The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-08
IS RAVAGED BY CHOLERA
VICTIMS DIE IN THE STREETS OF RUSSIAN TOWNS.
Plague Menace ct Capital Grossly Ins.ziGsry Condisions Prevoil. Nortuariem s0' 0vercrowaed
 That CeFpses are stacked
 From Floor to Ceiling.

New York Press.
 To the happier inhabitants Of lands where cholera is either unknown or kept we'll in hand. thhe orgies of death ing in some of the smaller RusAian towns would be incredible. There. thanks to the lack of organization and gossly unhealthy conditions. victoms have been lying III in the streets. buried In the cemeteries. I have had re. ports of mortuaries so overcrowded that the corpses are stacked up from floor to ceiling. Those coming to calm relatives who died of other diseases have been obliged In some cases 10 spend hours In the presidential air, till they could nnd the bodies they search for and could pull them from among the cholera stricken.
 When the cholera first was declared in other provinces commission was appointed In St. Petersburg by M. Rexcow, the president of the town. But the chairman. M. Oppenheiner, left for Carlsbad before any arrangements were made to combat the epidemic. and practically nothing was dones There is no drainage in St. Petersburg worthy of the name. All the sewage Is thrown into the canals, which never are cleaned moro than once q year. and send up e most terrible stench 60. soon as the Ice thawa In the spring. The first victims of the epidemic were workingmen. cab-drivers and porteys. who drink the water out of these canals. which is poison at the best of times, let alone when cholera Is about. Now the police have put up placards at the street cor ners to forbid them, under a-threat o8 paying five dollars penalty to drink this water. and the magistracy has made arrangements for hot tea to se distributed gratis in all the principal streets. The sale of fruit has been strictly forbidden. and in conseouenee 1t goes to other towns from the cholera infected districts.
 Fled from the City.
 Considering these things. 1t is there. fore not surprising to dnd that thres and four hundred cases occur dailys of which at least fifty per cent prove mortal Everybody who can afford to. do so has fled from the city. The dreadful disease now has found its way into the wel1-to-do houses and into the cadets college. The hospital and town ambulances are unable te' cope with the work. for people faii down III who felt perfectly well few minutes before. It is hard to believe that most of them are sent in caba and public conveyances to the hospi- L4lSs puL 8uCn lb NHc GN&1F anu, NatAt t@ more. these vehicles are not even cleaned afterwards, to say nothing of being disinfected. As the poor eabbies often are not paid for taking q sick man to the hospital because nobody has any time to bother about them. they whip up their horses and get away as soon as they see 8 man or woman lying on the pavement In con- tortious, and the victim is left alone till one or the sanitary inspectors or e policeman sees him When taken to the hospital the patient cannot receive proper care, because there are not half enough doctors and medical students. though offered good pay by the town. refuse to help. One doctor often has 400 patients to look after h day. Nurses are unknown almost. there ls nobody to give the patients medicine or try their temperatures 90 that the result Is q huge percemtaEe of deaths. As one harassed. worked to-death doctor said: eff they get well they do-and if they don't it's not my fault for I've only one pair of hands and IeRs.' Patients anstsrinK from other complaints have as had q time of 1t as anybody: not only do they get no attention now. but many ae them have been sent away because z they must make room for cholera cases Several large barracks also are full of them: but what Is that when hund- reds fall i'll daiIy7