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1
A SHORT
ACCOUNT
O V THE
MALIGNANT FEVER,
LATELY PREVALENT IN
PHILADELPHIA:
WITH A STATEMENT OF THE
PROCEEDINGS
THAT TOOK PLACE ON THE SUBJECT, IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE
UNITED STATES.
TO WHICH ARE ADDED,
ACCOUNTS
OF THK
Plague in London and Marfeilles >
AND A LIST OF THE DEAD, from Auguft I, to the middle of December, 1793'
B Y M A T H E W CARE Y. FOURTH EDITION, IMPROVED,
rum, <f*m hyiimi — b—
PHILADELPHIA:
PRINTED BY THE AUTHOR.
Jaauary i6a 1794.
To the American Philojophical Society.
GENTLEMEN,
WITH due deference, I prefume to dedicate to you the fol- lowing pages, in which I have endeavoured to give as faithful an account as poffible, of the dreadful calamity we have juft experienced.
I am, gentlemen,
With efteem,
Your obedt. humble fervant,
MATHEW CAREY.
Number XL VII. Diftricl of Pennfylvania, to' wit— -
(L. S.)"|3E it remembered, that on the thirieeniu X_) day of November, in the eighteenth year of the independence of the united ftates of America, Mathew Carey, of the faid dijiricl, hath depofiiedin this office, the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as author, in the -words following, to wit :
" A fhort account- of the malignant fever lately " prevalent in Philadelphia, with a flatement of the " proceedings float took place on the fubjeel indifferent " parts of the united flaics. By Mat hew Carey " In conformity to the acl of the congrefs of the unit- ed fiates, intituled, •' An acl for the encouragement of '* learning ; by fecuring the copies of maps, charts, Ci and books, to the authors and proprietors of fuch *fi copies, during the times therein mentioned:''
SAMUEL CALDWELL, Clerk f the dijiricl of Pcnnfylvama.
§ R E V A C E
TO THE
FIRST EDITION.
idelphici) Nov. 13, 179
O"
*" I ""HE favourable reception gtresn to the imperfect
Jl account of the fever which I lately publifhed, and the particular defire of feme of my friends, have induced me to undertake a more fatisfactory hiltory of it, in order to collect together, while facts are recent, as many of the moft interefting oc- currences as I could, for the information of the public.
I have not attempted any embellimment or orna- ment of ftile ; but have merely aimed at telling plain facts in plain language. I have taken every' precaution to arrive at the truth ; aud hope the cr- j'ors in the account, will not be found numerous.
For tht deiultory plan of fome part of the pam- phlet, I have to offer the following apology j many of the circumftances and reflections towards the con- clufion., which would have come with more propriety in the beginning, did not occur, until fpme of the iirft half-meets were not only written, but printed. I had no choice, therefore, but either to omit them, or place them fomewhat out of order. I preferred the latter.
Moft of the facts mentioned have fallen under my own obfervation. Thofe of a different defcription, I have been affiduous to collect from every perfon of credibility, poffeffed of information.
Defirous of having this account correct and com-
plete, I have printed off but a fmall number or copies
of the prefent edition : and mail efteem 'myfelf moft
icularly obliged to any perfon who will be fo
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kind to point out errors, to be corrected in, or fug- geft facts, to be added to, a new edition, which I pro- pose to put to prefs very foon, and which will, I hope, be found more ample than the prefent one.
PREFACE to the SECOND EDITION.
November 23, 1793.
WHEN I publifhed the firft edition of this pam- phlet, it was my intention to have greatly enlarged it for a fecond one, and to have new-model- led it, fo as to preferve a connexion between its feve- ral parts, in which it is extremely deficient. But its fpeedy fale, and the demand for more copies, render it impofiible for me to do more, at prefent, than make fuch corrections as the kindnefs of a few friends has led them to point out.
In giving an account of the proceedings that took place on the fubjech of the diforder, throughout the union, I have fuppreffed many a harm comment, which was forcing itfelf on me ; from the reflexion, that in limilar circumftances, we might perhaps have been equally fevere. And to perpetuate animofities, is per- forming a very unfriendly office. They are eafily ge- nerated ; but their extinction is a work of time and difficulty. Let us, therefore, (efpecially when we " hold the mirror up to nature" at home,) not only forgive, but even forget, if poflible, all the unpleafant treatment our citizens have experinced.
I have heard more than one perfon object to the ac- count of the mocking circumftances that occurred in Philadelphia, as pcurtraying the manners of the peo- ple in an unfavourable light. If that be the cafe, the fault is not mine. I am confcious I have not exaggera- ted the matter. But I do not conceive it can have that effect ; for it would be as unjuft and injudicious to draw the character of Philadelphiafromthe proceedings of a period o* horror and affright, when all the " mild charities of focial life" were fuppreffed by regard ^'or
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fclf, as to ftamp eternal infamyon a nation, for the atrocities perpetrated in times of civil broils, when all the " angry pamons" are roufed into dreadful and ferocious activity.
PREFACE to the THIRD EDITION.
November 30, 1793.
THIS pamphlet comes before the public a third time, and, in fome meafure, in a new form. I have reduced it to as methodical a ftate, as in my power, but not as much fo as I could wifii, nor, I fear, a? the reader may expect. To one merit only do I lay claim in the compilation ; that is, of having meant well. If, on a fair perufal, the candid allow me that, I am fatis- fied to have the execution cenfured with all the feve- rity of which criticifm is capable. However, I beg leave to inform the reader, that this day ends one month, fince the writing of the pamphlet commenced. I know that the fhortnefs of the time employed, is no juftifi- cation of a bad performance ; but it may fomewhat extenuate the defects of a middling one.
I have found feveral objections made to parts of it. Moft of them I have removed. Some few, refting on the fentiments of individuals, directly contrary to my own judgment, I have paffed over. For, until my reafon is convinced, I cannot change my opinion for that of any perfon whatever.
To thofe gentlemen who have been fo kind to fur- nilh me with facts to enlarge and improve the work, I profefs myfelf under great obligations. I requeft them to continue their kindnefs ; as, if public favour mould give this trifle a fourth edition, I mall add all that may be communicated in the interim ; otherwife I fiiall probably publiih feparately what may be worthy of the public eye.
PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.
... Jan. 1 6, 1794.
TH E uncommon degree of favour which this pamphlet has experienced, has impreffed me with lively fentiments of gratitude. As the only pro- per return in my power, I have, in each fucceffive edition, ufed every endeavour to improve it.
In the number of victims to the late calamity, there were many Grangers, — among whom were probably fome, by whole death, eftates have fallen to heirs at a diftance. It being, therefore, of great importance to ex- tend and improve the lift of the dead, and to remedy the extreme inaccuracy of the fextons' returns, I employed fuitable perfons to go thro' the city and liberties, and make enquiry at every houfe, without exception, for the names and occupations of the dead. The difoblig- ing temper of fome, and the fears of others, that an improper ufe woi>M be made of the information they could have given, have, in various rnftances, defeated my purpofe. Imperfect as the lift ftill remains, I hope it will be found ufeful in removing anxious doubts, and conveying to perfons in different countries, the melancholy information of the deceafe of relatives, Which, but for fuch a channel of communication, would, in many ari'es, be difficult, if not impoflible to acquire for years to come.
To the prefent edition, I have added a fhort ac- count of the plague at London, and at Marieilles. On a comparifon, the reader will be ftruck with aftonifhment, at the extraordinary fimiiarity be- tween many of the leading and moil important cir-
nitances that occurred in thofe two places, and the events of September and October, 1793, in I tadelphia.
A SHORT ACCOUNT,k,
Chap* L State of Philadelphia previous to the appearance of the malignant fever — with a few obfervations onfom4 of the probable conferences of that calamity*
BEFORE I enter on the confideration of this dif- order, it may not be improper to offer a few in- troductory remarks on the fituation of Philadelphia previous to its commencement, which will reflect light on fome of the circumftances mentioned in the courfe of the narrative.
The manufactures, trade, and commerce of this city had, for a considerable time, been improving and extending with great rapidity. From the period o£ the adoption of the federal government, at which time America was at the loweft ebb of diftrefs, her fituation had progreflively become more and more profperous. Confidence, formerly banilhed, was uni- verfally reftored. Property of every kind, rofe to, and in fome inftances beyond its real value : and a few revolving years exhibited the interefting fpectacle of a young country, with a new form of government, emerging from a ftate which approached very near to anarchy, and acquiring all the ftability and nerve of the beft-toned and oldeit nations.
