The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-01-15
SOUND FDIRGES INCESSANT
PLAGUE TICTIMS DYING BY THE
HUNDREDS IN BOMBAY.

Half of the Population of the City Has
Fled-Famine Adds to the Awful Death
Record-An Outbreak of Cholera Feared
Not Men Enough to Bury the Dead-Total
( Number of Deaths Thus Far 1856.
Bombay, Jan. 14.-Every day the
plague situation here becomes worse,
and it is estimated that nearly half the
population Of the city have fled to es-
cape death. The situation is greatly
aggravated by the prevalence of fam
inc, thousands OF the natives who leave
the city having absolutely nothing on
which to support themselves in the
country, and thus dying of starvation.
The streets and bazars are now vir-
tually deserted, and many shops and
offices are closed. One result of the
plague has been a great diminution of
all kinds of crime except burglaries and
petty thefts, and these in many in
stances are due to poverty stricken
wretches taking advantage Of the fact
that large quantities of property have
been left without protection by people
fleeing from the city. So great has
been the falling off of criminal and
other cases that the high court of JUS
tice does not now find business enough
to occupy more than half its time. while
the courts in which small cases are
tried have abandoned their sittings al
together and the officials have taken
a holiday.
4 Eight housand fugitives are camping
out at Andheri. where every condition
is favorable to an outbreak of cholera.
There is a scarcity of water In and
about the town, and the sanitary ar
rangements are of the crudest charac-
ter. The fugitives, however, are more
afraid of the bubonic plague than of
| cholera. The government is doing ev-
erything possible to assist the people,
but it's efforts thus far have been pro-
ductive of little real result in the direc-
ton of cleanliness.
In Poona and Bandra the plague is
raging with great virulence. The eff
forts of the physicians to stay the pro-
gress of the disease in the slightest de-
gree have been fruitless and the death
rate is extremely high. Hundreds of
persons attacked by the disease have
died in two or three hourse after suf-
ferring dreadful agony.
4 The customs of the natives add to
the hideousness of the plague. The
Mohammedan quarters are overcrowd-
ed and it is impossible to find men
enough to dig graves and bury the
dead. The sound of dirges is incessant
in and around the places where the
Hindoos burn their dead.
1t is stated that numbers of dead
bodies Of Parsees, the religious sect
| who expose their dead bodies to be
eaten by vultures, are slowly decom-
POSING in the open air in the places in
which they are left.
They have not been eaten by the
vultures, the birds having been over
gorged by the great abundance of
corpses furnished to them.
Everywhere the greatest difficulty is
found in obtaining men to carry the
dead to the cemeteries, burning places
| and the Dokhanas, or towers of 81
lence'of the Parsees. Even relatives
4 shun this last service to their dead.
In many cases bodies have been found
abandoned in the streets
Up to to-day the number of cases of
4 the plague is placed officially at 1894,
and the deaths at 1855.
The Eurasians, those of half native
and half foreign parentage enjoy COM
parative immunity from the disease.
Very few Europeans have contracted
the diesase.
A feature of the disease that was
noted in Hong Kong and Southern
China while it was prevalent there is
also noticed here. Swine, poultry and
rodents appear to be very susceptible
to the plague and great numbers of
them have died.