The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-09-17
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
POSTAGE PREPAID.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER II, 1897.
.EX AMPLES AS TO YELLOW
FEVER.

We have hope that. the fearful
scourge in the Gulf section will be kept
Under control, and will be confined to a
few places. The progress Of science is
zucb that both yellow fever and chOl-
era, the two most destructive scOurges
that have visited our land, are practi-
eaI1y controlled and SO restricted that
they can not have the widespread sue
r.esss that once attended their entrance
and development in this country and
other countries. The alarm inside OF
she infected district is not serious like
1T once was. 1t is felt that sanitation
satu prove their master. Atlanta opens
wide its gates to fleeing people from
she afflicted districts. This is generous
and if the confidence Is well based it
will not prove unwise. It has been es-
fablished again and again by practical
experiments and results tina yellow
fever will not live in an atmosphere
no we'll prepared by impurities for it's
reception, feeding and spreading. 1t
cannot get a foothold in a place where
thorough sanitation exists.
During the awful epidemic in Norfolk
in the fffties-as fearful a scourge as
ever visited this country, hundreds OF
people fled the town n sought places
at refuge in all Virginia up as far as
Richmond, the capital, and perhaps be-
yond. They came by dozens, perhaps
hundreds, also into North Carolina up as
high as Warren county. Many Of those
who escaped from the doomed town did
mot escape death. Many died in the
merciful homes where they found re-
fuge, but not one of the many families
suffered therefrOm. Not a death Oc-
Cured except among the refugees.
This was an important lesson to learn.
We remembered it in the war when in
the hill country Of Caswell We visited
twice a friend who had visited Will
rnington when the yellow fever was
here, and returning home sickened and
HE'D of the dread disease. We did not
know when we drove out to see him
first that he had yellow fever, but we
knew it as we returned home. We went
again and saw him as he was dying
after throwing up genuine black vomit
~--"coffee grounds" We felt secure in
our recollections of Norfolk and it's
refugees. So Atlanta may be generous
and sympathetic without danger, as it
is among the hills of Georgia far away
from the seacoast.
We recall that when a shipload Of
the sick came from Norfolk to Rich
rnond that sympathetic and courageous
gentlemen took the suffering little "in-
nocents'' in their arms on pillows and
bore them to the hospital prepared for
them. No one suffered from the bold
experiment. But Charleston shows
judgment and prompt action in
uuarantining against New Orleans and
Mobile. 1t has felt the merciless
force of the c%ontagion and has a sor-
rowful experience to teach it proper
care n caution. 1t does we'll to AXE
the step it has. When the disease is
brought in and the seeds deposited in
favorable atmosphere it is too late to
quarantine then. The man who locked
h stable door securely after his horse
had been stolen was counted a simple
ton. A word to the wise is said to be
sum lent. What about to the needless,
to the unwise? There is a class who
like to lake risks. They will skate to
the nearest possible edge of the cut
ice. In the meantime the fever Is
spreading in three or four places where
St is planted and with sue torrid heat
III, mid-September it will find all pre-
marathon needed for getting in some of
ITS swift and deadly work.