In this profperity, which revived the almoft-extin- guiflied hopes of four millions of people, Philadelphia participated in an eminent degree. Numbers of new houfes, in almoft every ftreet, built in a very neat, elegant ftile, adorned, at the fame time that they greatly enlarged, the city. Its population was extend* ing fait. Houfe rent had rifen to an extravagant height : it was in many cafes double, and in fome
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treble what it had been a year or two before ; and, as is generally the cafe, when a city is advancing in profperity, it far exceeded the real increafe of trade. The number of applicants for houfes, exceeding the number of houfes to be let, one bid over another; and affairs were in fuch a iituation, that many people, though they had a tolerable run of bufinefs, could hardly do more than clear their rents, and were, literally, toiling for their landlords alone*. Luxury, the ufual, and perhaps inevitable concomitant of prof- perity, was gaining ground in a manner very alarm- ing to thofe who conlidered how far the virtue, the liberty, and the happinefs of a nation depend on its temperance and fober manners. — Many of our citi- zens had been, for fome time, in the imprudent habit of regulating their expenfes by profpects formed in fanguinc hours, when every probability was caught at as a certainty, not by their actual profits, or in- come. The number of coaches, coachees, chairs, &c. lately fet up by men in the middle rank of life, is hardly credible. Not to enter into a minute detail, let it fuffice to remark, that extravagance, in various forms, was gradually eradicating the plain and whole- fome habits of the city. And although it were pre- fumption to attempt to fcan the decrees of heaven, yet few, I believe, will pretend to deny, that fome- thing was wanting to humble the pride of a city, which was running on in full career, to the goal of prodigality and diihpation.
However, from November 1792, to the end of lafl June, the difficulties of Philadelphia were extreme. The eftablifhment of the bank of Pennfylvania, in embryo for the moll part of that time, had arretted in the two other banks fuch a quantity of the circulat- ing fpecie, as embarraffed almoft every kind of bufi- nefs ; to this was added the diftrefs arifing from the very numerous failures in England, which had
* The diftrefs arifing from this foirrce, was perhaps the only- exception to the general obfervation of the fiouriftiing fitua- tion of Philadelphia.
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extremely harrafled feveral of our capital merchants. During this period, many men experienced as great difficulties as were ever known in this city*. But the commencement, in July, of the operations of the bank of Pennfylvania, conducted on the molt ger °rous and enlarged principles, placed bufinefs on its for- mer favourable footing. Every man looked forwaid to this fall as likely to produce a vaft extenfion of trade. But how fleeting are all human views ! how uncertain all plans founded on earthly appearances ! All thefe flattering profpects vanifhed " like the baic- lefs fabric of a viiion."
In July, arrived the unfortunate fugitives from Cape Francois. And on this occafion, the liberality of Philadelphia was difplayed in a moft refpeclable point of light. Nearly 12,000 dollars were in a few days collected for their relief. Little, alas ! did many of the contributors, then in eafy circumftances, ima- gine, that a few weeks would leave their wives and children dependent on public charity, as has fince unfortunately happened. An awful inftance of the rapid and warning viciflitudes of affairs on this tran- iitory ftage.
About this time, this deftroying fcourge, the ma- lignant fever, crept in among us, and nipped in the bud the faireft bloflbms that imagination could form.. And oh ! what a dreadful contraft has fince taken place ! Many women, then in the lap of eafe and con- tentment, are bereft of beloved hufbands, and left with numerous families of children to maintain, un- qualified for the arduous tafk — many orphans are deftitute of parents to fofter and protect them — many entire families are fwept away, without leaving " a trace behind" — many of our firft commercial houfes are totally diffolved, by the death of the parties, and
* It is with great pleafure, I embrace this opportunity of de- claring, that tbe very liberal conduct of the bank of rbe united ftates, at this trying feafon, was the means of favjitg many a deferving and induftrious man from ruin. No hmilar inftitution was ever conducted on a more favourable, and at the fame time prudent plan, than this bank adopted at the time here mentioned,.
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their affairs are neceffarily left in fo deranged a ftate, that the loffes and diftreffes which muft take place, are beyond eftimation. The protefts of notes for a few weeks paft, have exceeded all former examples ; for a great proportion of the merchants and traders having left the city, and been totally unable, from the ftagnation of bufinefs, and diverfion of all their ex- pected refources, to make any provifion for payment, mod of their notes have been protefted, as they be- came due*.
For thefe prefatory obfervations I hope I (hall be pardoned. I now proceed to the melancholy fubject. I have undertaken. May I be enabled to do it juftice ; and lay before the reader a complete and correct ac- count of the moft awful vifitation that ever occurred in America. At firft view, it would appear that Phi- ladelphia alone felt the fcourge ; but its effects have fpread in almoft every direction through a great por- tion of the union. Many parts of Jerfey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, excluiive of the back fettlements of Penn- fylvania, drew their fupplies, if not wholly, at lead principally, from Philadelphia, which was of couric the mart whither they fent their produce. Cut off from this quarter, their merchants have had to feek out other markets, which being unprepared for fuch an increafed demand, their fupplies have been imperfect ; and, owing to the brifknefs of the fales, the prices have been, naturally enough, very confiderably en- hanced. Befides, they went to places in which their credit was not eftablifhed — and had in moft cafes to advance cafh. And many country dealers have had no opportunity of fending their produce to market, which has consequently remained unfold. Bufinefs, therefore, has languifhed in many parts of the union ; and it is
* The bank of the united dates, on the I jth of October, pafled a refolve, empowering the cafhier to renew all difcountofl notes, when the fame drawers and indorfers were offered, and declaring that no notes fhould be protefted, when the indorfers bound themfelves in writing, to be accountable in the fame man- ner as in cafes of proteft.
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probable, that, confidering the matter merely In * commercial point of light, the fhock caufed by thfc fever, has been felt to the fouthern extremity of the united dates.
CHAP. II. — Symptoms — a flight Jkcich of the mode of treatment.
f* HPHE fymptom« which characterifed the flrft X ftage of the fever, were, in the greateft nura* ber of cafes, after a chilly fit of fome duration, a quick, tenfe pulfe — hot Ikin — pain in the head, back, and limbs — flufhed countenance — inflamed eye— moift tongue — opprefiion and fenfe of forenefs at the ftomach, efpecially upon preffure — frequent fick qualms, and retchings to vomit, without difcharging any thing, except the contents laft taken into the fto- mach—coftivenefs, &c. And when (tools were procur- ed, the firft generally mowed a defect of bile, or an ©bftruction to its entrance into the inteftines. But brifk purges generally altered this appearance.
" Thefe fymptoms generally continued with more or lefs violence from one to three, four, or even five days ; and then gradually abating, left the patient free from every complaint, except general debility. On the febrile fymptoms fuddenly fubfiding, they were immediately fuccecded by a yellow tinge in the opaque cornea, or whites of the eyes — an increafed opprefiioii at the pnecordia — a eonftant puking of every thing taken into the ftomach, with much ftraining, accom- panied with a hoarfe hollow noiie.
" If thefe fymptoms were not foon relieved, a vo- miting of matter, refembling coffee grounds in colour and confiftence, commonly called the black vomit, fometimes accompanied with, or fucceeded by hae» morrhages from the nofe, fauces, gums, and other parts of the body — a yellowifh purple colour, andpu- trefcent appearance of the whole body, hiccup, agita- tions, deep and diftreffed fighing, comatofe delirium, and finally death. When the diieafe proved fatal, it was generally between the fifth and eighth days.
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4e This was the moft ufual progress of this 'formi- dable difeafe, through its feveral ftages. There were, however, very conhderable variations in the fymp- toms, as well as in the duration of its different ftages, according to the conftitution and temperament of the patient, the flate uf the weather, the manner of treatment, &c.
*• In ibme cafes, figns of putrefcency appeared at the beginning, or before the end of the third day. In thefe, the black vomiting, which was generally a mortal fymptom, and universal yellownefs, appeared early. In thefe cafes, alfo, a low delirium, and great proftration of ftrength, were conftant fymptoms, and coma came on very fpeedily.
" In fome, the fymptoms inclined more to the ner- vous than the inflammatory type. In thefe, the jaun- dice colour of the eye andfkin,and the black vomit- ing, were more rare. But in the majority of cafes, particularly after the nights became fenfibly cooler, all the fymptoms indicated violent irritation and inflam- matory diathefis. In thefe cafes the fkin was always dry, and the remifiions very obfeure.
