The leader., 1900-11-28

n
sober, sensible words Of the Clarion
Ledger are in marked and refreshing
contrast to the wild and baseless
talk many outsiders aud few-and
we are proud to say only a few of
Brookhaven's own people-have in
dulged in on the outside, as il endeav-
oring to create the impression that
this was veritable yellow fever pest
hole when the very opposite was true.
Now the plain, unvarnished truth
about the matter is just this: From
the three or four cases diagnosed here
as yellow fever by DIR. Butler, county
health officer, and DR.. Cant, there has
been no contagion or spread Of the dis
ease whatever. None of these cases
contracted the disease from each other,
and nobody has contracted it from
any of them. In the case of Mr.. Chas.
Middleton, which was the most pro-
nounced Of all in yellow fever symp-
toms, fully IS or 100 non-immune
persons were directly exposed during
his illness and after his death, and yet,
not a single one of these, including
members of his own household, has
since taken the fever. The same is
also true as to those who were exposed
to the other cases alleged to be yellow
fever, differing only in the number
exposed.
In the case of Mr.. Middleton las we
have said before, the most pronounced
of all in yellow fever symptoms,) the
body was kept unburied at his home
nearly "a hours after death. Toward
the close of the "a hours, an autopsy
was held on the body by Drs. Cant and
Butler, assisted by others, and these
two health officers seemed so i'm
pressed that it was yellow fever that
they insisted when the autopsy was
concluded that the body should be
buried in the night, contrary to the
desire of Mr.. Middleton's family and
intimate friends, for fear of spread of
the contagion. The Masonic brethren
OF the deceased, accompanied by 9th
ers, in all to the number of 40 or so
persons, were at the house when the
autopsy was held and participated in
the gruesome night obsequies, few, if
any of whom were yellow fever i'm
munes. Then this death and night
burial under the directions of the
State and county health officers were
followed by ten days of unseasonably
warm weather-much of it as mild as
May-the very kind yellow fever is
supposed to spread in-and yet, as we
have said, not single person exposed
to the Middleton case or any of the
others pronounced by the experts to
be genuine yellow fever, has since con-
tracted the disease.
Drs. Cant and Butler are being
roundly censured here, and it seems to
The LEADER not without cause, in first
permitting so many non-immune
persons to be exposed to cases they
regarded as yellow fever and then af
terward doing nothing to check, if
they did really help augment gross
misconception of the gravity of the
situation here. Thanks to cool head
ed people at home and sober, conser-
vative friends like the Clarion Ledger
on the outside, and, above all, to AL:
mighty God who has sent the chilling
frost, Brookhaven has been saved
from serious loss and injustice by the
wrong impressions created abroad.
Several of our most reputable local
physicians contend that there has new
er been single case of yellow fever
here this season, and that if the cases
pronounced such were genuine, then
the disease has prevailed in a mild
form in the country districts as we'll
as in nearly all neighboring towns to
Brookhaven, but in those places it was
not called yellow fever.
Happily, the failure of "yellow fe-
yer" to spread during the warm
weather of last week and the cold
snap since, all apprehension is now
past, the conference will come on
time and Brookhaven will move ON as
usual. For which let all of our people
be duly appreciative and manifest
their appreciation by attending the
Union Thanksgiving services at the
Methodist Church tomorrow and en-
gaging in public worship.