Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-11
Is the General Cholera Situa.
tion in Europe, as 1t Was
a Week or So Ago.
100000 VICTIMS TO DATE,
According to Best Figures 0btaina bic
From the Cars Dominion.
PARIS MOST FEARED BY ENGLAND.
So Far the scOurgs Has Proved Great
Geneft to the Briton.
LAX INVESTIGATION ON THE FRONTIER
IRY CABLE TO THE p1sPArcH.1

tBY CABLE TO THE pIsPATCH.l
LONDON, Sept 10-[ Copyright Twill,
still alarmingly serious the general choler,
situation is by no means as black as weel
ago. The deaths by the scourge according
to the figures furnished by the press in the
last seven DAYS number more than Is, 00t
for Russia and Western Europe. Revised
official figures have come from Russia,
which number the death roll in the king.
dom from the outbreak of the epidemic tc
September about 100000. Beyond the
Cars dominion we have heard of 30,OOt
victims Adding Hamburg's 5000 ant
several hundred more in France and the
grim total of human lives sacrificed to the
Unsuitable plague monster amounts to about
100000 A quarter of million would be
much nearer the truth, but the crisis for
this season at least has passed.
At every point where the epidemic has
been raging save one it is on the decline.
The exception is Paris That is where
anxiety and danger now center It is Paris,
not Hamburg, that England fears. 1t is
because the truth has been long concealed
in the French capital that fear is probably
exaggerated.
Choierine Nothing but Cholera.
The authorities still keep up the criminal
folly of describing as ''cholerine" the
disease which kills in few hours 40 per
cent of those whom it attacks The doctors
in the hospitals long ago abandoned the
base subterfuge. At the hospitals it is
readily admitted that they have many
cholera patients in their wards. At the
Bureau of Vital Statistics the presence of
the pestlIence under that name is denied
with fine scorn.
If the epidemic can be confined to its
present scope, Paris will be able to con-
gratulate herself on practical escape from
the scourge, for 500 deaths-which is about
the number up to date-is a very small
mortality in a population of 1000, 600.
But the only encouraging feature of the
situation is the approach of cooler weather
The disease is of q very virulent type. The
mortality in the number of cases returned
is terrific. Thus, on Thursday the number
of new cases was AZ and the deaths 80.
Yesterday their were 65 and 49 respectively.
This proportion is hardly credible. We
have probably been deceived about the
number of new cases, and we may be sure
the deaths have not been exaggerated
The Disease Not Kept in Limits.
1t is known also that the disease is not
confined to one locality. Some of the pa
tients have come from the best quarters of
the city, some from the worst, and the i'm
pure water supply from the filthy Seine
is the greatett menace of all
Many strange stories come across the
channel about the progreas of the disease in
the gay French capital Some of them are
so alarming as to be incredible. Some of
them are full of pathos and heroism. There
is one which may be relied upon. When
1t became necessary, more than q month
ago, to create special cholera wards in the
hospitals, volunteer nurses were called for
One of the first to respond was Madame
Miederlander. "Let me have the hardest
position" was her requese. She was as
signed to night duty, and she often had as
many as 60 patients in her charge.
She was small active woman, delicate
in appearance, but tireless and wonderfully
efficient in her work. The strain told upon
her and she seemed about to break down.
The house physician noticed how feeble
she seemed, and sent for her one morning.
he begged her to take few days rest, and
insisted that at. least she should leave the
cholera ward.
u
She thought the doctor had taken a Do
lite way of telling that she was not efficient,
and she burst into tears. Dr. Lesage, in
immediate charge of the cholera patients,
declared that he could not spare her and
she insisted on returning to her post. She
went on working wonders amid the agonies
of the cholera until last TUESDAY. Then.
as she was following the doctor on his
rounds, book in hand, was suddenly
taken by the dreadful pains of the plague,
and collapse came quickly and it was pro-
posed to revive her by q TRANSMISSION of
blood
A hospital attendant offered himself for
the purpose, and more than pint of his
blood was transfused into her arm. She
revived temporarily, but the next day death
came in earnest Her funeral yesterday
was as quiet and simple as possible, but
many of the hospital staff followed her to
the grave. The Chairman of the Hospital
Board wrote to her husband, saying that
the martyred woman would be buried at
the expense Of the city, that she would
have perpetual grave, and that her name
would be written i n what is known as the
golden book" at the Hotel de Vile.
Engiand's Cause for Congratulation.
All England has been congratulating
herself, this week, over the escape from
the plague which is now popularly re-
garded as assured. London has even been
talking Tor day or two about ''our
friend, the cholera" " in a cold commercial |
sense. The epidemic has indeed been a
friend to England, thus far, as il will be |
be even more SO in the future, if the pres
ent Immunity continues. The financial |
loss to Hamburg, Paris, Antwerp, Berlin |
and other continental points, on account of |
the epidemic, can hardly be estimated.
Hundreds of American tourists alone who |
had planned TO spend September ON the |
have fed precipitately to Eng
land. 1he capacity of the Channel boats
bound Britainward has been severely
course, the routes via Dieppe or points
Under cholera suspicion.
England's escape from an invasion of the
plague up to date is a matter for wonder.
Not even the boasted policy of inspection
Ind registration as substitute for quaran-
Inc has been strictly followed. Some doors
ave been guarded, others-and those
he widest and most used-have
'een left wide open. Within
ny personal knowledge three men have
ONE from Hamburg to London this week
" the more frequented and direct route via
flushing and greensboro, and not a cues
ion was asked them on the English side of
he channel Neither was there ANY repre-.
sntative of the British Government at
he embarking point in Holland They
-aveled on through tickets from Hamburg
} London. They carried considerable hand
Iggage, and they neither saw nor heard of
ny health officer or individual who quss-
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