The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1898-08-10
THE BLACK DEATH.
THAT FEARFUL PLAGUE THAT FOL-
Ions IN THE WAKE or WAR.

LOWS IN THE WAKE or WAR.
in the Fourteenth Century 1t Swept the
whole Of Europe. killing twenty-five
MiIIions Of People In Three Ye>rs-The
PesfTeace In London-
The plague. or pestilence, ths.t rnys-
terious and fearful visitation which has
moved its hosts in the wake Of armies
70 slay more than war itself. is supposed
TO have first originated among the dense
masses of people who crowded together
In the great cities of Asia and Egypt, or
who formed the encampment of Xerxes.
CYRUS and Tamerlane the Tartar 1t
probably sprang from the impurity
which must have existed in the midst
of such vast gatherings and in part also
from leaving the unburied dead upon
the field of battle At any rate tho
germs Of this fearful human poison have
always been most active where cOndi
tians similar TO those have prevailed. Ii
has always been war and the march Of
armies that has spread it broadcx It over
the world from time 70 time, and as
war becalie less frequent and less
worldwide the frequency and extent of
these ravages have lessened also
The first recorded outbreak of the
plague in Europe occurred in the six
teenth century. Il came from lower
Egypt. This was the first tapping OF the
wave that reached into the east again,
there to stay its movement so far as the
west was concerned until 544 A. D.,
when the returning legions OF the En-
peror Justinian brought it again into
the western world from the battlefelds
OF Persia. Constantinople was the first
place it attacked. Here in single day
as many as 10, 600 persons are said TO
have fallen victims to it But the plague
did not stop with Constantinople. 1t
had found a too congenial soil IN Eu-
rope, which was little else than one
great battlefield at the time. 1t was
carried into Gaul, where il followed
close in the wake OF the frankish
armies, and from Gaul it moved into
Italy, with the Lombards, and 50 devas-
tated the country as to leave it entirely
at the mercy of the invaders.
The various crusades, which extended
over a space of about 200 years, no
doubt did much TO hold the pestilence
an Europe, for they served 70 keep open
the channels Of intercourse between the
east and the west. Periodic epidemics
were common during their continuance,
and these seem to have eliminated in
-
known in history as the black death.
The black death was more fatal 10 hu-
lnnan life than any other single cause
since the world began. The havoc of war
was nothing in comparison TO it. 1t
swept the whole Of Europe. leaving in
its path such misery and destitution as
the world had never known 1t killed in
three years some 25. 600, 600 Of people.
Such figures stagger the comprehension,
bat the records Of the time cannot be
doubted. The entire population of Eu-
rope is estimated to have been about
leo. 600, 00O-Eept down as it was by
the constant warfare-and of these IO0,-
900, 600 at least fourth perished.
The ravages of the plague in Italy.
where il came IN the track Of the war
of the Guelphs and Ghibellines was
particularly disastrous TO mankind. 1t
ragged with terrible fury in Naples,
where 60. 900 persons are said to have
died II fell upon Pisa and seven out Of
every ten perished. 1t utterly and for
ever destroyed the prosperity of Siena
Florence also suffered severely, while |
100, 600 Of the inhabitants Of Venice
We're literally wiped of the face Of the |
earth. From Italy il moved into France, |
where the mortality was almost as |
great; in Paris alone 90. 600 people died /
from II. One Of the worst features pre-
sented by the history Ct the black death |
was the cruel persecution il aroused |
against the Jews They were supposed |
TO have infected the air in some mys-
terious manner. and they were accused |
Of having poisoned the wells and |
springs In StrassbUrg 1000 of them
were buried alive in their own burial |
ground
The order of the Flageiianto arose at
this time, coI,ing from the belief that |
the sins Of the world had at last brought !
down the wrath of heaven. 1t was the |
beginning Of the SO called Hundred |
Years war that carried the black death |
into England. where in London its vic |
tins numbered 100, O00 When at last |
the plague had worked its ravages, ii |
doubled back over its course, TO disap- l
pear III the east In Is45 it appeared |
again in England. first a9oag the sol !
diers Of Richmond after the battle Of /
Bosworth Field. and when the yicto-
rious army marched TO London tine |
plague went with them 20 work its |
havoc there As long as it lasted the |
mortality was as great as that caused |
by the black death half a century be-
fore. Five thousand people died in five |
weeks, and then the plague left London /
as suddenly as it had appeared there, 10 /
sweep over the rest Of England
In Scotland the plagre Of 1865 came
immediately after the battle of Lang |
side. when Queen Mary was dethroned, |
bat no records Of the mortality it occa-
stoned seem to have been preserved |
The plagne visited London in 1875 !
This followed after the civil war which |
ended with the death Of Charles II but /
50 many years interv sned that il Is I;i.-
possible TO trace any connection between
the two events In modern wars danger
from the plague seems gradually to
have lessened, perhaps as result Of |
better sanitary conditions maintained |
by the armies of today -Philadelphia
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