The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-08-19

wafer which was in the hold being
pumped into the stagnant pool in
which the vessel was lyirg. Three
DAYS later several carpenters employed
in the shipyard adjacent were taken
violently i'll. Soon afterward nearly
every sailor on the ship and most of
those who worked in the shipyard near
bv were Frustrated by complaint
which was recognized by competent
physicians as identical with the fever
prevalent on slave ships. Within a
week the pestilence was epidemic IN
the city. Philadelphia prominence as
port led to several subsequent
scourges of the pest, and in every case
it seemed to originate either from
slave ship or from vessel coming d.
rect from a southern port
In 1852 several thousand persons died
during an epidemic of yellow fever in
the Quaker City, and there were sub
sequent destructive visitations in 1888,
1897 and 1902. The great plague or
1898 really began in New York and
spread over most of the United States
during that and the following season.
The worst experience southern Europe
ever had with the fever began at Gil
braltar in 1904. A slave ship with the
disease on board was encountered by
British merchantmen at sea off the
! Gibraltar strait, and as there were not
enough well men on board to manage
the ship the captain of the English yes
sci sent several sailors aboard the
SLAYER and advised it's master to put
in at Gibraltar. The SLAYER did so. The
slaves were landed, the ship was clean
ed, and few days later the fever was
in full blast among the soldiers of the
garrison. Over a thousand soldiers
died of the complaint and thrice that
number of civilians. Many fed. and
the contagion was spread among the
/ Spanish ports of the Mediterranean.
In the following summer it made it's
appearance at Genoa and a few weeks
later at Naples, where over 1000 fatal
cases occurred. Thence the malady
made it's way along the Italian and
Grecian coasts to Constantinople, where
it found congenial soil. The ports of
the orient were each stricken in turn,
and the scourge followed the pilgrim
route down the Red sea to Mecca. Re-
turning pilgrims bore it with them to
India, and the great epidemic followed.
During the past century the visits of
the dreaded disease to the United
States were numerous. New Orleans
has been the chief sufferer. Epidenics
of yellow fever prevailed there in
1S47, 1853, 1855, 1858, 1867, 1878 and
1879. The visitation of 1853 was the
most deadly, over 5000 victims having
fallen. The experience of Memphis in
1873 and 1879 is still recalled with hor-
ror. During the first season of the
pest there were $3.50 deaths, and dur
ing the second, although the town was
almost deserted, there were several
hundred more. This pestilence of 1873
was the most destructive of any ever
experienced in the United States. 65,-
976 cases having been reported and
t 1880 deaths. During the civil war
E there was scarcely a case among the
e Union troops in the south, although it
/ was freely predicted that the forces in
r the gulf region would be annihiiated
: by the disease. When New Orleans
! was occupied by General Butler many
: persons regarded the destruction of his
n army as practically certain. He began
v Immediately to put the city in good
9 sanitary condition, detailing squads OF
f his men to clean the streets and sew =
n ers. AS a result there was not a sim
e gle case of well marked yellow fever
a in New Orleans during the Union oc-
e cupation EVERETT LAWTON.