The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1904-01-09
THE GREAT PLAQUES.
REMINDERS OF THE DAYS OF
EPlDEMlCS. -.

How the Stricken Inhabitants Of
Towns in the Middle Ages Combat
ted the Evils of the Times-Plague
Stones.
The. story of the great plague OF
London is Familiar to all readers of
history and has been dealt with by
many writer's of fiction.
Even the bypaths of history supply
much suggestive matter, while hidden
away in church wardens and other old
accounts are many items that remind
us of those days.
Here, for example, are two entries
from the parish accounts of St. Mary
Woolnoth, London:
1884, Item, for setting a cross upon
one Aliens doors in the sick
q nesSe time lid
Item. paid for setting two red
crosses upon Anthony Sound
The crosses were about a foot in
length. The crosses served as a eau
tion against entering such houses.
In various parts of England the
plague stones are silent reminders of
the time when epidemics laid low so
many inhabitants both in town and
country.
A stone in the Derby Arboretum
bears the following inscription:
'Headless Cross or Market Stone
This stone formed part of the ancient
Cross at the upper end of Friar Gate,
and was used by the inhabitants of
Derby as market stone during the
visitation of the plague, 1865. It is
thus described by Hutton in his His
tory of Derby:
'1665-Derby was again visited by
the plague at the same time in which
London fell under the severe calamity
The town was forsaken; the farmers
declined the market place; and grass
grew upon that spot which had fur
nished the supports of life.
To prevent a famine, the inhabi-
tants erected at the top of Nuns
Green, one or two hundred yards from
the buildings, now Friar Gate, what
bore the name of Headless Cross, con"
sisting Of about four Quadrangular
steps, five feet high. I knew it in per-
fection
'Hither the market people; having
their mouth primed with tobacco as a
preservative, brought their provisions,
stood at distance from their prop;
@srty, and at greater from TIC towns
people, with whom they were co traf-
fic. q
The buyer was not suffered to
touch any of the articles before pur-
chase; when the agreement was fin
ished he took the good and deposited
the money in vessel filled with vine
gar, set for that purpose"
The mention of tobacco III the fore
going inscription is curiosity, show
ing that the weed was then regarded
as a very eficacious preventive.
Winchester suffered much from the
plague in 1866. On the downs near the
city are numerous curiously shaped
mounds, which are said to cover the
pits into which the dead were cast.
When the pestilence ragged primi-
tive kind of quarantine was practiced.
The country folk supplied food. which
was placed on stone outside the city,
and in exchange the citizens placed
money in bowl of water.
The old plague stone still remains
built into the base Of a monument
which bears an inscription as fol-
lows:
This monument is erected by the
Society of Natives, on the very spot
of ground from which the markets
were removed, and whose basis is the
very stone on which exchanges were
made whilst the city lay under the
scourge of the destroying pestilence,
in the year sixteen hundred sixty-six
The Society OF Natives was founded
on the 26th of August 1869. for the
relief of the widows and orphans of
their fellow-citiZens who died of the
great plague"
Beneath a spreading tree in the
grounds of Tothby house, near Afford
Lincolnshire, is a plague stone. About
275 years ago the inhabitants of Spills.
by and the surrounding villages day
after day toiled up to the top of Miles
Cross hill, which overlooks the wide
marsh country, with Afford living lust
at the foot.
At the top they left food, etc., for
the poor sufferers and took in return
money deposited in vessels containing
water or other liquid placed on the
plague stone. Then the people of Al.
ford came up the other side of the
hill for their supplies. Thus the two
parties kept we'll apart-Chambers
Journal.