The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-03-22
THE PLAQUES ADVANCE,

The sanitary situation here is by no
means improving. When the weather
is clear and warm the mortality dlmin-
ishes, but when the wind blows from
the north it increases fearfully. Never
theless, it is hoped that the plague has
reached it's maximum point of intensity,
and that henceforth the sanitary condi-
ton of this unfortunate city will be
ameliorated.
Doubtless you have already learned
that, although the European element
here was at first untouched by the
plague, it is now attacked. The ma
tives employed in the shops were the
| first victims. In one large German es-
Enlistment three natives only out OF
eighteen remain. The rest are Dead
and the Europeans are already begin
ming to drop off. The plague advances.
In the beginning of January Dr. Man
ser, president of the Sanitary commits
sion and professor Of the faculty or
| medicine, became ill., 1t was reported
that he had Inflammation Of the lungs,
but four days afterward he died, and
the European hospital nurse who at
tended him died three days after him.
| L ne uSClIl VI III. IntiliSSi ShbSNa 80
| found excitement, especially when 1t
was reported that in his blood and In
that of the hospital nurse the presence
of the baclll of the plague was detect
ed. 1t is now certain that the plague
| finds an easy Judgment in the organs of
respiration when they are affected with
colds or other troubles.
The worst week that we have passed
through since the disease was first an
nounced by the municipality, at the end
of September last, was the one from
January 8 to 10, with death rate of
1885, that is to say, four times as great
as the ordinary death rate, when Bonn
| bay counted more than 100000 inhabi-
| tants Now the official figures 1888,
may we'll be subject to revision, be-
cause the authorities admit that the
returns are incomplete. In other words
the figures stand rather under the
mark.
During the past few days the panic
has been on the increase. Up to Christ
mas about 250,00O natives had fled from
| the city. In three weeks the number Of
! fugitives has been increased from ten
| to fifteen thousand Every day trains,
| steamboats, and sailing vessels carry
away the terrified people. The native
| population of Bombay is composed, to a
considerable extent, of people from the
/ provinces who, from time to time, re-
| turn to their native localities Others
dwelling in neighboring villages come
/ every morning to the trains to their
work or to their business, All that
class disappeared completely on the
first cry of alarm. For example, there
are six thousand fugitives at Thana,
five thousand at Kalgan, and all the To-
Icalties along the lines of the railways
connecting Bombay with the continent
are full of families of refugees Many
of the well-to-do natives have closed
their houses and gone into the interior.
Some have gone to Poona, one hundred
and nineteen miles from Bombay; 9TH
ers have reached Surat, Breach and
Ahmedabad--tha Is to say, between
five and six hundred kilometres from
Bombay Several native quarters IN
the city are absolutely deserted. The
cotton mills, that employed thousands
of hands are closed. Merchants and
business men have all disappeared
and both Importation and expectation
have completely stopped.
The government does all it possibly
can to allay the panic. Camps and
tents have been set up in the public
places to shelter those who have fied
from houses in which the plague ap-
Ipeared The salaries of the employees In
the municipality We're doubled, but
without success. The officials fled, II
is difficult to diminish the terror of the
natives. Lectures, encouragement and
advice in regard to hygiene have al
been worthless. 1t is impossible tc
reason with terror; and, as matter oil
fact, it is necessary to have a stout
heart to be able to resist the contagior
of fear, when, from morning till even
ing, there is one continuous procession
of funerals; and in the evening the sky
is Redeemed with the fires that consume
the bodies An absolutely terrifying
spectacle is presented at the Queens
road square, where the Hindoos burr
their dead For a considerable distance
we can see the huge columns of smoke
and hear the walls of the relatives, the
lugubrious sound of the cymbals ant
the cracking of the blazing wood.
lDuI HOW lllb tDIleSeS VI ItldtiNSs dis
becoming more and more rare. The
greater number of the bodies are car
ried off by the employees of the city
who in brigades labor both day ant
night in the work of disinfectins
houses. carrying away bodies,and here
and there burning down shanties tina
formerly sheltered large families of ma
tives.
The government employees Learned
doctors, who hold conferences. debate
and make propositions; but the medi
cines that are distributed have no effec
upon the plague. The houses are white
washed, odoriferous plants are burned
in the interior, the clothes and furni
ture in the houses where there wer'
deaths from the plague are also burned
and even the tiles on the roofs hav,
been taken away for the purposes o
ventilation. But all seems in vain.
The newspapers have also caught tn
panic. Criticisms, determinations, Ia
mentations, quarrels and praises alter
nate, while the churches, Catholic anC
Protestants, are filled with people whit
kneel and pray. The Mussulmans ais
assemble in public places to implore TIL
mercy of God for the faithful.
As one might easily expect the fugi
tives have spread the germ of the dis
ease. Several of them have died in tn
trains that were taking them away