" The febrile fymptoms, however, as has been al- ready obferved, either gave way on the third, fourth, ar fifth day, and then the patient recovered ; or they were foon after fucceeded by a different, but much more dangerous train of fymptoms, by debility, Jow pulfe, cold fkin, (which affumed a tawny colour, mixed with purple) black vomiting, haemorrhages, hiccup, anxiety, reftleflnefs, coma, &c. Many, who furvived the eighth day, though apparently out of danger, died fuddenly in confequence of an hemor- rhage*."
This diforder having been new to nearly all our phyficians, it is not furprifing, although it has been exceedingly fatal, that there arofe fuch a difcordance of fentiment on the proper mode of treatment, and even with refped to its name. Dr. Rufh has acknow-
* For this account of the fymptoms of the diforder I am indebted to the kindnefs of dr. Currie, front Whole letter to dr. Semer, it is extracted.
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lcd^ed, with a candour that does him honour, that in the commencement, he fo far miftook the nature of the diforder, that, in his early effays, having depend- ed on gentle purges of falts to purify the bowels of his patients, they all died. He then tried the mode of treatment adopted in the Weft Indies, viz. bark, wine, laudanum, and the cold bath, and failed in three cafes out of four. Afterwards he had recourfe to ftrong purges of calomel and jalap, and to bleeding, which he found attended with lingular fuccefs.
The honour of the firft efiay of mercury in this dif- order; is by many afcribed to dr. Hodge and dr. Cur- fon, who are laid to have employed it a week before dr. Rum. On this point I cannot pretend to decide. But whoever was the firft to introduce it, one thing is certain, that its efficacy was great, and refcued many from death. I have known, however, fome perfons, who, I have every reafon to believe, fell facriiices to the great reputation this medicine acquired ; for rn fever al cafes it was administered to perfons of a previous lax habit, and brought on a fpeedy diflb- hition.
I am credibly informed that the demand for purges of calomel and jalap, was fo great, that fome of the a~ pothecaries could not mix up every dole in detail ;• but mixed a large quantity of each, in the ordered proportions ; and afterwards divided it into dofes ;' by which means, it often happened that one patient had a much larger portion of calomel, and another of jalap, than was intended by the doctors. The fatal confequences of this may be eaiily conceived.
An intelligent citizen, who has highly diftinguifhed himfelf by his attention to the fick, fays, that he found the diforder generally come on with coftiveneis ; and unlefs that was removed within the firft twelve hours, he hardly- knew any perfon to recover ; on the con- trary, he fays, as few died, on whom the cathartics- operated within that time.
The efficacy of bleeding, in all cafes not attended- with putridity, was great. The quantity of blood'- taken was in many cafes aftonifliing. Dr. Griflits watf
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bled feven times in five days, and appears to afcribe his recovery principally to that operation. Dr. Meafe, in five days, loft feventy-two ounces of blood, by which he was recovered when at the lowed ftage of the diforder. Many others were bled ftill more, and are now as well as ever they were.
Dr. Rufli and dr. Wiftar have fpoken very favour- ably of the falutary effects of cold air, and cool drinks, in this diforder. The latter fays, that he found more benefit from cold air, than from any other remedy. He lay delirious, and in fevere pain, between a win- dow and door, the former of which was open. The wind fuddenly changed, and blew full upon him, cold and raw. Its effects were fo grateful, that he foon reco- vered from his delirium — his pain left him— in an hour he became perfectly reafonable — and his fever abated.
A refpectablc citizen who had the fever himfelf, and likewife watched its effects on eleven of his family, who recovered from it, has informed me, that a re- moval of the lick from a clofe, warm room to one a iew degrees cooler, which practice he employed feve- ral times daily, produced a moft extraordinary and favourable change in their appearance, in their pulfe, and in their lpirits.
CHAP. III. — Firji alarm in Philadelphia. Flight of the citizens. Guardians of the poor borne down with labour*
IT was fome time before the diforder attracted public notice. It had in the mean while fwept off many pcrfons. The firft death that was a fubjeel: of general converfation, was that of Peter Afton, on the 1 9th of Auguft, after a few days illnefs. Mrs. Lemaigre's, on the day following, and Thomas Miller's, on the 25th, with thofe of fome others, after a fhort ficknefs, Spread an univerfal terror.
The removals from Philadelphia began about the 35th or 26th of this month : and fo great was the ge- neral terror, that for fome weeks, carts, waggons, CQachees^and chairs, were almoft conltantly transport*
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ing families and furniture to the country in every direction. Many people fhut up their houies wholly ; others left fcrvahts to take care of them. Bufmefs then became extremely dull. Mechanics and artifts were unemployed ; and the ftreets wore the appear- ance of gloom and melancholy.
The firft official notice taken of the diforder, was on the 2 2d of Atiguft, oh which day the mayor of Philadelphia, Matthew Clarkfoh, efq. wrote to the city cornmiffioners, and after acquainting them with the ftate of the city, gave them the moil peremptory orders, to have the ftreets properly cleanfed and puT rined by the fcayengers, and all the filth immediately hawied away. Thefe orders were repeated on the 27th, and fimilar ones given to the clerks of the market.
The 26th of the fame month, the college of phy- ficians had a meeting, at which they took into confi- deration the nature of the diforder, and the means of prevention and of cure. They pubiifhed an addrefs to the citizens, figned by the president and fecretary, recommending to avoid all unneceffary intercourfe with the infected ; to place marks on the doors or windows where they were ; to pay great attention to cleanlinefs and airing the rooms of the fick ; to provide a large and airy hofpital in the neighbour- hood of the city for their reception ; to put a ftop to the tolling of the bells ; to bury thofe who died of the diforder in carriages and as privately as poflible ; to keep the ftreets and wharves clean ; to avoid all fatigue of bedy and mind, and Icanding or fitting in the fan, or in the open air ; to accommodate the drefs to the weather, and to exceed rather in vvarn^ than in cool clothing : and to avoid intemperance., but to ufe fermented liquor:, fuch as wine, b?cr an4 cider, with moderation. They like wife declared the;r opinion, that fires in the ftreets were very danger* ous, if not ineffectual means of ftopping the progref- of the fever, ami that they p!a:ed more dependance on the burning of ganpowder. The benefits of vine- gar and camphor, they added, were confined chiefly tp infected rooms ; andthev could not be too often
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iifed on handkerchiefs, or in fmelling bottles, by per- fons who attended the fick.
In confcquence of this addrefs, the bells were im- mediately flopped from tolling. The expedience of this meaiure was obvious ; as they had before been conftantly ringing almoft the whole day, fo as to ter- rify thole in health, and drive the fick, as far as the influence of imagination could produce that effect, to their graves! Art idea had gone abroad, that the burning of fires in the ftreets, would have a tendency to purify the air, and arreft the progrefs of the dis- order. The people had, therefore, almoft every night large fires lighted at the corners of the ftreets. The 29th, the mayor, conformably with the opinion of the college of phyficians, published a proclamation, for- bidding this practice. As a fubftitute, many had re- courfe to the firing of guns, which they imagined was a certain preventative of the diforder. This was car- ried fo far, and attended with fuch danger, that it was forbidden by an ordinance of the mayor.
The 29th, the governor of the ftate wrote a letter to the mayor, ftrongly enforcing the necefiity of the moft vigorous and decifive exertions " to prevent the ex- tenfion of, and to deftroy, the evil." He defired that the various directions given by the college of phyfi- cians mould be carried into effect. The fame day, in his addrefs to the legiflature, he acquainted them, that a contagious diforder exifted in the city ; and that he had taken eveiy proper mcafure to afcertain the ori- gin, nature, and extent of it. Helikewife affured them ihat ihc health officer and phyfician of the port, would take every precaution to allay and remove the public inquietude.
The number of the infected daily increafing, and the pxifitnee of an order againft the admiilion of perfons laftdurirtg under infectious difeafes into the alrhs houfe, precluding them from a refuge there*, fome
* At this period, the number of paupers in the alms houfe was between three and four hundred ; and the managers, ap- prehenfive of fp reading the diforder among them,- enforced the abovemcni.ior.cd order, which had been entered into a long-
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temporary place was requifite ; and three of the guar- dians of the poor, about the 26th of Auguii, took poffieffion of the circus, in which mr. Ricketts had lately exhibited his equefcrian feats, being the only place that could be then procured for the purpofe. Thither they lent feven perfons afflicted with the ma- lignant fever, where they lay in the open air for fome time, and without any affiftancef. Of thefe, one crawled out on the commons, where he died at a dis- tance from the houfes. Two died in the circus, one of whom was feafonably removed ; the other lay in a ftate of putrefaction for above forty eight hours, ow- ing to the difficulty of procuring any perfon to re- move him. On this occafion occurred an inftance of courage in a fervant girl, of which at that time few men were capable. The carter, who finally undertook to remove the corpfe, having no affiftant, and being unable alone to put it into the coffin, was on the point of relinquifhing his deiign, and quitting the place. The girl perceived him, and understanding the difficulty ,he laboured under, offered her fervices, provided he would not inform the family with whom fhe lived j. She accordingly helped him to put the "body into the coffin, which was by that time crawling with maggots, and in the moil Icathfome ftate of putrefaction. It gives me pleafure to add, that fhe ftill lives, notwithstanding her very hazard- ous exploit.
