more were sick.
Il converted the vessel into floating
quarantine then and there. All the vic
Tins were I'm one end of the ship.
placed a row of tubs filled with carbolic
acid across the hold. The sick were
thus fenced off from the well. Guards
were placed on this line with orders TO
shoot any person who crossed it. All
clothes and b sdding were immersed in
tubs OF carbolic acid with oil on the top,
the sick was treated, and finally the
disease wore itself out. 1t was confined
TO the ship. The conditions were much
more unfavorable then than now, and
an efficient service ought to stop the
disease wherever it may show itself.
"The great need of the hour is federal
control of the ouarantines. 1t must be
uniform and strict, and the only way
this can be secured is through the gen.
eral government. In the winter OF 1866
I tried to get Congress to act. II was
not long after the Atlanta came to port
and The cholera was in the country from
other sources. I tried TO use this Incl
dent and this fact as arguments, but
thew pooh poohed it. Senator Zacha-
riah Chandler was chairman OF the COM
merce committee, which had charge OF
the subject. He said he had had cholera
twice, and that guarantees could not
keep.it out. / asked him where ne nad
il. He said at Detroit How did 1t get
tn Detroit? From Quebec. How did it
get to Quebec? The chairman scratched
his head. He said that after all there
might be something in the quarantine
idea. But nothing was done. The old
and dangerous system was allowed TO
continue, and it continues to-day.
~ will give you another instance. In
1s4s-1 remembe il well-two ships left
4avre for America. Both carried i'm
MIGRANTS. and both developed cholera at
sea One made New Orleans, the other
New York. Both arrived in December,
long after the frost had set in-at least
az New York. The New York quaran-
tine measures were vigorous ana ELL
Gent. The disease was met and con-
ouered. 1t di d not get beyond the
Staten Island hospital in which The SICK
were treated. at New Orleans 1t was
6ifferent. The cholera ship was allowed
70 land her people. OF course they
snread the disease. 1t got out In the
citv. boarded the steamboats,, went up
the Mississippi, stopping at Memphis
and St. Louis, thence took the rail to
Chicago, followed commerce and travel
- the other lake ports, and finally, in
Nav 1s4o. six months after the disease
hsd been met and stamped out here, 1t
.ascbed New York. 1t was still winter
,vestber when it reached tbs lakes; but
I. travelled on. This shows how COM
nlstely the country is at the mercy OF
&c mort. It shows the necessity OF uni
sormitv and military strictness az all the
no Every port on the coasts should