Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-04-30
A SCoURGED CONTINENT.
4 TERRIBLE AND soRRoWFUL TALE
FROM AUSTRALIA.

Typhoid Fever and pIphtherIa Following
the Crest Heat and the Electric
storms.-.Ps Fall Dead In Streets
and Roads.
Australia's sc0urging by no means
ceased with the passing of the terrible
heat wave and the subsidlng Of the
electric storms and cyclones which fol-
lowed close on the heels of the heat, as
told recently. The last mail advices
from the sorely afflicted continent tell
Of q widespread epidemic Of typhoid
fever, direct consequence OF the heat.
Almost all the wells In many districts
were dried up, and creeks and rivers
ceased to flow. A water famine result
cd, and the inhabitants were compelled
to use impure water. AS result ty-
phoid fever broke out, and the mortal
ity from the disease was, at last ac-
counts, even greater than that caused
by the terrible heat. Melbourne was
badly afflicted. The fever wards In the
hospitals soon filed up, and very many
patients had to be turned away. The
same conditions obtained in Alexander,
Wagga and Waterloo, and outbreaks Of
typhoid were reported from very many
parts Of the continent Diphtheria, too
broke out in many places and caused
many deaths.
The storms that followed the heat
interrupted communication, blowing
down telegraph wires and washing aw
fnIn0ranh md asllino
away bridges and roads, and when the
last mail advices left Australia, but
megre reports were obtainable of the
death and destruction caused through
out the continent and in Tasmania and
New Zealand by the extraordinary eli
matte conditions. After the heat and
storms came earthquakes. They were
most felt in Queensland. The earth
trembled and windows ratified and
cI0ckery was shaken from shelves.
Half dozen towns in the colony re-
ported having experienced shocks. The
shocks pass I'd from east to west.
The Australian papers are filled with
stories Of the great heat and storms
and the loss of life and property result
ing therefrom. The greatest heat re-
corded during the hot spell which oc-
Cured In January, was in Adelaide,
lI2 degrees in the sun and IL degrees
Ia the shade; in Melbourne, 112 degrees
in the shade. Hopetown, 113 degrees;
Swan Hill, 10 degrees; Bourke, 11S de-
grees, and Mildura, 12O degrees. In
Bourke, n. ). W., a town Of 5000 in
thirty-five people died in one
week Of heat apopleXy. People fell in
the streets and died without regaining
consciousness. A woman attending
her dying husband became suddenly i'll
from the heat, and died an hour be-
fore her husband. A son-in-law Of these
two died from the heat while making
the funeral arrangements. Many peo-
pie were found after the heat was over,
fields. The railway departments Of the
various colonies made special reduced
rates to enable people to escape to the
cooler districts of the Australian Alps,
and the residents Of the plains fled to
the mountains panic-stricken.
u ISL pr iShCi thC iahCo
the country, because Of the
water drying up. The pelicans profited
ra ther than suffered by the heat They
thronged thu banks of the lakes in
gCrging themselves on the
fish exposed by the evaporating waters.
Birds fell from the trees and died in
great numbers. The wax cells of bee
aives, melted and imprisoned large
numbers Of bees, which were thus
smothered in their own sweetness. Cat
tie and sheep died in drOves all over
III continent, and the price Of stock
has gone up greatly. Smelling was sus-
pended in most OIL the mining towns,
end surface laborers of all kinds had
TO cease work. The grape crops in
many districts were ruined. In Sydney
q hundred tons OF ice were consumed
daily, and the supply Of lemons was
used up.
Serious fires occurred not only in the
bush and the country, but also in the
cities, started by spontaneous combus-
ton. Extra guards were placed at
many factories and warehouses to
watch for and guard against fire gen.
Grating in closely stored goods. Bush
fires prevailed all over the country, and
the fate Of many settlements Is still in
doubt.
The damage to Queensland from the
storms which followed close after the
heat was very great. Houses and build
ings of all descriptions were swept
away in the floods, and the damage to
crops, almost ready for the harvest,
was enormous. The Comet River rose
forty feet in twelve hours, the Mega
twenty feet and the Yama twelve feet.
At Payneham the English church, one
o1 the finest structures in the colony,
was levelled TO the ground by the cy-
clonic gale and the succeeding floods.
At olympic the mines were flooded, and
all mining operations in the district
were suspended. Great suffering pre-
vailed in all quarters heard from, and
great destitrtion must result from the
ruin of the crops.
1t will doubtless be many weeks be-
tore the complete story Of Australians
climatic scourge Is
and oil Indications are that 1t
will be terrible and sorrowful tale.