The inhabitants of the neighbourhood of the cir- cus took the alarm, and threatened to burn or deftroy it, unlefs the lick were removed ; and it is believed they would have actually carried their threats into execution, had compliance been delayed a day longer.
The 29th, feven of the guardians of the poor had a conference with fome of the city magiftrates en the
time before. They, however, fupplied beds and bedding, and all the money in their treafury, for their relief, out of that houfe.
f High wages were offered for nurfes for thefe poor people — but none could be procured.
;j Had they kuown of the circumftance, an immediate difnv.f- Iil would have been the confecjuence.
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fubjeft of the fever, at which it was agreed to be indifpenfably neceffary that a fuitable houfe, as an hofpital, fhould be provided near the city for the reception of the infected poor. "
In confequence, in the evening of the fame day, the guardians of the poor agreed to fundry refolutions, viz. to ufe their utmoft exertions to procure a houfe. of the above defcription, for an hofpital, (out of town.; and as near thereto as might be practicable, confident with the fafety of the inhabitants,) for the poor who were or might be afflicted with contagious diforders, and be deftitute of the means of providing neceffary ailiftance otherwife ; to engage phyficians, nurfes, at- tendants, and all neceffaries for their relief in that houfe ; to appoint proper perfons in each diftrict, to enquire after fuch poor as might be afflicted ; to ad- miniiter ailiftance to them in their own houfes, and, if neceffary, to remove them to the hofpital. They referved to themfelves, at the fame time, the liberty of drawing on the mayor for fuch fums as might be neceffary to' carry their plans into effect.
Conformably with thefe refolves, a committee of the guardians was appointed to make enquiry for a fuitable place ; and on due examination, they jndged. that a building ' adjacent to Bumhill, the maniioii houfe of William Hamilton, efq. was the belt calcu- lated for the' purpofe. That gentleman was then ab- fent, and had no agent in the city ; and the great urgency of the cafe admitting no delay, eight or the guardians,' accompanied by Hilary Baker, efq, one of the city aldermen, with the concurrence of the governor, proceeded, on the 3 ill of Auguft, to the building they had fixed upon; and meeting with fome oppofition from a tenant who occupied it, they took poffeffion of the manuon houfe itfclf, to which, on the fame evening, they fent the four patients who remained at the circus.
Shortly after this, the guardians of the poor for the city* except James Wilfon, Jacob Tom'kins, jun. and William Sanfom, ceafed the performance of their duties, nearly the whole of them having
C |i )
removed out of the city. Before this virtual va- cation of office, they palled a reiblve againft the ad- miffiqn of any paupers whatever into the alms-houfe during the prevalence of the diforder*. The whole care of the poor of the city, the providing for Bufh-hill, fending the fick there, and burying the dead, devolved, therefore, on the above three guar- dians.
CHAP. IV. General defpondency. Deplorable fecnes. Frightful vietv of human nature. A noble and exhilira- tlng contrajl.
THE confirmation of the people of Philadelphia at this period was carried beyond all bounds. Difmay and affright were vifible in almoft every per-; fon's countenance. Moft of thofe who could by any means make it convenient, fled from the city. Of thofe who remained, many fliut themfelves up in their houfes, and were afraid to walk the ftreets. The Fmoke of tobacco being regarded as a preventative, many perfons, even women and fmall boys, had fegars almoft conftantly in their mouths. Others placing full confidence in garlic, chewed it almoft the whole day ; forne kept it in their pockets and fhoes. Many were afraid to allow the barbers or hair-dreffers to come near them, as inftances had occurred of fome of them having fhaved the dead — and many having engaged as bleeders. Some, who carried their caution pretty far, bought lancets for themfelves, not daring to be bled with the lancets of the bleeders. Many houfes were hardly a moment in the day free from the fmell of gunpowder, burned tobacco, nitre, fprinkled vinegar, &c. - Some of the churches were almoft deferted, and others wholly clofed. The coffee houfe was fhut up, as was the city library, and moil of the public offices — three out of the four daily
*■ The rcafnn for entering into thi.5 order, was, thftt fon:e pan- pe.s, who had been admitted previous thereto, with a certifi- cate ,from the phyficians, of their beiil§ fits from the infe&i. 6n, had nevertheless died ef it.
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papers were difcontinued*, as were fome of the others. Many were almoft inceffantly employed in purify- ing, fcouring, and whitewafhing their rooms. Thofe who ventured abroad, had handkerchiefs or fponges impregnated with vinegar or camphor at their no- fes, or fmelling-bottles full of the thieves' vinegar. Others carried pieces of tarred rope in their hands or pockets, or camphor bags tied round their necks. The corpfes of the moft refpectable citizens, even of thofe who did not die of the epidemic, were carri- ed to the grave, on the {hafts of a chair, the horfe driven by a negro, unattended by a friend or re- lation, and without any fort of ceremony. People haftily fhifted their courfe at the fight of a hearfe coming towards them. Many never walked on the foot path, but went into the middle of the ftreets, to avoid being infected in palling by houfes wherein people had died. Acquaintances and friends avoided each other in the ftreets, and only fignified their regard by a cold nod. The old cuftom of making hands fell into fuch general difufe, that many fhrunk baek with affright at even the offer of the hand. A perfon with a crape, or any appearance of mourning, was fliunned like a Tiper. And many valued them- felves highly on the fkill and addrefs with which they got to windward of every perfon whom they met. Indeed it is not probable that London, at the laft ftage of the plague, exhibited ftronger marks of ter- ror, than were to be feen in Philadelphia, from the 25th or 26th of Auguft, till pretty late in Septem- ber. When people fummoned up refolution to walk abroad* and take the air, the fick cart conveying pa- tients to the hofpital, or the hearfe carrying the dead to the grave, which were travelling almoft the whole day, fcon damped their fpirits, and plunged them again into defpondency.
* It would be improper to pafs over this opportunity of mentioning, that the federal gazette, printed by Andrew Blown, was uninterruptedly continued, and with the ufual induftry, during the whole calamity, and was of the utnioit fer- vice, in conveying to the citizens of the united ftatcs authentic intelligence of the ltate of the difbrder, and of the city.
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While affairs were in this deplorable ftate, and people at the loweft ebb of defpair, we cannot be aftonifhed at the frightful fcenes that were acted, which feemed to indicate a total dilTolution of the bonds of fociety in the neareft and deareft connex- ions. Who, without horror, can reflect on a hufband, married perhaps for twenty years, deferring his wife in the laft agony — a wife unfeelingly abandoning her hufband on his death bed — parents forfaking their only children — children ungratefully Hying from their parents, and refigning them to chance, often with- out an enquiry after their health or fafety — mafters hurrying off their faithful fervants to Bumhill, even on fufpicion of the fever, and that at a time, when, like Tartarus, it was open to every vifitant, but never returned any — fervants abandoning tender and hu- mane mafters, who only wanted a little care to reftore them to health and ufefulnefs — who, I fay, can think of thefe things without horror ? Yet they were daily exhibited in every quarter of our city ; and fuch was the force of habit, that the parties who were guilty of this cruelty, felt no remorfe them- felves — nor met with the execration from their fellow- citizens, which fuch conduct, would have excited at any other period. Indeed, at this awful crifis, fo much did/elf appear to engrofs the whole attention of ma- ny, that lefs concern was felt for the lofs of a pa- rent, a hufband, a wife, or an only child, than, on other occafions, would have been caufed by the death of a fervant, or even a favourite lap-dog.
•This kind of conduct produced fcenes of diftrefs and mifery, of which few parallels are to be met with, and which nothing could palliate, but the ex- traordinary public panic, and the great law of felf prefcrvation, the dominion of which extends over the whole animated world. Many men of affluent fortunes, who have given daily employment and fuftenance to hundreds, have been abandoned to the care of a negro, after their wives, children, friends, clerks, and iervants, had fled away, and left them to their fate. In many cafes, no money could procure
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proper attendance. With the poor, the cafe was, as might be expected, infinitely worfe than wit^i the rich. Many of thefe have perimed, without a human being to hand them a drink of water, to adminifter medicines, or to perform any charitable office for them. Various inftances have occurred, of dead bo- dies found lying in the ftreets, of perfons who had no houfe or habitation, and could procure no flicker.
