The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-10-19

or1eAns 10 genuine yellow Jack" or not.
people die from 1t. That fact appears to be
settled. Arguing over the nature Of the
disease while tho patient renders MP his
spirtt 10 not uncommon In the medical
profession. II has happened before and
will happen again. 1t Is, OF course, some
satisfaction to the relatives to have the all
ment properly named. but the deceased Is
unable to come back and testify to his ap-
preclation The New Orleans fever appears
to have pretty nearly all the symptoms OF
yellow fever On mild form. There 10 the
high temperature, the quick decay, the yell
low exudations from the skin, the unmis-
taxable undesirable smell Of the sickness.
and all OF the rest OF 1t. An object lesson
is always the most potent kind Of lesson,
and, being confronted with the names OF
people who have gone into the great be-
yond, Northerners will keep away from
New Orleans until after frost. That Ia the
sensible thing to do. This Is the proper
place. perhaps, 10 remark that 1t Is some
distance from New Orleans To Nashville.
and Governor Tanner would be perfectly
safe In the capital OF Tennessee--safe, that
Is, from all but haunting memories.
The worst thing about a yellow fever cpl
demdc. strange to say, is not the epidemic,
but the fear that the epidemic excites. This
fear results in wholesale quarantine,
which is only another name for Wholesale
paralysis Of business. Thousands OF peo-
pie are thrown out OF work and millions OF
dollars go to waste. Not infrequently
wealthy men are pauperized. Families are
separated for months. Promissory notes
fall due and are not collected. Suits at
law go by default. Merchandise stales up
the shelves. Perishable goods rot in trans
IT, Freight cars stand filled, but motion
less. upon the side tracks The only sign
OF traffic is furnished by the passenger
trains which bear the mails. The compa-
niles are under contract with the govern
ment and letters and newspapers must 90
through. The cars behind the enorting en-
gines. however. are empty. No faces look
from the windows. No curious country
men gather at the little stations. Void and
ghostlike. the train sweeps through the still
land
He who has seen little town Of Louisi-
ana or Mississippi under the blight of the
epidemic never forgets 1t. Not man,
woman or child is on the streets. The yell
low sun glare down upon the sandy thor
oughfare, but the only shadow there Is the
trembling shadow OF the trees that line
the sidewalks. The stores are open, as
matter OF form, but no one enters or de-
parts. lonesome dog wanders along,
but, meeting with no friendly pat or threat
ening stone sinks away. Occasionally.
not often-a buggy with a small, hardy
horse between its shafts whirls down the
street. 1t contains one OF the towns phys
icans hurrylng to the bedside OF patient.
The station agent who meets the train Is
In hic iu .l.,x
OF a great sorrow and great dread He
may be the next, he tells himself. That
thought greets him when he awakes and
closes his eyes for nights hot, tossing
sleep. SO many new cases, so many deaths,
he calls out TO the postal clerk who losses
him the mail sack. and the train speeds on.
Now and then the quiet of the heavy air is
broken by the tolling OF church bell,
counting with slow stroke the age OF the
dead--child or old man. Night and morn
Ing the chant OF the requiem mass rises
from the little wooden church. Black
robed priests and sisters OF charity fit from
house to house. They. at least. may be
depended upon. Where death is they are
always. Only they, the physicians and the
undertaken are busy. The red earth of
many fresh mounds dots the little green
graveyard on the hill. with stern, pa
tent pathos the time wears away until
the blessed frost falls, browning the grass
ind reddening the berries upon the haw
trees. The land awakes then and counts
Its dead
The most picturesque and most damaging
feature OF the epidemic is the Shotgun
quarantine" so called because the shotgun
Is It's enforcement. Most frequently the
shotgun quarantine" Is not a matter Of
lazy; 1t Is the result OF Individual dread
These who enforce II are farmers and
dwellers In towns too small to be incorpo-
rated News comes that the yellow death
has invaded New Orleans. Next days pa
pers confirm the intelligence. Somewhere
below them a man sickens and dies. II
may be chohera morbus. but to all purposes
u is yellow fever Then the patrol is out
On every country road the sentinel with
MS shotgun walks up and down. He halts
all vehicles and foot passengers who come
from the south. they are turned hack
NO explanations or denials will serve. Tho
northward journey ends right there Some
n,i'iew the "ayfarer refuses to obey orders
.heh ,ne earnhly journey ends. The slayer
is ,ustified by the community. That ia all
he cares for.
the shotgun quarantine" Is divided into
TWO watches of twelve hours each The
roads are guarded night and lay. Camp Ia
established in some field nearby anc al
II town be near. The sentinel seeks tho
shade OF tree by the roadside II the day
be hot. but in the moonlight o, the nights
ne stands squarely in the middle of the
road. Nothing can escape him. lie Is paid
by his town or his neighhors at the rate
OF SO per day There are always many un-
employed young men in the South glad of
ihe opportunity to earn so much with 50
lttie exertion. They are hot headed young
men, iined with an idea OF their import
ance as Quarantine guards" That makes
them the more effective. Men toiline
norihward on foot or In vehicles and
stricken with the fever have neen turned
back, and many times have died In road
side bitches far from succor. The bodies
rotted where they lay. for no man would
touch them. Sometimes these dead per-
sons had been men OF wealth and Influence
IN the states Interior endeavoring to make
tneir way home again. That made no an
ference, The sslfishness of the "shotsun
quarantine is the most supremacy terrible
selfishncss In the world.
The present epidemic Is mild. hut lis
commercial cost is as heavy as in tho
l tPTfOr Tunes OF tho IA t