The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1911-02-14
TELLS OF BUDOhIC
PLAGUE HORRORS
Physician Who Has Grappled With
Deadly scourge Hand to Hand De-
scribes How China Is Suffering.

| Deadly ScoufSe nhnu W hoAo ~
scribes How China Is Suffering.
(The bubonic plague. now sweeping
10 man. There are. perhaps. not hsii
dozen physlcians who have fought
an epidemic OF this plague. hand ID
nate In securing the following state
ments from Dr. Charles ). Braddock.
Jr. who passed through an epidemic In
SIAM;
HADDONSFIELD, N. j., Feb. IA
In this town resides DIR. Charles >.
Braddock, Jr., former medical COM
missioner OF the government OF Siam.
Out OF his store OF terrible memories
and experiences DR.. Braddock tells
some OF the terrors OF the black
plague.
There Is no hope for victim Of
the bubonic plague" said DIR. Brad
dock. Medical science has no treat
ment. IL Is too deadly to study. In
Siam a young physician, with desper-
ate bravery, attempted to perform an
autopsy on a victims body. He drop
ped dead within q few hours, sinking
into a state OF coma before he was
able TO tell other physicians what he
discovered.
"A physician cannot save the lives
Of those who are stricken. His duty
is to prevent the spread OF the dis
ease. and that IL tremendous task.
I'm the plague camps in Siam, every
morning We would line up the In,
habitants and l would pass along the
line. feeling the pulse Of each man,
woman and child. At the slightest
sign OF fever I would direct the per
son to- step back. That order was
the death warrant. II meant that that
person would be dead before night.
We had to segregate the sufferers
from the well. Walls would go up
from various parts Of the line when
ever one stepped back. Every per-
son would be shivering with fear dur
ing the inspection.
The first symptom Of the disease,
In q town, would be the dying OF the
rats. The feas ON the rats carry the
disease. AS soon as rat dies the
fieas go to living rats or to any other
fur or hair-bearing animals. We paid
two cents each for live rats. We dip
ped them In tar barrels, to fasten the
fieas to them, and then burned the
rats In bonfires. Many brave Siamese
soldiers who handled the rats gave up
their lives.
"The children are always the FIRST
sufferers. was greatly puzzled UNI
til observed that the fieas were car
ried by dogs with which the children
played. In one Siamese city, in 1907,
$4,000 dogs were burned. We also
burned down the houses In which the
plague had appeared. We put q sheet
iron guard around each house, as II
burned, to keep the rats within
Soldiers shot every living animal on
the premises, including pets and cat
tie.
Thousands of persona died before
the epidemic was finally checked.
"The first symptoms Of the disease.
| in a human being. are headache and
1 fever. Within a few moments the
glands In the body begin 20 swell with
| the poison. The glands Of the groins
| throat and arm-pits grow to abnor-
NAL size. IL the victim were con-
scious the pain would be intense. but
fortunately by this time the sufferer
il usually unconscious. His body il
poisoned throughout. Then the heart
stops. Within very short time the
body turns black In color.
This form of the disease IL the
mildest and least dangerous, In cpl
demic form. The pneumonia form ID
the worst. The disease can then De
communicated by the breath. In the
milder form, occasionally, there are
recoveries, but In hundreds OF cases
of the pneumonia form I did not sec
any recoyeries. The breath OF the
victim is like poisonous blast, car
rying death.
This il the form OF the disease
which Is killing thousands today In
China. Doctors, nurses. missionaries.
all take their lives In their hands In
fighting the disease. Even the germ
killing masks which they wear over
their faces and through which they
breathe are not sure to save them.
The very air Is filed with poison. The
only way to stop such a plague ID
to take all the sufferers into the open
air, at q great distance from city,
and after death, to bury their bodies.
"In the year 1910 the bubonic plague
swept over Europe and killed 10000
600 people, one-third OF the popula-
ton. Medical science knows no more
today about q cure than It did then.
All we can do II to guide In prevent.
ing the spread of the epidemic"