A man and his wife, once in affluent circumftarces, were found lying dead in bed, and between them was their child, a little infant, who was fucking its mother's breafts. How long they had lain thus, was uncertain.
A woman, whofe hufband had ftlft died of the fe- ver, was feized with the pains of labour, and had no- body to aflift her, as the women in the neighbour- hood were afraid to go into the houfe. She lay for a confiderable time in a degree of anguifh that will not bear defcription. At length, fhe iiruggled to reach the window, and cried out for afiiftance. Two men, palling by, went up ftairs ; but they came at too late a ftage. — She was flriving with death — and actually in a few minutes expired in their arms.
Another woman, whofe hufband and two children lay dead in the room with her, was in the fame fitu- ation as the former, without a midwife, or any other perfon to aid her. Her cries at the window brought up one of the carters employed by the committee for the relief of the lick. With his afliftance, fhe was delivered of a child, which died in a few minutes, as did the mother, who was utterly exhaufted by her labour, by the diforder, and by the dreadful fpec - tacle before her. And thus lay in one room, no lefs than five dead bodies, an entire family, carried off in an hour or two. Many inftances have occurred, of refpectable women, who, in their lying-in, have been obliged to depend on their maid fervants, for aililt- ance — and fome have had none but from their huf- bands. Some of the midwives were dead — and others- had left the city.
A fervant girl, belonging to a family in this city,
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/
in which the fever had prevailed, was apprehenfive of danger, and refolved to remove to a relation's houfe, in the country. She was, however, taken lick on the road, and returned to town, where me could, find no perfon to receive her. One of the guardians or" the poor provided a cart, and took her to the alms houie. into which me was refufed admittarlce. She was brought back, and the guardian offered five doh lars to procure her a (ingle night's lodging, but in vain. Arid in fine, after every elFort made to provide her fhelter, me abfoluiely expired in the cart.
To relate ail the frightful cafes of this nature that- occurred, would fill a volume. To pafs them over wholly would have been improper — to dwell on them longer would be painful. Let thefe few, therefore, fu.lice. ]But I mull obferve, that moll of them hap- pened in the firil ftage of the public panic. After- Wards, when the citizens recovered a little from their fright, they became rare.
Thefe horrid circumfbnces having a tendency to throw a made over the human character, it is proper to reflect a little light on the fubject, wherever juftice and truth will permit. Amidil the general abandon- ment of the lick that prevailed, there were to be found many illuflrious inilances of men and women, fome in the middle, others in the lower fpheres of life, who, in the exercife of the duties of humanity, ex- pofed themfelves to dangers, which terrihed men, who have hundreds of times faced death without fear, in the field of battle. Some of them, alas ! have fallen in the good caufe ! But why mould they be re- gretted ! never could they have fallen more glori- oufly. Foremoft in this noble groupe Hands Jofeph Inlkeep, a mod excellent man in every of the fojial relations, of citizen, brother, huiband, and mend.— To the fick and the forfakcn, has he devoted his hours, to relieve and comfort them in their tribulation, and his kind ailiftance was dealt out with equal freedom to an utter ftranger as to his hofom friend. Numerous are the inilances of men reftored, by his kind care* and attention, to their families, from the very javtf
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of death.— In various cafes has he been obliged to put de,'d todies into coffins, when the relations lied from the n ournhil office. The merit of .Andrew Adgate, Joab Jones, and Daniel Offiey, in the fame way, was confpicuous, and of the laft importance to numbers ofdftrelled creatures, bereft of every other comfort. Of thofe worthy men, Wilfon and Tomkins, I have already fpoken. The rev. mr. Fleming and the rev. mr. W inkhaufe, exhaufted themfelves by a fucceffion ^.of labours, day and night, attending on the fick, and miniftering relief to their ipiritual and temporal wants.
Of thofe who have happily furvived their dangers, and are preferved to their fellow citizens, I ihall men- tion a few. They enjoy the fupreme reward of a felf-ap- proving conicience ; and I readily believe, that in the moft iecret recefles, remote from the public eye, they would have done the fame. But next to the fenfe of having done well, is the approbation of our friends and fellow men ; and when the debt is great, and the only payment that can be made is ap- plaufe, it is furely the worft ipecies of avarice, to with- hold it. We are always ready, too ready, alas ! to beftow cenfure — and, as if anxious left we ihould not give enough, we generally heap the meafure. When we are fo folicitous to deter by reproach from folly, vice, and crime, why not be equally difpofed to ftimulate to virtue and heroifm, by freely beftowing the well- earned plaudit? Could I fuppofe, that in any future equally-dangerous emergency, the opportunity I have feized of bearing my feeble teftimony, in favour of thefe worthy perl'ons, would be a means of exciting others to emulate their heroic virtue, it would afford me the higheft confolation I have ever experienced.
The rev. Henry Helmuth's merits are of the moll exalted kind. Hiswhole time, during the prevalence of the diforder, was fpent in the performance -of the works of mercy, vifking and relieving the fick, com- forting the afflicted, and feeding the hungry. Of his congregation, fome hundreds have paid the laft debt to aature, ftnee the malignant fever began > and, I
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believe, he attended nearly the whole of them. Tsr fo many dangers was he expofed, that he ftands a liv- ing miracle of prefervation. The rev. C. V. Keating, the rev. mr. Uitick, and the rev. mr. Dickens, have been in the fame career, and performed their duties to the fick with equal fidelity, and with equal dan*
fer. The venerable old citizen, Samuel Rol efen, as been like a good angel, indefatigably performing, in families where there was not one perfon able to help another, even the menial offices of the kitchen, in every part of his neighbourhood. Thomas Alli--^ bone, Lambert Wihner, Levi Hollingfworth, John Barker, Hannah Paine, John Kutchinfon, and great numbers of others have diftinguilhed themfeives by the kindeft offices of dilinterefted humanity. Magnus Miller, Samuel Coates, and other good citizens, in that time of pinching diftrefs and difficulty, advanced fums of money to individuals whofe refources were cut off, and who, though accuftomed to a life of independence, were abfolutely deftitute of the means. of fubfiftence. And as the widow's mite has been, mentioned in fcripture with fo much applaufe, let me add, that a worthy widow, whole name I am griev- ed I cannot mention, came to the city-hall, and out of her means, which are very moderate, offered the committee twenty dollars for the relief of the poor.. John Connelly has fpent hours befide the fick, when their own wives and children had abandoned them.. Twice did he catch the diforder — twice was he on the brink of the grave, which was yawning to receive him — yet, unappalled by the imminent danger he had efcaped, he again returned to the charge. I feel myfelf affected at this part of my fubjeel;, with emo- tions, which I fear my unanimated llile is ill calcula- ted to transfufe into the breaft of my reader. I wifli him to dwell on this part of the picture, with a degree of exquifite pleafure equal to what I feel in the de- fcription. When we view man in this light, we lofe light of his feeblcnefs, his imperfection, his vice — he refembles, in a fmall degree, that divine being, who is au inexhauftible mine of mercy and gtredaeiV
C *$ 1
And, as a human being, I rejoice, that it ha3 fallen* to my lot, to be a witnefs and recorder of a mag- nanimity "which would alone be fufficient to refcue the character of mortals from obloquy and reproach.
