Year: 1874




the Red river, and, before the days of
the pestilence, numbered 1900 inhab-
itants, The fever broke out on August
2olh. 1t became an epidemic about
September 4th, and 5000 of the popula-
tion at once left the city. The
lowest mortality on any day of twenty
four hours was three, and the highest
thirty-six. The causes of the
fearful epidemic, after the appearance
of the disease, are to be found in the
filthy condition of the city and in the
drying up of the swamps and morasses
in the suburbs, producing the malaria.
The virulence of the contagion is direct
ly attributable to the skinning of 200
carcasses Of dead cattle and their subse-
quent putrifaction on the river banks,
about two miles below the city. A
steamer loaded with cattle sunk at that
place, and the negroes towed the dead
animals ashore, where after being skinned
their carcasses were left to decompose.
A southwest wind, which prevails during
much of that season of the year, carried
the stencil which the burning sun Great
ed into the city. This prepared the air
for taking the infection. The first case
of the fever, however, was brought from
New Orleans; but under the influences
mentioned, it resolved itself into the
most virulent type of Mexican black
vomit. The percentage of death at the
most violent period of the pestilence was
ninety-hve out of every one hundred.
Sixty per cent. was about the average
but there were never less than forty
deaths to every one hundred persons at
tackled.


The symptoms began with a violent
pain in the head and shoulders. Heavy
aches and numbness then attacked the
bones in the limbs. The fever then set
in and the pulse rose to 120 to 140 per
minute. The crisis of the disease ar
rived in about three days, when the fe-
yer left the patient; then if the kidneys
could be kept right the case was hope
ful one. All of the deaths occurred
either from the black vomit, which is
the complete putrefaction of the stom-
ach, or from the entire sequestration (?O
of the urinary organs. There was hard
ly case of the disease where the cathe-
ter did not have to be resorted to. The
period of the disease was in each case
owing to the constitution of the patient
the strongest did not survive a week.


The treatment was simply hot mus
tard bath, with castor oil as cathartic.
Calomel, the only specific in this disease
was entirely discarded. Fear killed
great many. Recovery in the best cases
was matter of coolness, constitution
and good luck. The deaths
among the nurses did not exceed five.
The greatest mortality among any one
sect was in the ranks of the Catholic
clergy. They were very faithful in their
minstratioDs on the sick aud dying.
The Protestant ministers were equally
fearless of death and just as indefatiga-
BILE in the discharge of their sacred duty.
The telegraph operators we're the next
heaviest sufferers in proportion to num-
bers-four out of six falling victims to
the terrible disease.


There was no such thing as funeral
services at the churches or at the..graves.
Every place of business was closed ex-
cept the drug stores and liquor saloons.
The churches we're closed. The formal
ities of burial were very few. The
deaths were reported to the Howard As
sociation, which at once detailed work.
men to dig graves. The coffin was TAX
en- to the sidewalk in front of the house.
The corpse was brought from the house,
put into the box, and, after being closed
and driven at gallop to the cemetery.
There it was deposited beside the undug
or partially completed grave. The
grave-digger was left alone with the
corpse and his own thoughts. He got
the box into the grave as best he could.
The cemetery, especially the Potter's
field looked like battlefield with its
newly made graves.


There we're no hearses to convey the
bodies with some show of decorum to
their last resting-places. No mourners
followed the corpse to the grave. Those
who would have wished to go to the fu-
neral of a friend were required at the
bed of dying wife or child. The sick
monopolized the attention of the living;
the dead were regarded as beyond all
help of love or affection. High and low,
rich and poor, were buried alike. Whole
families we're swept out of existence-not
member left. There are one hundred
and twenty orphans who have lost both