New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-09-19

,yoro civen ont upon reQuisitions signed Dy pny-
sicians and members OF the ReIlel I'm. n,t;es
The doctors and nurses sent IN from otie' ~ .
,ve-e entertained at the Peabody iotel NJ inc
expense Of the city, and one could start rom tIiu
hotel and walk for miles without meeting any
one but a physician hurrying from pauehl "
natient or the drivers OF express wagons ioaded
with corpses in rough pine boxes peihS uiisen ~
the common burying ground. Inns pufyiuS
ground an old cotton patch III the suou, ad
of the city and here the corpses were deposlted
I'm long trenches dug to depth or SIX ieet anu
covered over without any attempt at tie re "a
ton mound. The important OBJECT was - se' .n
bodies under ground as quickly as posslDle, ana
delav was often occasioned because or lnaDllity
to secure men TO dig graves. Inc corpSe-Iau =,
wagons made q constant procession from t'e
fever hospitals and the COLIN, efhpieia'ic vi t
oi,v,, djstr ross WAS to be encountered at every
turn. At one time during the epidemic theIe
was a meat famine. and FOR foitnlsht Ihe oiiy
meat eaten by guests at the feapouy Wis en- n
en- The demand for Quinine. staple remedy III
fever cpidemcs was so great that the price went
up to SIG an ounce. ,
After n few weeks in Memphis | was again
on the Gulf coast. whore tho fever ragged AS al
Illustration o., the fright with which the disease
paralyzes communities. the story or the uea.h
OF a young man, Odum by name ~ utllcls.
His father was the publisher of weekly paper
at marlborough. Miss, and when the FEVER
was announced in that town he moved MS ram
ilv tyne press etc. to a house about four niles
aIyav in the pine woods. The was stricken
down few days later. and all the other mem
bers OF the family we're taken down very
quickly. | was called In to look after the boy,
a former schoolnate, and saw him die within
twenty -four hours. The next thing was to get
A grave dug which proved matter or con-
siderable difficulty. as the men who usually
could be depended upon to do such work re-
fused to go anywhere near fever-stricken
household. con'ending that they would get the
fever soon enough without going to it, Finally,
after visiting marlborough and Biloxi the
services OF two colored men were secured. one
Of whom had had the fever and was a profess
siOnal nurse. The other man consented to act
as Cravedigger condition that he be permit
ted to retire to q safe distance before the corpse
was brought to the grave, and that the coiiin
be covered to a depth ~ two feet before ne be
required to resume The GravedigEerS did their
work hy the light OF lanterns and about mid
night the body was placed in "A pine box by the
nurse and The writer. The mother crawled from
her sickbcd in an adjoining room 10 take Il last
look 1T her boy. and she herself was carried
to her grave few days later. The pine box
waJ put on a cart. and n lantern lighted the
way to the grave. The old Coorcd Crayedigger
retired several hundred yards away as the
corpse approached. and when several feet OF
earth had been thrown into the grave he was
summoned by whistle. He got So for his
nights work. This is one Of many Incidents OF
a similar character which accompany yellow
fever cpl Iemic-