Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1905-10-03

tropical countries. and whenever suf.
ficient and unprecedented investigation
has been made it has been found that
the disease has followed the slave
trade. In the interior towns of Mexi.
co, Central America and In the Span-
fsh settlements on the South African
continent 1t not infrequently prevailed
after the arrival Of a shipload of Afri-
can slaves, and its appearance in sub
tropical Europe may be referred to the
same cause. Its earliest recorded ap-
pearance as pestilence on the CONT
nent % Europe was in the Spanish
ports of the Mediterranean. whence IT
spread to the cities of the Levant
along the Red Sea and finally to India.
In the latter country it found con-
genial surroundings and obtained so
firm foothold that it is still well es-
tabhShed in the crowded Hindoo cities.
In the seventeenth century the slave
trade was regarded as a perfectly le-
Ultimate business, followed by the
ship owners of every maritime nation,
but especially by the Spanish, then the
leading seafaring people. Wherever
the slavers went they spread slavery
and pestilence, and, since they sailed
as far east as Calcutta, the disease be-
came established in the equatorial
zone around the entire globe. Confined
to the torrid zone, the evil would still
have been bad enough, but it soon
made its way to other quarters Of the
world. In 1899 a vessel which had
landed a cargo of slaves on the Vir-
ginia coast went on to Philadelphia to
refit. While there the ship was cleaned
thoroughly, large quantity of very
offensive bilge water which was in
the hold being pumped into the stag
nant pool In which the vessel was
lying. Three days later several car
penters employed in the shipyard ada
cent were taken violently i'll. Soon
afterward nearly every sailor on the
ship and most of those who worked
in the shipyard near by were pros
trated by complaint which was rec.
ognized by competent physicians as
identical with the fever prevalent on
slave ships. Within a week the pes
thence was epidemic in the city.
Philadelphia's prominence as a part
led to several subsequent scourges of
the pest, and in every case it seemed
to originate either from a slave ship
or from a vessel coming direct from
southern port.
In 1862 several thousand persons
died during an epidemic Of yellow
fever in the Quaker City, and there
were subsequent destructive vista
tons In 1893. 1897 and 1902. The great
plague of 1893 really began in New
York and spread over most of the Uni
ted States during that and the follow
ing season. The worst experience
southern Europe ever had with the
fever began at Gibraltar in 1904. A
slave ship with the disease on board
was encountered by a British mer-
chairman 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 vessel sent
advised its master to put in at Glib
raltar. The SLAYER did So The slaves
were landed, the ship was cleaned
and a 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 its
appearance at Genoa and a few weeks
later at Naples, where over 1000 fatal
cases occurred. Thence the malady
made its 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. Returning pilgrims bore it