The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-09-17
The MARCH OF CHOLERA.

of Emigration.
What is the Asiatic cholera. and where
1oes it come from: This a question that
IS being asked throughout the civilized
today as the dread DESTROYER is
knocking at the doors of many nations.
and has already crossed the threshold OF
many more. People are not SO supersti-
tious about it as they used to be because
it is better understood. but in the olden
days it was regarded as the ayenger of
the gods.
1t came. and mankind. grew daft be-
meath its sway. 1t went, and men could
not say wherefore, MOI could they predi-
cate the whittier. Like some old time
dragon built of Nightmares and having
no existence in reality it roamed to and
fro over the earth at its own sweet will
with death in its breath, consuming all
who felt its whitening power.
Victims were hustled off to the GENE.
terry almost before the breath had left
their bodies. The rattle of the death
carts sounded on deserted streets, for
every n who was out fled panic strick-
en- when he approached the horses. or
the gallop generally, in their hard en-
deavor to keep pace with the destroyer.
In many cases no prayers were said
above the dead as they were hurried un-
der ground. 1t was the ~plague-the
cholera! That was funeral service
enough to hasten the burial. 1t was
prayer and sermon and panegyric all in
one in those days of mortal terror.
And yet in those days. as in these,
there were brave and patient investiga.
tors at work looking up the secrets of
the disease, finding the lost clews to its
nature, the laws which governed it. the
reasons for its existence. the means of
cure. Many Of them died in the work,
but their work lives after them. Where
n died two came to take his place.
and in course of time the glorious
heroes of science-some named. other
anonymous-built up their monumento of
knowledge. and as it grew the monster
lessened in size. until today men can
see it for what it really is-no wander
ing star at all in the armament of
disease, but as fixed and governed it its
ways as any other plague sent by broken
laws TO punish offending mankind.
In Japan the disease was called ko-ro-
ri, or fox. wolf and badger, and was be.
lieved to be a production of the devils.
All fish and water during an epidemic
were considered poisonous. which shows
that the Japanese must have had some
good reason to suspect the latter. which
is now known to be one of the most pro.
ductive agencies for disseminating the
seeds of cholera.
From 1917 to 1919 the victims of black
vomit were almost countless. They ran
ur into the millions. 1t devastated In
dla, ran riot through Madras. crossed the
sea to Ceylon and ravaged Sumatra,
Malacca, Siam and Burma .. In 1920 1t
made its home in northern China and
Tartary. The next year it was on the
shores of the Persian gulf. Thence il
assembled the Tigris and Euphrates. and
in 1922 it crossed the desert into Syria.
The following year the a~ll-devouring
monster was IN Russia. The whole OF
Asia had paid tribute to its insatiate ap.
petite. And still it was not satisfied.
Some of the blacklist pages in the dark
history of Moscow are those which tel
the story of cholera there. 1t visited the
hovel and the palace alike. 1t broke VI,
scenes of revelry and turned them into
scenes of mourning. 1t stood beside the
bride at the altar and the mother at the
christening. 1t was omnipresent. seem
ingly. Some families it touched lightly,
taking but a member or two. Others /,
wiped out altogether. 1t was as merci
lie SIS as "a car. as Unsuitable as a Napu,
leon.
This was in 1881. Still unsatistied. still
looking for other worlds to conquer. i,
crossed the ocean and landed in America
II h.1 a1rnaI,. ,nr,inl OF 1.Dlnln - a.,
French, of whom 1000 died in Paris
within the space Of eighteen days. H.
1882. when five vessels setting sail foi
Quebec lost 10 passengers on the voy
age. All these ships and their passen
gers were quarantined at Crosse Isle. =
few miles below Quebec. but they wert
not kept there long enough. apparently
Tor after the st. Lawrence steamer Nov.
ager had brought some Of them up t,
Quebec and others 10 Montreal it Wi dis
covered. with unutterable horror. thai
SOM of them were infected with III,
disease
The first case Of cholera occurred in :
boarding house in Montreal. tw0hundre,
miles away. within thirty hours after
leaving Crosse Isle. Not a single huus,
along the way was touched. with tn
following exceptions: \ man picked "
a mattress thrown overheard from III,
Noyageur. and he and his wife died Of
the disease: another man fishing on tn
river was asked to bury one Of the dead
Tie and is wife and nephew died. An
Indian who performed a like office dict
with tive of his COMPANIONS.
This Was the last heard Of cholera til.
1873, when it destroyed 10000 persons II
England. lli,oOO in unhappy France. L..
600 at Messina. and ll.0n in Tcheran
The following year the emigrant snip,
again brought it to Now York. wher,
1000 were laid low. and again il Wa,
scattered along the usual channels. Phi
adelphia lost 800 in that same epidemic.
and many of the smaller cities Of New
England each had its cholera scare.
The pathway Of the epidemic was
everywhere the pathway Of emigration.
It was the same then AS IT is today. It
Was here again in 1866, having been
brought down from Halifax in a troop