CHAP. V. pljirefs increafex. Benevolent citizen s invited to ajtifl the guardians ofttie poor. Ten volunteers. Appointment -f the . State
of rbiladelphik
•i
N the mean time, the fijtuatioh of affairs became dairy rriore and more ferious. Thofe of the guardi- ans of the poor, who continued to acf, were quite Opp tth the labours of their office, which in-
Cteafed to ittch a degree, that they were utterly un- able to execute tHern. I have already mentioned, that for the city there were but three who perfevered in the performance of their duty*. It muft give the reader great concern to hear, that two of them, James Wil- K)n, and Jacob Tomkins, excellent and indefatigable young men, whofe fervices were at that time of very great importance, fell facrifices in the caule of humanity. The other, William Sanfom, was likewife, in the execution of his dangerous office, feized with the di. order, and on the brink of the grave, but was fo foitunate as to recover. The difeafed perfons be- came daily more numerous. Owing to the general terror, nurfes, carters, and attendants could hardly be procured. Thus circumffanced, the mayor of the city, on the ioth of September, publiflied an addrefs
* With refp?ct. to the guardians of the poor, I have been xnifnnderftood. I only fpeke of thofe tor the city. Thofe for the liberties, generally, continred at their po(t ; and two of them, \V:n. Peer Sp ague, and William Gregory, performed, in the northern liberties, the very fame kind of fei vices as the commitec did in the citv. viz. attended to thebu ial of the dead, and the removal of the fick. In Southwaik, the like tour of
duty was executed by Clement Humphreys, Cornifh, and
Robert [ones. Far be ir from me to deprive any man of applaufe fb richly and haznrdoufly earned. I ouly regret, that want of leifnre prevents me from collecting the names of all thofe who have nobly diftinguifhed themfelves, by their attention to the alleviation of the general calamity.
to the citizens, announcing that the guardians of the poor, who remained, were in diftrefs for want of affiftance, and inviting fuch benevolent people, as felt for the general diftrefs, to lend their aid. In con- fequence of this advrtifement, a meeting of the ci- tizens was held at the city-hall, on Thurfday, the 1 2th of September, at which very few attended, from the univerial conlternatlon that prevailed. The ftate of the poor was fully confidered ; and ten citizens, Ifrael Ifrael, Samuel Wetherill, Thomas Wiftar, Andrew Adgate, Caleb Lownes, Henry Deforeft, Thomas Peters, Jofcph Infkeep, Stephen Girard, and John Mafcra, offered themfelves to aiiift the guardi- ans of the poor. At this meeting, a committee was appointed to confer with the phyficians who had the care of Buftihiil, and make report of the ftate of that hofpital. This committee reported next even- ing, that it was in very bad order, and in want of al- moft every thing.
On Saturday, the 14th, another meeting was held, when the alarming Rate of affairs being fully confi- dered, it was reioived to borrow fifteen hundred dollars of the brnk of North America, for the pur- pofe of procuring iuitable accommodations for the ufe of perfons aitii etc d with the prevailing malignant fever. At this, meeting, a committee was appointed to tranfacr. the whole of the buiinefs relative to the relief of the lick, and the procuring of phyiicians, nurfes, attendants, &c. This is the committee, which, by virtue of that appointment, has, from that day to the prefent time, watched over the fick, the poor, the widow, and the orphan. It is worthy of remark, and may encourage others in times of public calamity, that this committee coniiited originally of only twen- ty-fix perfons, men moftly taken from the middle walks of life ; of thefe, four, Andrew Adgate, Jona- than Dickinfon Sargeant, Daniel QfHey, and Jofeph Infkeep, died, the two fir ft at an early period of their labours — and four never attended to the ap- pointment. " The heat and burden of the day" have therefore been borne by eighteen perfons3 whofe
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exertions have been fo highly favoured by provi- dence, that they have been the initruments of avert- ing the progrefs of destruction, eminently relieving the diftreffed, and restoring confidence to the ter- rified inhabitants of Philadelphia. It is honourable to this committee, that they have conducted their bufinefs with more, harmony than is generally to be met with in public bodies of equal number. Probably there never was one, of which the members were lb re- gular in their attendance ; the meetings, at the word of times — thofe times, which, to ufe Fame's emphatie language, " tried men's fouls," were compoied, in general, of twelve, thirteen, and fourteen members.
Never, perhaps, was there a city in the fituation of Philadelphia at this period. The preiident of the united ftates, according to his annual cuitom, had removed to Mount Vernon with his houfehold. Moil, if not all of the other officers of the federal go- vernment were abfent. The governor, who had been iick, had gone, by directions of his phyfician, to hi s country feat near the falls of Schuylkill — and nearly the whole of the officers of the ftate had likewile re- tired.— The magiftrates of the city, except the may- or*, and John Barclay! , efq. were away, as were molt of thofe of the liberties. Of the fituation of the guar- dians of the poor J, I have already made mention. In fact, government of every kind was almoft wholly vacated, and feemed, by tacit, but univerfal confent, to be vefted in the committee.
* This macifrrate deferves particular praife. Pe was the firft who invited the citizens to " rally round the vtandard" of cha- rity, and convened the meeting at which thecommitte for >elief of the rick was appointed, as well as the preceding onef ; of this ccumittee he was appointed prefi:lent, which duty he punctually fulfilled during, the whole time of thediflrefe.
-f This gentleman, late mavor of the city, acted in the double capacity of alderman and preiident of the bank of FenniYlvaniay to the duties of which offices he devoted hioifelf umemittedly, except during an illnefs which threatened to add him to the number ot valuable men of whom we have been bereft.
J The managers of the alms houfe attended to the duties im- yofed on them, and met regularly at that building every week.
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CHAP. VI. Magnanimous offer. Wretched Stats of BuJJ>bill. Order introduced there.
AT the meeting on Sept. 1 5th, a circumftance oc- curred to which the xnoft glowing pencil could hardly do juitice. Stephen Girard, a wealthy merchant, a native of France, and one of the members of the •committee, touched with the wretched fituation of the fufferers at Buih-hill, voluntarily and unexpect- edly offered himfeii as a manager to fuperintend that hoipital. The iurprife and iatisfaction, excited by this extraordinary ellbrt of humanity, can be better conceived than expreffed. Peter Helm, a native of Pennfylvania, alfo a member, actuated by the like benevolent motives, offered his Services in the fame department. Their offers were accepted ; and the fame afternoon they entered on the execution of their dangerous and praiieworthy office*.
To form a juft eftimate of the value of the offer of thefe men, it is necehary to take into full considera- tion the general confirmation, which at that period pervaded every quarter of the city, and which made attendance on the fick be regarded as little lefs than a certain facrilke. Uninfluenced by any reflexions of this kind, without any pofiible inducement but the pureft motives of humanity, they came forward, and offered themfelves as the forlorn hope of the •committee. I truft that the eratitude of their fellow citizens will remain as long as the memory of their beneficent conduct, which I hope will not die with the prefent generation.
On the 1 6th, the managers of Bufhhill, after per- fonal infpection of the ftate of affairs there, made report of its lituation, which was truly deplorable-. It ■exhibited as wretched a picture of human mifery as ever exifted. A profligate, abandoned fet of nurfes and attendants (hardly any of good character could at that time be procured,) rioted on the provi- iioiis and comforts, prepared for the fick, who
* The management of the interior department v/as gflumci by Stephen Girard — tlie exterior by Peter Helm.
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funlefs at the hours when the doctors attended) were left almoft entirely defutute of every afiihancc. ''The lick, the dying, and the dead we're indiicflminate- ly mingled together. The ordure and other evacuati- ons, of the iick, were allowed to remain in the moft offenfive itate imaginable. Not the fmalleu appearance of order or regularity exified. It was, in fact, a great human flaughter houfe, where nume- rous victims were immolated at the aitar of riot and intemperance. No wonder, then, that a ge- neral dread of the place prevailed through the city, and that a removal to it was coniidered as the feal of death. In confequence, there were various inftances of fick perfons locking their rooms, and refifting every attempt to carry them away. At length, the poor were fo much afraid of being fent to Buih-hill, that they would not acknowledge their ilinefs, until it was no longer poflible to conceal it. For it is to be obferved, that the fear of the contagion was fo pre- valent, that as foon as any one was taken ill, an alarm was fpread among the neighbours, and every effort was ufed to have the lick peribn hurried off to Bufh- hill, to avoid fpreading the diforder. The cafes of poor people forced in this way to that hofpital, though labouring under only common colds, and common fall fevers, were numerous and afflicting. There. were not wanting inftances of perfons, only flightly ill, being fent to Bufhhill, by their panic-firuck neigh- bours, and embracing the firft opportunity of rnn- rung back to Philadelphia.
The regulations adopted at Bulhhill, were as follow :
One of the rooms in the manfion houfe (which contains fourteen, bendes three large estres.) was allotted to the matron, and an ahntant under her — eleven rooms and two entries to the fick. Thofe who were in a very low flate were in one room — and one was appointed for the dying. The men and women were kept in diftinct rooms, and attended by nurfes of their own fexes. Every fick perfon was furnifhed with a bedftead, clean meet, pillow, two or three blan*
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orringer, plate, fpoon, and clean linen, when geceflary. In the manfion houfe were one hundred, &nd forty bedfteads. The new frame houfe, built by the committee, when it was found that the old build- ings were inadequate to contain the patients commo- dioully, is fixty feet front, and eighteen feet deep, v. ith three rooms on the ground floor ; one of which s for the head nurfes of that houfe, the two others for the lick. Each ofthefe two laft contained feven- teen bedfteads. The loft, deflgned for the convales- cents, was calculated to contain forty.
