The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1905-04-22
Scores Carried Off by Un-
known Disease.
People Leaving Camp by Hun
dreds to Escape Grim Reaper
-Tonopah Says Reports are
Exaggerated.

People are dying at Tonopah every
day and hundreds are leaving the camp
on every train. A dread scourge is
playing havoc with the great mining
camp in Southern Nevada.
Hundreds Are FlOcking to Reno.
Zone hundred and sixty-six persons
arrived in Reno on the Virginia q
Truckee Railroad last night from Tono-
nah. Without exception every one
brings the story that has been coming
here for the past two weeks, a y the
Journal Of April IA. People are dying
in Tonopah from one to seventeen a
day /; they are taken sick without warn
ing and within twenty-four hours are
either cast into pine boxes and hastily
buried or shipped to friends in different
parts Of the country.
"Tonopah has battled bravely with
this sad condition and is still fighting.
A mass meeting. wal held last night.
Within an hour nearly $1,000 was sub
scribed and from now on every method
known to science will be used in the
effort to stamp out q strange mala y
that is carrying scores to an unlocked
for grave.
..Three deaths are reported from the
camp yesterday. At the same time
four funerals were held, and it is i'm
possible to deny the fact. The Journal
knows this announcement will affect
Tonopah from q monetary point of
view it will also hurt Reno, but in
Justice to humanity and for the sake of
the lives of the hundreds who are now
rushing into the camp it feels COM
PEELED to state these facts.
Epidemic Is Confined to Tonopah.
"a peculiar fact of the epidemic is
that it is confined to Tonopah. and peo-
pie are moving to The surrounding
camps to await the time when the
authorities will have conditions in
hand. Three years ago q similar dis
ease visited the camp. People died
every day for about three weeks, then
the disease disappeared.
ssFrom q resident of Tonopsh who
has closely studied the disease it is
learned that it comes upon a person
without warning. The afflicted per-
son Is taken with fainting and
vomiting spells. confined to his bed and
within "a hours is dead. The flesh
turns black, the liver swells to an alb
normal size, the blood ~coagulates and
by the time the breath of life leaves the
patient decomposition has set in. The
ply sicians can do nothing but endeavor
to relieve the terrible agony suffered by
the afflicted. In four cases out of five
death is certain and speedy. 1t battles
everything at the command Of science.
But Tonopah is possessed of citizens
who can be depended upon to cope with
it. The city will be thoroughly fumi-
gated and within three weeks at the
most the scourge will be at an end"
The Half Has Not Been Told.
George Anderson Of Cripple Creek
said to a Journal reporter: "Great as
the tales of death coming from Tone
pah may sound. the truth has not been
told by one half. People are dying
there every day. not one at a time, but
dozeus at q time. When I left the
camp yesterday twelve bodies. all strap
ping, healthy men. were laid on the
slabs. blackened by the terrible disease
that is IN owing down the people. One
day early in the week six died. This
number grew every day and to my W
knowledge II persons died in n day
this week. 1t is not necessary that
they be taken to the morgue; some of
the bodies are laid out in hotels. others
as soon as they die are placed in hastily
constructed boxes and buried. some
times without the formality of a burial
service. l know this report coming
from me will cause much harsh criti-
cism. but I feel it my duty to give it
publicity"