The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-07-18
A PLAGUE OF FISH,.
Phenomenon without Parallel or
Explanation.


From the New York Times.
People in New Orleans are excited
over an event without parallel which
has occurred near there. A plague of
fish has suddenly afflicted the neigh
boring town of Harvey, from which
the people have been fleeing in terror,
and the health authorities have been
at their wits end to know how to cope
with the problems involved.
Buffalo fish to the number of COUNT
| less millions became wedged in a canal
and their bodies filled up four miles of
this waterway. Nobody knows how the
fish got in there or what caused their
death.
| Various theories to explain the phe-
nomenon have been advanced. One is
that sort of fish panic broke out in
the bayous, and that all the buffalo
| fish for miles around headed into the
canal, thinking it led to the Mississippi.
AS soon as the leaders found their mis-
take it is said they turned about, but
were killed by the hordes of buffalo
fish coming on behind, and that thus
millions of the creatures died in a panic
created by themselves or from the lack
| of oxygen.
Another theory which has been adj
vanced is that the water lilies in the
canal suddenly died, exuding a pois-
onous juice, which killed the fish.
Anyway four miles of the canal be-
came choked up with dead buffalo fish,
whose rapid decomposition inspired
| terror in the surrounding country.
Another theory was that of j. C.
Smith, who in a public letter said:
Fish are subject to a disease produced
by protocol microscopic animals,)
known to science as mysophordia,
which infest the internal organs as
well as the muscles and kill by ex-
hausting the vitality OF the fish. These
parasites sometimes cover the whole
body, and then appeac as a fungus
growth, and at other times they form
tumors and ulcers. The origin of the
disease is not known, but it is suppos-
ed that these parasites may, in small
numbers, live in healthy fish without
producing any great damage, but when
the vitality or resisting power of the
fish is lowered by foul water they sue
/ cumb to the raVages of the mosphor-
/ icia and then we have an epidemic, as
! in this case"
| Big sums of money were offered for
out the fish, but no white man could
| stand the smell. Even the negroes re-
| fused to undertake the work at the
high pay of 81. so in cash for each days
work until the authorities offered to
give them all the whisky they wished
to drink while they were at work, as
well as to supply them with sand
wiches and other food. Under these cir
cumstances the negroes began the
work. but the smell was so great that
they could only continue at it while in
state OF Standardization.
Seventy-nve Men at Work.
At o'clock last Monday evening.
when the squads of negroes knocked
off, there were two miles of decayed
fish untouched in the BASIN Seventy
| hVe men were at work from sunup to
sundown booming and rafting the fish
out to the woods, where they were
| pitched on the bank ard covered with
| lime. Despite all the labor that has
been put forth to relieve the distressed
/ conditions, the situation at Harvey's
| Canal was practically unbearable and
| the stencil was sitting for miles awav.
Millions upon millions-no one has
any conception of the number of fish
were either in the canal, stretching
away for four miles, or else strewn
diohS the Ddnkt Wnere they had been
thrown out. The fish grew so soft
in their decomposed state that it was
impossible to fork them, and they
came all to pieces as soon as the ne
groes touched them.
The industrious little settlement
around the canal is largely depopu-
lated. The people have fled to the
New Orleans side of the river to es-
cape the awful smell The wives and
children of the managers and others
who are compelled to stay have left,
and many of them are seeking refuge
in the Mississippi coast resorts for the
time being.
DR.. c. NJ. Brady, health officer for
the Parish of Jefferson, was on the
scene last Monday. He went down
the canal and investigated the distress
| ing conditions. Later he reported them
to DR.. Souchon, President of the Lou
isiana State Board of Health. During
| the day two other health inspectors
drove over to the canal and saw the
wanton waste of decayed fish as it lay
in the broiling sun, sending forth an
odor that was sickening and turned
| the stoutest stomachs.
Sheriff Marrero was up at canal. and
in the afternoon dispatched six barrels
of lime and two barrels of carbolic
acid to Harvey's for use in the disin-
| lection. The acid was utilized in the
| town of Harvey, while the lime was
hauled down the canal to the piles OF
fish.
Preventing Plague.
AS on previous days, the Louisiana
| Cypress Lumber Company was doing