The Columbus journal. (Columbus, Neb.) 1874-1911, 1911-03-01
THE BUBoNIC PLAGUE.

DIR. Cbas. S. Braddock. jr, former
medical commissioner of the govern.
ment of Siam. Out of his store Of
terrible memories aud experiences DR..
Braddock tells some Of the terrors Of
the black plague.
There is no hope for victim Of
the bubonic plague" said DR.. Brad
dock. Medical science has no treat
ment. 1t 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 = few hours, sinking
into state of coma before he was able
to tell other physicians what he dis
covered.
"A physician canno: save the lives
of those who are stricken. His duty
is to prevent the spread Of the disease
and that is q tremendous task.
I'm the plague camps in Siam, every
morning We would line up the inhabi'
tants and / would pass along the line,
feeling the pulse of each man, woman
and child. At the slightest sign Of
fever l would direct the person to step
back. That order was the death war.
rant. 1t meant that that person would
be dead before night. We had to
seregate the sufferers from the we'll.
Walls would 60 up from various parts
of the line whenever one stepped back.
Every person would be shivering with
fear during the inspection.
The first symptom of the disease,
in a town. would be the dying Of rats
The tleas on the rats carry the disease.
AS ~"on as a rat dies the fieas 60 to
lir,' Z rats or to any other fur or hair
h.t,iug animals We paid 2 cents
each for live rats. We dipped them
in tar barrels, to tast.n the fieas to
them, and then burned the rats in
bontires. Many brave Siamese sol.
dicrs VII. handled the rats gave up
their lives.
The children are always the first
sufferers. | was greatly puzzled un-
Ill | observed that the fieas were car.
ried by dogs with which the children
played. In one Siamese city, in 1907,
$4,000 dogs were killed and $4,000
rats were burned. We also burned
down the houses in which the plague
had appeared. We put sheet iron
guard around each house, as it burned,
to keep the rats within. Soldiers shot
every living animal on the premises,
including pets and cattle.
Thousands of persons died before
the epidemic was finally checked.
The first symptoms Of the disease,
in human being, are headache and
fever. Within 4 few moments the
glands in the body begin to swell with
the poison. The glands of the groins,
throat and arm pits grow to abnormal
size. If the victim were conscious the
pain would be intense, but fortunately
by this time the sufferer is pois-
oned throug hout. The heart stops.
Within very short time the body
turns black in color.
This form of the disease il the
mildes; and least dangerous. in cpl.
demic form. The pneumonia form is
the worst. The disease can then he
communicated by the breath. In the
milder form, occasionally, there arc
recoveries, but in hundreds of cases of
the pneumonia form did not see any
recoveries. The breath of the victim
is like a poisonous blast, carrying
death.
This is 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 - save them
The very air is filled with poison.
The only way to stop such plague is
to take all the sufferers into the open
air, at a great distance from the city,
and after death, to bury their bodies.
I'm the year 1910 the bubonic
plague swept over Europe and killed
3O.OOO,OO0 people. one-third of the
population. Medical science knows
no more today about a cure than it
did then. All we can do is to guide
in preventing the spread Of the cpl.
demic. Omaha News.
The Wicked Majority.
\ new gardener had been employed
on 4 Long Island estate. This man
was raking leaves off the lawn one fall