The times., 1898-10-23

Der nf the club. of the manuscripts submitted
adicdgcd to lie the best, and the author, Miss NJ
Twenty years ago Charles St Clair
Was mayor of Tiger Island City, a little
Louisiana town on the Chafalaya, fif-
teen miles from the gulf, commercially
important because chief port of the Nor
gan, line OF steamers, sailing weekly
The city had climate tempered by SEA
breezes. which, abetted by the dense
shade of tropical vegetation made it a
Neritable paradise of refuge for the
population from May TO December 1t
was originally a 'Cadian village, and
from the water front one coud see the
group of sylvan Islands" at the en-
trance to the Teche, up stream
Fragrant and thickly embowered with blossom
ing hedges of roses,
Near to Whose shores
Evangeline once passed in fruitless quest
Tiger Island was one of the group, and
its natives, comprising at least a third of
the usual population were still 'Cadian in
blood speech, and customs.
In March and April of the year 1873 the
rainfall was unusually heavy; May was
cloudy and cold; but June ! saw the
temperature rise to an abnormal height.
Two-thiros of Tiger Island was still un-
der water, covered by swampy pools full
of mold and decaying vegetation, and
Tiger Island City had a population ne ar
ly eightfold by reason of the almost in
sane terror which the presence of oae
malignant case of icteroid typhus had
caused in New Orleans, sixty miles
away as the engine flies. Never had the
town been SO congested. Every house
was fun. and the white tents of campers
covered every available space, some even
standing with her feet in the moldy
pools which steamed like camp Kettles
under the broiling sun. And everywhere
one saw in the faces of these refugees
from the fever the fever's strongest ally
fear,
Yet, Tiger Island City had never SEN
case of Yellow Jack. The 'Cadians
asserted that she was immune and wtnt
about their daily doings without pal or
So healthful had the island always been
not grave had ever been dug within
her borders. the victims of accident or
old age having found reluctant rest IN
the cemetery of Berwick, across the
ChafaIaya.
By July l. although the general heath
of the city was good not death occur
ring from any suspicious cause, fear
amounted almost 10 frenzy. and in order
to quiet the apprehension or PRESENT.
ments of his people, St Clair established
a quarantine against New Orleans, al
lowing only through transit of individ-
uals. and the introduction of those goods
which could not bring contagion.
Mayor St. Clair was a man of unusual
fyr,z nrrhern horn his haI
been spent plotting on the 'Miss'sip. his
early manhood in the service of his coun-
try, and the better part of his maturity
in the City of Smells,' where he had
more than once encountered the yellow
foe. And although Sanarelli had not yet
discovered and captured the dreaded ic-
teroid, typhus bacillus, or brought to per-
fection his serum innocuous." the
mayor of Tiger Island City knew a thing
or two about the dangers of stagnant
pools, decaying vegetation, moidy houses.
with northern exposures and no direct
sunlight, mildewed piles of refuse, fetid
sleeping rooms, and dirty old ships car
rytng foul merchandise and conveying the
plague poison from port to port, unsus-
pected and unhindered. Best of all. he
knew the influence of fear. So his quar-
antine was supplemented by immediate
swamp drainage, thorough sanitary puri-
food stuffs. warning out of questionable
craft, and rigid censorship of the daily
press, forbidden to print reports or dis
cuss the yellow fever scourge.
At the end of July, all was still well
on Tiger Island, but early in August a
Norwegian sailor named Neil c. Hansen.
discharged from the John d. Porter, at
New Orleans, came by train to see his
sweetheart, a pretty 'Cadian girl and
n -sx,a rt-f- - Sf.ar ma
gan Line. Hansen was well known al the
port as an acclimated person, was appa-
rently in perfect health, and the quaran-
tine was not enforced against him. He
was a rollicksome lad a general fayorite.
and had more than "a sailors friend. ="
He went unchecked among the stores
and the tents of the campers, danced at
festival with the 'cadians at the 'Cy-
per Grove up shore; came away from
the priests house one day with blush
ing bride on his arm, fell i'll the next day,
and four days later he was dead.
The awful word was uttered: Yellow
fever had come to Tiger Island. 1t is i'm
possible to imagine the frantic horror
caused by the news of Hansen's death.
His pretty bride was crazed and ran wild
in the swamp, denied shelter by her own
father It was not known If she lived or
died. wandered foodless and without care,
ing menace to the public health.
Within forty-eight hours twenty per-
sons died of fever. and panic became gen.
eral. People began a frantic flight up the
Chafalaya to the Lakes, to the
swamps of the mainland. to the guf
coast anywhere to escape the enemy.
But shot gun quarantines were every
where established against the Tiger ISL
anders, and hundreds OF boats-turned
back from in hospitable shores-contain-
ing men, women, children, provisions, fur
niture. went down in the swirl OF Chafaia-
va and Bayou Teche when the storm of
August 25 struck the southwest. Every
boat which could carry passengers and
goods from Morgan line steamers to bum
boat, raft and pirogue, had been crowded
with terror-stricken humanity, nyns
from the known to the unknown danger.
Few of these survived the Wind OF
Death
Almost the mayor thanked God, wnen
news of the hundreds drowned reached
his ears.
night of the 26th, as he registered the
DAVIS fever victims.
OuickIy after Hansen's death ii became
evident that the scou-ge had bitten deep.
Deaths became of hourly occurrence, and
awful difficulties stared the mayor in the
face. So many had flown, so many had
already died during five days, there were
not enough strong and willing hands to
bury the dead, and there was no place in
which TO bury them. Berwick across the
river which had the nearest graveyard,
refused admission 10 poor Hansen, and
enforced its shotgun quarantine with Wig
or So did every town within thirty
miles, and the mayor was notified that
al leland catlld gain