Cheyenne record., 1916-03-02
CHAPTER II-continued.

CHAPTER II-continued.
Sit down." Edwin counse'eC sooth-
ngly "Gralser's all right. He's just
gettin' to the Scarlet Death, amt you.
Granser? He's just goin' to tell US
about 1t right now. Sit down. Hare
Lip. Go ahead. Granser"
The old man wiped the tears away
on his grimy knuckles and took up
the tale in tremulous. piping voice
that soon strengthened as he got the
swing of the narrative.
1T was in the summer Of :)13 that
the plague came. / was twcnty-seven
years old. and we'll do l remember It.
Wireless dl ;patches-"
Hare-Li2 spat loudly hic disgust.
and Granser fastened to RI, :,
amends.
1--WE talked through the air in
those days. thousands and thousands
Of miles. And the word came OF
strang disease that had bro en- out
In Ne York There we're seventeen
millions of people living then ir that
nobiest city Of America. Nobody
thought anything about the news. II
was only small thing. There had
been only few deaths 1t seemed.
though. that they had died very quick
ly. and that one Of the first signs OF
the disease was the turning red of
the face and all the body. Within
twenty-four hours came the report OF
the first case in Chicago. And on the
same day, 1t was made public that
London. the q eatest city in the world
next to Chicago. had been secretly
fighting the plague for two weeks and
censoring the news dispatches-that
is. not permitting the word to 60 forth
to the rest Of the world that London
had the plague
1T looked serious. but we in Cali.
fornia. like everywhere else. were not
alarmed. We were sure that the
bacteriologists would find a way to
overcome this new germ Just as they
had overcome other germs in the past.
But the trouble was the astonishing
quickness with which this germ de-
stroyed human beings. and the fact
that it inevitably killed any human
body 1t entered. No one ever recov-
cred. There was the old Asiatic
cholera. when you might cat dinner
with a well man In the evening. and
the next morning. II you got up early
enough. you would see him being
hauled by your window in the death
cart But this new plague was quick
or than that-much quicker. From
the moment OF the first signs OF 1t, a
man would be dead in an hour. Some
lasted for several hours. Many died
within ten or fifteen minutes Of the
appearance OF the first signs.
THE heart began to beat faster
and the heat OF the body to increase.
Then came the scarlet rash. spread
ing like wildf1re over the face and
body. Most persons never noticed
the increase in heat and heart
beat. and the first they knew
was when the scarlet rash came out.
Usually. they had convulsions at the
dine Of the appearance of the rash. But
these convulsions did not last long and
we're not very severe. II one lived
through them. he became perfectly
quiet, and only did he feel numbness
swiftly creeping up his body from tho
feet The heels became numb first,
then the leg and hips. and when the
numbness reached as high as his heart
he died They did not rave or sleep.
Their minds always remained cool and
calm up to the moment their hearts
numbed and stopped. And another
strange thing was the rapidity Of de-
composition. No sooner was a person
dead than the body seemed to fall to
pieces. to fly apart. to melt away even
as you looked at 1t. That was one Of
the reasons the plague spread SO rap
idly. All the billions of germs In .
corpse were so Immediately released.
And 1t was because of all this that
the psychologists had so little chance
in fighting the germs. They were
killed in tn sir laboratories even a.
they studied the germs of tho Scarlet
Death. They we're heroes. As fast as
they persisted. others stepped forth
and took their places 1t was in Lon
don that thy first isolated 1t. The
pews was telegraphed everywhere.
Trask was t 9 name of the man who
succeeded in this. but within thirty
hours he was dead. Then came the
struggle in all the laboratories to find
that would kill the plagua
germs. All drugs failed You see. the
zroblem was to get a drug. or serum.
Ia you'll kill the gem in the body