The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1898-07-08
THE BLACK DEATH.
THAT FEARFUL PLAGUE THAT FOL-
LOWS IN THE WAKE OF WAR.
In the Fourteenth Century 1t Swept the
Whole of Europe, killing Twenty-Five
Millions of People In Three Years-The
Pestilence In London.

Millions of People In Three Years-The
PestiIence In London.
The plague, or pestilence, that mys-
terious and fearful visitation which has
moved its hosts in the wake of armies
TO 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 It
probably sprang from the impurity
which must have existed in the midst
of such vast gatherings and IL part also
from leaving the unburied dead upon
the field Of battle. At any rate the
germs of this fearful human poison have
always been most active where cOndi
tions similar TO those have prevailed. 1t
has always been war and the march Of
armies that has spread it broadcast over
the world from time to time, and as
war became 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. It 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 \. D.,
when the returning legions Of the EN-
peror Justinian brought it again into
the western world from the battlefelds
of Persia. C0nstaDtinOple was the first
place it attacked. Here IN a single day
as many as 10, 600 persons are said to
have fallen victims to it. But the plague
lid not stop with ConstantinCple. 1t
had found q too cOngcnial soil In Eu-
rope, which was little else than one
great battlefield at the time 1t was
carried into Gaul, where it followed
Gloss in the wake of the Frankish
armies, and from Gaul it moved into
Italy. with the LOmbards, and SO devas-
tatcd 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
in Europe, for they served to keep open
CudlluElS
east and the west. Periodic epidemics
were common during their continuance,
and these seem to have eliminated III
the fourteenth century with what is
known in history as the black death.
The black death was more fatal to hui
man life than any other single cause
since the world began. The havoc of war
was nothing in comparison TO 1t. 1t
swept the whole Of Europe, leaving in
its path such misery and destitutiOn as
the world had never known. 1t killed III
three years some %, 900, 600 Of people.
Such figures stagger the comprehension,
but the records of the time cannot be
doubted. The entire population Of Eu-
! rope lis estimated to have been about
100, 900, 000-kept down as 1t was by
the constant warfare-and Of these l00,-
600, 600 at least fourth persisted.
The ravages of the plague in Italy,
where it came in the track of the war
of the Cuelphs and Ghibellines, was
particularly disastrous to mankind. 1t
ragged with terrible fury in Naples,
where go, 900 persons are said TO have
died 1t fell upon Pisa and seven out Of
every ten perished. 1t utterly and for
ever destroyed the prosperity OF Slena.
Florence also suffered severely, while
100, 600 of the inhabitants Of Venice
were literally wiped off the face Of the
earth. From Italy it moved into France,
| where the mortality was almost as
| great; in Paris alone 90 600 people died
from it. One Of the worst features pre-
sented by the history Of the black death
was the cruel persecution it 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 1900 Of them
were buried alive in their own burial
| ground.
The order Of the Flagellanto arose at
this time, coming 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 III London its vic
Tins numbered 100, 900. When at last
the plague had worked it's ravages, it
| doubled back over its course, to dlsap-
pear in the east. In 1S45 it appeared
again in England, first among the SOL
diers of Richmond after the battle Of
| BoSworth Field, and when the victo-
rious army marched to London the
| plague went with them TO work its
havoc there. As long as it lasted the
mortality was as great as that caused
by the black death half century be-
| fore Five Thousand neonle died in five