Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-06
Danger Passes, But Mouse Valley In
habitants Cling to Fears.


Danger Passes, But Mouse Valley In
habitants Cling to Fears.
BRUSSELS. Belgium, December 6 CH1.
Slowly as it had come, the suffocating
pail OF poisoned fog which has choked
the life out of more than threescore
jewellers in the Meuse Valley, began to
disappear this morning as the sun bored
through the mist.
II 1t had gone, however, it had taken
with 1t the secret of its mysterious
menace. Doctors in a dozen villages
were TOO busy answering frantic calls
10 confer with the authorities seeking
an answer to the riddle. They knew
only that as the fog rolled in the VIC
TINS coughed, choked and died.
NO more deaths were reported today
ana as reports came in from the strick-
en- districts 1t began to appear as though
TINS terror had passed. Government
to begin their investigation, and they
mad all the cooperation they needed,
The simple folk who fled their village
homes IN panic or remained inside be-
hind locked doors, could not be reas-
sured, however, and persisted In the
conviction that this death fog had come
in waves Of poisoned gas, whose origin
they did not attempt to explain.
The fog which struck terror to the
Meuse Valley brought inconvenience to
other sections of Belgium also. At
Hoboken an Antwerp ferryboat went
aground a hundred yards from its pier
and the passengers waded ashore
through 2 feet of mud. At Appert
q E1ror1aIn af,-
landing and was wrecked, although its
occupants were not injured. Near Cour-
celles cyclist lost his way in the fog.
fell into a canal and was drowned.
TRAFFIC was tied up in the River
Scheldt. q
Sixty-four deaths were counted in
eight villages. Others, uncounted, were
In hospitals seriously i'll.
Various theories were advanced to ac-
count for the visitation. One the most
striking was that of Prof. j. B. s. Hal.
dane, eminent British scientist, who said
1t was something like the Black Death f"
the mysterious plague which ravaged
western Europe In the fourteenth CEN
fury, laying low one-third Of the popu-
lation.
Scientists practically abandoned the
theory that poison gases, emanatin0
from buried German Ammunition
dumps, was the cause Of the deaths.
winch were regarded as spread over
TOO wide an area for such to be the
case.
Searching Inquiry Begun.
The ministry of health undertook a
searching medical and judicial INQUIRY,
and while awaiting its result before
making an official statement, announced
that the medical experts making pre-
liminary investigations supposed the
deaths to be due to the intensely cold,
wet fog which has lain over the area
since Wednesday.
1T does not seem like an ordinary
Winter fog, but lies in streaks," the
newspaper People said of the mist.
One moment you are walking in or
binary daylight and then suddenly you
md yourself against what looks like an
impenetrable wall, in which the dim
shapes of people are discernible walk
ing about like phantoms. As you en-
ter the fog breathing becomes difacult
clammy."
One theory was that the persons af-
fected by the fog were virtually all
asthmatic, or afflicted with lung and
heart ailments which made them sus-
ceptible to the unnatural conditions. or
already had weakened lungs due to
work In factories, or coal, zinc, stone.
lead and sulphuric acid industries. This
was discounted somewhat, however, by
the extent Of the calamity.
Connected with Floods.
Prof. Haldane, commenting from
London and advancing his theory of a
new visitation of the ''black death, I"
declared: I do not believe the cpl
demlc can have been caused by war
In widely separated villages. They have
been having floods in that district late
ly and 1t is possible that may have
something to do with It," Wet and
foggy conditions are believed to be par
ticularly favorable to spread of the
"black DEATH"
A prominent physician Of Liege re-
called a similar mysterious epidemic in
1911, when IL persons died unexpected
ly In one day after an icy fog. Most Of
the victims were either elderly persons
or workers in deleterious industries,
with lungs unable to resist the sudden
cold.
The little town Of Engis was the
AuSsv AAe Wy tA4c ndiduy' aus mayor,
speaking with newspaper interviewcrs
in England over telephone, explained
that he himself had got up from a sick
bed to answer the papers call
THE 5000 inhabitants of my little
town are terror-Stricken. Nobody
knows what the cause is, but 1t is as
ISOLATED in the popular mind with the
fog which has lain over the valley for
the past few days. We have IA dead
already here and about so in the hos
pital. Besides there are hundreds
suffering with the disease, but not
badly enough to go to hospitals.
symptoms Described.
1.-THE symptoms are pains in the
throat and chest, with a severe dry
cough that gives no rest. / don't
think the theory of German poison gas
having been buried in the neighbor-
hood and corrupting the air is sound.
The fog has no smell and no apparent
taste. My doctor has considered the
poison gas theory with his colleagues,
put remains of the opinion that the af-
lair is entirely mysterious"
Beside Engis there were 8 dead in
Female Haute, 4 in Female Grande,
in Yvoy Ranet, 10 in Jeneppe-Sur-
neuse, 2 In Othee, in Hamay and
AAAEoAA, oAi0 Az al 4 VI nl 1OCdllblco.
The fog lies in a dense patch for
more than ~ kilometers along the
Meuse, sometimes so thick that moth
ng Is visible within a meter-that is,
ust more than an arms length--in
'ront of the eyes. The fog first lowered
)ver the valley Tuesday, remained
Wednesday, but Thursday night cleared
Later it returned as thick
IS ever, and a similar change was re-
ported last night.