The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1914-07-28
RATAGES OF PLAGUE
Dv MILLIONS HAVE FALLEN
Victims TO ITS TERROR.
.RIack Death in London Killed
too 900 and In India 100000
IN Less Than Ten Years.

tragedy, alCnouSn w
.sonsand died, according to DeFoe,
ogainst seven million dead in a
:. .;rgIe overflow of the Yellow river
: china. And the Yellow river has
-rorAowed several times, says Howe's
Monthly o
The plague began in September,
1ce4 having been brought from Hol-
land by sailors. There were a few
,oo+hs that winter, and in the spring
ho neople hoped they were rid OF
a But when the weather came on
so+ the death rate increased alarm
i,oIv and thousands of people began
having the city. AS they came from
N infected place they were refused
.ofuge; whoever travelled in England
mas under suspicion, and many OF
4bo refugees suffered indignity and
mani There we're no newspapers in
those days to give official figures, and
fine country people, having only Cos
sin TO guide them, made conditions
worse than they really were. Every
country community appointed guards
IN nrevent the entrance OF refugees
from Lonodn, and thousands who re-
NAMED in the city did so because
tbav we're not permitted to leave it.
Dead Litter the Street.
0f course no ship from London
would be permitted to enter another
nort and I'D and down the river
Thames for miles were tied up ships
deserted by their crews. On many
If these families lived, and escaped
infection, but their greatest trouble
was to secure supplies of food. In
deed this was the great trouble of
all those compelled to remain in Lon
don during the plague, as food SELL
ers we're afraid to go anywhere near
%he town. Eva ="
A day Waterman and a night
Waterman were at first appointed for
each house where the disease exist
ed. to prevent anyone coming out,
but after a time it was found impo$
sible to get a sufficient number of
guards
Many of the sick, deliriOus and neg
lected. left their homes and wan
dered about, screaming in terror,
and many of them fell dead on the
streets. One man relates that in
walking about London for an hour
he counted hundred neglected bod
Il les in the street. From many houses
i he heard screaming, and he saw two
women fling themselves from upper
windows when delirious from pain.
At first every infected house was
marked with a red cross a foot long,
in the middle the door, with these
words, Lord, have mercy upon us,
set close over the cross, but this pre-
caution was soon abandoned from
4 necessity
Pitched Into bitches.
q For about a month, while the
n plague was at it's worst, the deaths
d amounted to seventeen hundred a
II day, and the bodies could not be de-
Il Gently buried. They were thrown in
to deep pits dug in the church yards.
One of the pits, forty feet long and
q sixteen wide, was filled in two weeks
and contained Lila bodies. The
bodies were hauled to the church
8 yard mainly at night. Sometimes
& there were fifteen or sixteen bodies
IN single cart load; some wrapped
Il IN sheets or rugs and some almost
naked. Rich and poor were thus
buried, and the bodies dumped into
The pit like offal; they were handled
as little as possible.
The plague was at its worst in Sep
tember, 1865. Whole streets were
swept clean; every individual in
many families was taken. Many went
s luad from fright who were free from
'lIectIon. A few were able to go
olyWhere without danger, and per-
'ormed deeds of heroism for many
Dohths. Others who were not sick
Oecame robbers. 1t is related that
One set of them met in nightly rev.
lFy TO celebrate their escape. They
'dnK and caroused and boosted that
Iae plague could not harm them.
"nen dead cart passed they would
FIo"d to the windows and revile the
lourners who frequently followed.
III these men died of the plague be-
fore it ended.
Checked BY Cold.
thousand cures we're offered,
DOst of them ridiculous. People
ialmed that they saw strange sights
'He skies and heard strange noises.
ueSe tales originated in delirium,
= mat nearly always accompanied
. disease. But along towards the
1eL remndv moc dica0uarad which