The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-04-18

in every house. This very abundance Of
fresh water was one of the worst features
of the case, for the shiftess tenants were
found in many instances to have turned
on the tap at some remote period and
never to have turned il of again.
Day after day water continued 20 run or
drip in the vile little dens Of their nasty
novels, falling constantly on the mud floor.
and breeding all the disease that darkness
and slime can engender. Many of the
rooms had no light at all. The commit
tees first task was to break hole in the
roof and admit the sum then TO solder the
top and prevent more water from running
upon the reeking floor. All this was me-
with angry protests, but it was done The
tenants were ordered to 60 10 The street
for water. Their houses we're dried. The
committee made several frightful d,scov.
cries. 1t was no uncommon thing 10 ind
a plague-patient hidden IN the house. n5t
uncommon, either, to find a ad body
with living patient beside IL, both ccu-
cealed In the same room, neither case hay
ing been reported to the police. Many
of the houses were simple sinks OF drain
age, their floors covered with refuse-an-
imals and men having the same habitation
and the same habits. AS fast as possible
these nurseries of the plague were cleans
ed. Wherever a death occurred, a red
ring was painted on the front wall of the
house. On some of these wretched tene-
ments one saw four, FIVE, even seven or
eight such rings; and the house was stiu
inhabited.
BY the end of December more than
third of the population was fed. The dis
ease was now firmly established in half
dozen places in the north and in several
in the south. The upper towns of the
Deccan became secondary plague centers,
From karacht the pestilence spread up
through Sind. Here it assumer new vio-
lence For in Bombay a patient might
live two or thIee days, but when the
plague first broke out in Karachi the sick
man only lived three hours from the time
the disease manifested itself No disper-
Sion abroad, however loosened its grip
on Bombay. 1t laged there and has con-
tinued to rage. with even new power
sparinS not even the children, as it did
three years ago in Hong-Kong, but carry
ing off natives OF every age
Something beasuly about it makes the
plague peculiarly 1oathsome The suffering
is great, though l7ot more severe than in
many other diseases. But its aspects are
disgusting. 1t is a disease of pigs and
rats. One saw the latter lying dead every
where about the city their entrails pluck
ed out, picked to pieces by the revenous
crows, the scavengers of Bombay. And the
people fell in the streets like the rats SO
great was their aversion to the hospital
that, when poor wretch found on himself
the sure sign, he would wander up and
uoWns SeCISLlN3 as an animal, TIL he sud-
denly dropped dead. The chief sign of the
disease is a swelling beneath the arm
pits. When this appears there is no more
hope. Nor is it well to live, for the few
that have survived became hopelessly par
alytic. But the known instances of sur
vival are confined to Europeans and Eu-
rasianS. In the case of natives death us
ually comes at the latest within a few
days of the appearance of the first signs.
headache, fever, vomiting, and glandular
swellings. But the period of incubation
may be much longer than this, for eleven
days have been known to elapse between
the time when one victim. a Parsee. left
town to locate himself in a perfectly
healthy environment in the mountains
and the time when the disease declared
itself, after which the patient lived but
three days.
The new year began in mourning. The
native town was like a vast cemetery
The copper-bazaar the gay center of Hin
du life. echoed only to the wall of them
that accompanied the dead. On the Kali
badevi road. where, so dense is the Gus
tomary throng, one cannot ordinarily drive
at all without stopping every moment, one
could now pass at a gallop from end to
end, and never touch a living creature
Day and night the acrid smoke from the
burning-ghats fioated across the city.
Their fires never went out yet there were
more corpses than could be burned wait
ing their slow turn. The Mohammedan
graveyards too were full. There are
couple Of them, one on the Queens road.
one on the Grant road, both in the heart
of the city. Some day they may be instr1i-
mental in bringing a renewal of the plague
upon Bombay. Even now the awakened
municipality is trying to persuade the
| Mussulmans to bury their dead out OF
town. This request is met with stern re-
fusal
rTt loot H5
plague, for indirectly Also the suffering
has been great Trade pas left the Gown;
all ports are closed TO it. Merchants sit
idle; mechanics starve Many are living on
borrowed money, al ore hundred and
eighty per cent. interest per annum. What
poor man RECEIVERS his feet when once the
usurer of India has him fast? Most heav-
lily does the loss of business weigh upon
the artisans of the bazaars, whose work
In gold, silver, and copper finds now no
purchasers.
The dealers in fancy goods, the shawl
sellers, the ivory-workers, the carvers of
sandal wood, suffer most bitterly They
sell absolutely nothing. Even in the best
seasons tney lived from hand to mouth.
but it was their own hand. They now live
from the hand of charity OF In that of
usury. The mental classes have left town
to such an extent that necessary sanitary
labor cannot be properly performed. Since
servants have been running away, fire.
quently leaving their wages and many
families are wholly dependent on the serv-
ices Of coolies taken directly from infect
ed districts. Most Of the city sweepers
and cleaners have fed also, and but few
remain TO do work 50 imperative for the
preservation of the city from other forms
OF disease; though. as IL all were left 10
the plague, other sicknesses than this are
rare. The srave-diggers, too and the car
rlers OF the dead are hard to obtain, and
funerals must often be delayed on this ac-
count. But such delay means risk of life
TO others. In the case of come OF the re-
ligious bodies only particular caste, few
IN number. may do his work, and in these
circumstances Il Is occasionally impossible
70 find bearers 70 whom the. corpse may
be intrusted. Then sometimes fear de-
scends suddenly uron the bearers. even as
they walk with THAR burden OF danger
through the deserted streets. and they set
down the body o. him that has died OF the
plague and escape IN haste, lest death
come upon rhenn from tho dead. Such are
but fow ot tho varied forms Of distress
Naf aHar