The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1908-02-19
The BLACK SCOURGE
That Fearful and Mystic Vista
ton of O!den Days.
It FOLLOWED IN WARS WAKE.
In the Fourteenth Century 1t Swept he
Whole Of Europe, Killing 25.ooo;o0o
In Three Years-The Pestilerce In
London.

London.
The plague or pestilence, that myste-
rious and fearful visitation which has
moved its hosts IN the wake OF armies
to slav more than war itself, is sup
posed TO have first originated among
the dense masses Of people who crowd
ed together in the great cities Of Asia
and Egypt or who formed the encamp-
ments Of Nerxes, Cyrus and Tanner
lane the Tartar. 1t probably sprang
from the impurity which must have
existed in the midst Of such vast gath
eringS and in part also from leaving
the unburied dead upon the field OF
battle st any rate, the germs OF this
fea:ful human poison have always
been most active where conditions
similar to those have prevailed. 1t
has always been war and the march OF
armies that have spread it broadcast
over the world from time to time, and
as war became less frequent and less
worldwide the frequency and extent
of these ravageS have leSsened also.
The first recorded outbreak Of the
plague in Europe occurred in the six
teenth century. 1t came from lower
Egypt. This was the first tapping Of
the wave that reached into the east
again. there to stay its movements, so
far rs the west was concerned, until
544 :. D., when the returning lesions
Of tie Emperor Justinian brought it
again into the western world from the
battlaields of Persia Constantinople
was the first place it attacked. Here
in q single day as many as 10000 per
sons are said to have fallen victims TO
it. tat the plague did not stop with
Cons antinople II had found q TOO
cong:nial soil in Europe, which was
little else than one great battlefield at
the line. 1t was carried into GauE,
wheI: it followed close in the wake OF
the rankish armies, and from Gaul
it u we'd into Italy, with the Lom-
bardS. and so devastated the country
as T. leave it entirely at the mercy
Of the invaders.
The various cruSadeS, which extend
ed oN4ra space Of about 200 years, no
doubc did much to hold the peStilence
in E;irope, for they served to Keep
open the channels Of intercourse be-
tween the east and the west. Periodic
epideslics were common during Their
continuance, and these seem to have
eliminated in the fourteenth century
with what is known in history as the
black death. The black death was
more fatal to human life than any
other single cause since the world be-
gan The havoc of war was nothing
in comparison to it. It swept the
whole Of Europe, leaving in its path
such misery and destitution as the
world had never known. 1t killed IN
three years some 25,000.000 people.
Such figures stagger the comprehen-
sion. but the records Of the time can
not be doubted. The entire population
Of Europe is estimated to have been
about 10O,000,000, kept down as it was
by tie constant warfare, and Of these
at least fourth perished.
The ravages Of the plague IN Italy,
where it came in the track of the war
OF TIE Guelphs and GhibellineS, was
particularly disastrous to mankind. It
ragged with terrible fury in Naples,
where Go,O00 persons are said to have
died. It fell upon Pisa, and seven out
Of every ten perished. 1t utterly and
forever destroyed the prosperity OF
Siena. Florence also suffered severely,
while 100000 of the inhabitants Of
Venice were literally wiped off the
face Of the earth From Italy it moved
into France, where the mortality was
almost as great. In Paris alone $4,000
people died from it. One Of the worst
features presented by the history Of
the black death was the cruel persecu-
ton it aroused against the Jews. They
were supposed to have infected the air
in some mysterious manner, and they
were accused Of having poisoned the
wells and springs. In Strassburg 1000
Of them We're buried alive in their own
burial ground.
The order of the Flagellanto arose
at this time, coming from the BELIEF
that the sins of the world had at last
brought down the wrath Of heaven. 1t
was the beginning Of the so called
hundred years war that carried the
black death into England, where IN
London its victims numbered 100000.
When at last the plague had worked
its ravages it doubled back over its
course to disappear in the east. Later
OF il appeared again in England,
first among the soldiers Of Richmond
after the battle Of Bosworth Field,
and '. hen the victorious army marched
to Lc1don the plague went with them
to wcrk its havoc there. AS long as 1t
LASTED the mortality was as great as
that caused by the black death half 2
centu:v before. Five thousand people
died Il five weeks, and then the plague
left ! 5ndon as suddenly as it had ap-
peare there to sweep over the rest Of
Engl; id.
In Scotland the plague Of 1865 came
fmme lately after the battle of Lang
side. "hen Queen Mary was dethron-
ed, bnt no records Of the mortality it
occas; ned seem to have been pre-
served. The plague visited London IN
1915. his followed after the civil war
which ended with the death Of Charles
IL, but so many years interrened that
it is impossible to trace any connection
between the two events. In modern
wars danger from the plague seems
gradually to have lessened perhaps as
u result Of better sanitary conditions
maintained by the armies Of today.
If YOU have catarrh rid yourself OF
this reoulsive disease. Ask DR. Shoop