The barn is a large, commodious {tone building, divided into three apartments ; one occupied by the render! t doctors and apothecary ; one, which contain- ed forty bedfteads, by the men convalescents — and the other by the women convalescents, which contained fifty-feven.
fonte diftance from the weft of the hofnitaL
s erected a frame building to ftore the coffins, and depollt the dead until they were fent to a place of in- terment.
Belkles the nurfes employed in the hcufe, there were two cooks, four labourers, and three washer- women, conitantly employed for the ufe of the hof- pital.
t iickwere viilted twice a day by two phyficians, dr. Deveze and dr. Benjamin Dufileld*, whofe pre- scriptions were executed by three refident phylicians and the apothec.'-
One of the refident doctors was charged withtfie diftribution of the victuals for the nek. At eleven o'clock, he gave them broth with rice, bread, boiled
* Very fcort after the jjriranization of t' e commit tec, dr. Deveze, a refpedfcable French phyfician from (are Francois, ■•1 his fewices in the line of his proffeffion at Buna-bill. Dr. Benjamin DnffieJd did the fame. Their oners were accepted, 1 both attended wich great punctuality. Dr. De- renounced ::!1 other practice, Which, at .that period, would n very lucrative, when there wis fuch general demand . T he committee, in conruieratimi of the fervices Uele two gentlemen, have lately prtdenred dr. Duffield with hundred, and dr. Deveze with hr'tsen hundred dollars.
E
( 34 )
fceef, veil, mutton, and chicken, with cream of rice to thofe whofe ftomachs would not bear ftronger nou- riihment. Their fecond meal was at fix o'clock, when they had broth, rice, boiled prunes, with cream of rice. The fick drank at their meals porter, or claret and water. Their cenftant drink between meals was cen- taury tea, and boiled lemonade.
Thefe regulations, the order and regularity intro- duced, and the care and tendernefs with which the patients were treated, fbon eftablifhed the character of the hofpital ; and in the courfe of a week or two, numbers of fick people, who had not at home pro- per perfons to nurfe them, applied to be lent to Bufh- hill. Indeed, in the end, fo many people, who were afflicted with other diforders, procured admittance there, that it became neeefiary to pafs a refolve, that before an order of admiffion mould be granted, a certificate mufl be produced from a phyfician, that the patient laboured under the malignant fever ; for had all the applicants been received, this hofpital, pro- vided for an extraordinary occafion, would have been filled with patients whofe cafes entitled them to a re- ception in the Pennfylvania hofpital.
The number of perfons received into Bum-hill, from the 1 6th of September to this time, is about one thouiandj of whom nearly five hundred are dead; there rire now ('fro v. 30,) in the houfe, about twenty fick, and fifty convalescent?. Of the latter clafs, there been difmiiled about four hundred and thirty.
The reafon why To large a proportion died of thofe received, is, that in a variety of cafes, the early fears of that hofpital had got fuchfirm poffellion of the minds of folJ&e, and others were fo much actuated by a foo- lifh pride, that they would never confent to be re- moved till they were paft recovery.- And in confe- rence of this, there were many inftances of perform dying in the cart on the road to the hofpital. I fpeak within bounds, when I fay that at leaft a third of the whole number of thofe received, did not furvive their entrance into the hofpital two days. Were it not for the operation of thei'e two motives, the number of
I 35 )
fhe dead in the city and in the hofpital would have been much leffened ; for many a man, whofe nice feelings made him fpurn at the idea of a removal to the hofpital, perifhed in the. city for want of that comfortable ailiftance he would have had at Eulh-hill*. Before I conclude this chapter, let me add, that the perfeverance of the managers of that hofpital has been equally meritorious with their original beneficence. During the whole calamity to this time, they have attended uninterruptedly, for fix, feven, or eight hours a day, renouncing almoft every care of private affairs. They have had a laborious tour of duty to perform. Stephen Girard, whofe office was in the inte- rior part of the hofpital, has had to encourage and com- fort the fick — to hand them neceffaries and medicines — to wipe the fweat off their brows — and to per- form many difgufting offices of kindnefs for them, which nothing could render tolerable, but the exal- ted motives that impelled him to this heroic conduct. Peter Helm, his worthy coadjutor, difplayed, in his department, equal exertions, to promote the com- mon good.
CHAP. VII. Proceedings of_ the com mi I Ice— -Leans from the bank of North America. Eftablijhment of an orphan houfe. Relief of the poor. Appointment of the af- fjhvii committee.
THE committee, on its organization, refolved that three of the memk rs fhould attend daily at the city hall, to receive applications for relief; to pro- vide for the burial o£ the dead, and for the convey-
* I omitted in the former editions to mention the name of a nioft excellent and invaluable woman, mrs. Saville, the matron in this hofpital, whofe fervices.in the execution of her office, were above all price. Never was there a perfon J>etter qualified for fuch a Situation. To the moft ftricrt observance of fyfrcm, fhe united rail the tendernefs and humanity which are fo cdentiaHy requisite in an hofpital, but which habit fo very frequently and fatally extingaifhes : fhould the wifdom of our legiflature decree fhe permanent eflablifhment of a lazaretto, no peifeo can be found more deferving, or better qualified to be entruued with the care of it.
( 3^ )
imce of perfcns labouring under the ihalis ■ to Bufh-hiil. But three being four d inac the execution cf the multifarious raid laboricir to be performed, this order was refcir.deci, attendance was given by nearly all of "the rnc '
A number of carts and carters were engaged for the burial of the dead, and removal of the lick. And it was a melancholy fight to behold them inceffantly employed through the whole day, in thefe mourn offices.
The committee borrowed fifteen hundred doll from the bank of North America, agreeably to the refoives of the town meeting by which they were appointed. Several of the members entered into fecu- rity to repay that film, in cafe the corporation or le- giflature mould refufe to make provision for its dif- charge. This mm being foon expended, a far. loan of 5000 dollars was negociated with the famein- ilitution*.
In the progrefs of the diforder, the committee found the calls on their humanity increafe. The nu- merous deaths of heads of families left a very large body of children in a moil abandoned, forlorn ftatc. The bettering houfe, in which fuch helpleis objects have been ufually reread heretofore, was barred againft them, by the order which I have already mentioned. Many of thefe little innocents were actually fv for want of even common neceSaries, The death their parents and protectors, which fhould h been the ftrongeft recommendation to public charity, was the very reafon of their diftrefs, and of their being ihunned as a peftilence. The child.-, en of a fan once in eafy circumftances, were found in a bla
ith's fnop, iqualid, dirty, and half flarvcd, n for a confiderable tin our even bj
. Various 1. nilar nature or
This evil early caught the attention of the ( ee5
and on the icjtK of Septeu y hired
* It ought: to be mentioned, that on the pnymeiM of thefc funis, the directors genenmilv cieclin. U£s of them.
^ 37 )
t, in whi 7 placed thirteen d
increafing, they on the 3d of C cured the Loganian library, which was generoufty given up by John Swanwick, efq. for the purpofe of an orphan houfe. A farther j e of their little
char 20, rendered it necefTary to buiidfome additions to the library, which are nearly half a as that
building. At prefent, there are in the houfs, under the care of the orphan committee, about fixty chil- dren, and above forty are out with wet nui
11ft the origin of the inftitution, one hundred and ninety children have fallen under their care, of whom iixtecn are dead, and about feventy have been deli- vered to their relations or friends. There are inftances of five and fix children of a (ingle family in the houfe. To thefe precious depofits the utmoft attention has been paid. They are well fed, comfortably clothed, and properly taken care of. Mary Parvin, a very fuit- able perfon for the purpofe, has been engaged as ■matron, and there are, beiides, fufficient perfons em- ployed to aiUft her. Various applications have been made for fome of the children ; but in no inftance would the committee furrender any of them up, until y had fatisfaclory evidence that the claimants had a right to make the demand. Their relations are now publicly called upon to come and receive them. For fuch as may remain unclaimed, the beft provifion p ilble will be made; and fo great is the avidity of many people to have feme of them, that there will be no diffi- culty in placing them to advantage.
Another duty foon attracted the attention of the
committee. The flight, of fo many of our citizens, the
tonfequent ftagnation of bufinefs, and the almoft total
eeilation of the labours of the guardians of the poor,
: on among the lower dafles of the people, a
it degree of diflrefs, which loudly demanded the in-
pontoon of the humane. In confequence, on the 2cth
►eptember, a committee of diftributicn, of three
s, was appointed, to furnifh fuch aflfftance to
rrving ol i their refpeclive cafes might re-
■^,:[nd the funds allow.. This was at fir ai£
( 3« )
tered to but few, owinq; to the confined ftate of the finances. But the very extraordinary liberality of our fugitive fellow citizens, of the citizens of New York, and of thofe of various towns and townfhips, encou- raged the committee to extend their views. In confe- quence, they increafed the diftributing committee to eight, and afterwards to ten.
