The searchlight. [volume] (Culbertson, Mont.) 1902-current, 1911-03-17

day, its resistless tentacles
u constantly reaching into new
districts for victims, the great
Chinese plague is gradually
leaving behind it a trail of death and
disaster, and apparently defying the
efforts of both Chinese and foreign
physicians to check 1t. The fatal pest
Is the black DEATH" and 1t is sweep
ing through China in Its most malig-
nant form. No cripples or GONZALES
cents are left in its trail. nothing but
death. For It proves fatal In very
few hours to each person 1t lays its
hand on. There is no middle ground
with this dreaded pest. II is either
escaping 1t altogether or death.
The Oriental plague is numbering
Its victims by scores of thousands; it
will not be long until 1t is by hun
ireds of thousands. At Hardin, Man
churia, 5000 bodies Of victims were
burned and the ashes buried on the
outskirts of the city. Forty-eight hun
ired Of these came from the Chinese
section of the city and the balance
rom the Russian quarters. On one
lay 16 stacks of collins and seven pits.
Tiled with bodies and oiled logs,
olazed outside the city walls.
The happenings OF Europe during
he seventeenth century, when the
black plague" swept through the
country, are being repeated with all
heir gruesomeness In China today.
At first the Chinese, faithful to their
weird religious rites for the dead, OBJ
iected to the plague victims being
burned, and the authorities ran up
against a great deal Of trouble. Then
all was changed. Fear, bordering on
panic. gripped the Chinese. No more
10 they defy the medical officers and
keep the sick and dead hidden. In
the fight for life 1t has become a case
of brother against brother. or father
against son.
The stricken ones are forced into
the streets, to starve or freeze. or TO
fall perishing from the swift and
deadly attack the plague makes on
Its victims. Passersby avoid them.
but sometimes those engaged in sani-
tary work. masked and bandaged,
reach them before they die and cart
them to the pesthouse. or, II they are
dead. to the funeral pyres. Mt In
frequently an outcast is to be seen
kneeling and making his obeisance
before the grave of an ancestor, In
sight of q pile of bodies OF which he
is soon to become one.
The mortality among the physicians
and the hospital attendants Is high,
considering the means taken for their
protection. and many doctors. nurses
and orderlies are succumbing to the
disease. No serum has yet been dis
covered to aid In checking the dis
ease. although the Chinese physicians
hope soon to have one of their own,
the foreign importations having
proved Ineffective. The courage of
these faithful attendants. numbering
many foreign missionaries. physicians
and nurses among them, is wonderful.
With scarcely an exception they re-
main at their work. fighting the
plague already In their district. or
making preparations to do battle with
It when 1t arrives.
In northern Manchuria the plague
is spreading rapidly, while in Tien-
Tsin. the native city, conditions are
becoming alarmingly worse. The ut.
ter absence of any intelligent inspec-
ton and the inadequate medical or.
ganization make each case a new cen.
ter for the spread Of the Infection.
since there Is no isolation to prevent
contact
No ray of comfort shines from the
reports being received from Hardin.
where the Manchurian plague is rag.
ing, or from Picking and other places
In the infected district of north
China where the grim reaper is daily
cutting wider swaths In the harvest
of dead. The Manchurian plague is
as much of a mystery as It was when
it first appeared. and all that the best
skill possessed by European experts