Being, in the execution of this important fervice, liabie toimpofition, they, on the 14th of October, ap- pointed an aihftant committee, compofed of forty- five citizens, chofen from the fever al difrricls of the city and liberties. The duty affigned this afliftant com- mittee, was to feek out and give recommendations to deferving objects in diftrefs, who, on producing them, were relieved by the committee of diftribution, (who fat daily at the City Hall, in rotation,) with money, provifions, or wood, or all three, according as their neceflities required. The afliftant committee executed this bufinefs with fuch care, that it is probable fo great a number of people were never before relieved, with fo little impohtion. Some ihamelefs creatures, pofTeiTed of houfes, and comfortable means of fup- port, have been detected in endeavouring to partake of the relief deftined folely for the really indigent and diftrefled.
Beiides thofe who came forward to afk afliftance in y of gift, there was another clafs, in equal dif- trefs, and equally entitled to relief, who could not to accept it as charity. The committee, difpof- ed to fofter this laudable principle, one of the beft fe- curities from debafement of character, relieved perfonr, of this defcription with 'mail loans weekly, juft enough for immediate fupport, and took acknowledgments for the debt, without ever intending to urge payment , if not perfectly convenient to the parties.
The number of perfons relieved weekly, was about twelve hundred ; many of whom had families of four, five, and iix perfons.
The gradual revival of bufinefs has refcued 1 who are able and willing to work, from the humilia- tion of depending on public, charity. And the orga- nization of the overfcers of the poor has thrown the
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Uippdrt of the proper objects of charity into its old channel, The diftribution of money, &c. ceafed there- fore on Saturday, the 23d of November.
C H A P. VIII. Repeated addreffes of the committee on the purification of houfes. — AJfijlant committee under- dertake to infpecl infected houfes perfonally. Extinclion of the dif order. Governor* s proclamation. Addrefsoft.be clergy. A nezo and happy flate of affairs.
THE committee exerted its cares for the welfare of the citizens in every cafe in which its interfer- ence was at all proper or neceffary. The declenfion of the diforder induced many perfons to return to the city at an earlier period, than prudence dictated. On the 26th of October, therefore, the committee addref- fed their fellow citizens, congratulating them on the very flattering change that had taken place, which af- forded a chearing profpect of being foon freed from the diforder entirely. They, however, recommended to thofe who were abfent, not to return till the inter- vention of cold weather or rain* fhiuld render fuch a itep juftifiable and proper, by totally extinguifhing the difeafe.
The 29th, they publifhed another addrefs, earneftly exhorting thofe whofe houfes had been clofed, to have them well aired and purified j to throw lime into the privies, &c.
The 4th of November, they again addreffed the public, announcing that it was unfafe for thofe who had refided in the country, to return to town with too much precipitation, efpecially into houfes not properly prepared. They added;, that though the diforder had coniiderably abated, and though there was reafon to hope it would fhortly difappear, yet they could not fay it was totally eradicated ; as there was reafon to fear it ftill lurked in different parts of the city. They reiterated their reprefentations on the fubject of cleanfing houfes.
* I (hall in fom3 of the following pages attempt to prove, rfias the idea here held our, was erroneous.
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ah, they once more addrefied their
citizens, informing them of the reftoration to . long afflicted city, of as great a degree of health as v
y prevails at the fame feafon ; of no new cafes of the malignant fever having occurred for many of their having reafon tp hope that in a few d a veftige of it would remain in the city or fubiirl of applications for admiflion into the hof- jm*
ceafed ; of the expectation of the phyficians at the 1 pital, that no more than three or four wot out
of ninety one perfons r e ber
of convalescents inereifmg daily. ie fame
time moil earneftly recommended that houfes inwhiclf the difortkr had been, mould be purified ; and that the clothing or bedding of the fie
died of the .r, jQiou-d be w .
ed, baked, buried, drde i. They added, that I
3'nt citizens of Philadelphia, an-
gfcrs who had buimels in the ci ;nt lafrly come'
to it, without fear of the diforder.
Notwithflartding all thefe cautions, many perfons re- turned from the* country, without paying any atten- tion to the cleanfing of their houfes, there' not only with their own lives, but with the of their fellow citizens. The neglect of fofne in this way, has been fo flagrant, as to merit the ie- vereft puniihment. This dangerous miifance attracted the notice of the committee ; and 'after a conference with the affiftant committee, they, on the 15th of I* vember, in conjunction with them, r< it it
was highly expedient to have all houfes and fibres in the city and liberties, wherein the maligna:. had
prevailed, purified and cleanfed as ipeediiy and com- pletely as poffible ; to have all thofe well aired. had been clofedfor any length of time; to have iime thrown into the privies ; to call in, when the diftxict mould be too lars;e for the members I :e com*
pliance with thofe refolves, fttch affiftants as mil be neceffary ; and when any perfon, whefe houfe (juired to be cleanfed, and who was able to the expenfe thereof, mould refufe or neglect t
( 4i )
ply with the requisition of the members appointed to carry thofe refolves into effect, to report him to the next grand jury for the city and county, as fupporting a nuiiance dangerous to the public welfare. The ailil- tant committee undertook to exert themfelves to have thole falutary plans put into execution ; they have gone through the city and liberties for the purpofe ; and in mod cafes have found a readinefs in the inha- bitants to comply with a requifition of fucli impor- tance*.
This was the laft act of the committee that re- quires notice. Their bullnefs has fince gone on in a regular, uniform train, every day like the paft. They are now fettling their accounts, and are prepar- ing to furrender up their truft, into the hands of a town meeting of their fellow citizens, the confritu- ents by whom they were called into the unprece- dented office they have filled. To them they will give an account of their ftewardfhip, in a time of diftrefs, the like of which heaven avert from the people of America for ever. Doubtlefs, a can^jd conftruction will be put upon their conduct, and it will be believed, that they have acted in every cafe that came under their cognizance, according to the beft of their abi- lities.
On the 14th, governor Mifflin publifhed a procla- mation, announcing, that as it had pleafed Almighty God to put an end to the grievous calamity which recently afflicted the city of Philadelphia, it was the duty of all who were truly fenfible of the divine mercy, to employ the earlieit moments of returning health, in devout expreflions of penitence, fubmiflion, and gratitude. He therefore appointed Thurfday, the
*The utmoPc exertions of the mnoiftrates. and of the citizens generally are neceii'uy to guard againft the deplorable con<e qaenccs that may arife in the fpriing from the neglect of a few whofe fupineneis renders them deaf to every call of dulv m this refpee't. The beds fecrcted by the nurfes who attended the fick, are 1 Wew i 'e a fruitful fource of danger, and demand the greated vigilance from every -p?rfb;i inverted with anthoritv :o watch over the public fafety.
F
( 42 )
i2tli of Dccemberf, as a day of general humiliation,. tjbankfgiving, and prayer, and earneftly exhorted and intreated his fellow citizens " to abftain, on that day, from all worldly avocations, and' to unite in confefling, with contrite hearts, their manifold fins and tranfgreilions — in acknowledging, with thankful adoration, the mercy and goodnefs of the Supreme Ruler of the univerfe, more efpecially manifelted in our late deliverance; and in praying, with folemn zeal, that the fame mighty power would be gracioufly pleafed to init.il into our minds the juft principles of our duty to him and to our fellow creatures ; to regulate and guide all our actions by his. holy fpirit to avert from all mankind the evils of war, peftilence and famine ; and to blefs and protect us in the en- joyment of civil and religious liberty."
The 1 8th, the clergy of the city publifhed an ele- gant and pathetic addrefs, recommending that the day appointed by the governor, " mould be fet apart and kept holy to the Lord, not merely as a day of thankfgiving, |ior that, in all appearance, it had pleated him, of his infinite mercy, to flay the rage of the malignant diforder, (when we had well nigh faid, hath God forgot to be gracious ?) — but alfo as a day of folemn humiliation and prayer, joined with the confeffion of our manifold fins, and of our neglect and abufe of his former mercies ; together with tin- cere refolutions of future amendment and obedience to his holy will and law's ; without which our prayers, praifes, and thanldgivings will be in vain."
The 26th the ailiflant committee pafled fcveral very judicious and falutary refolves, requiring their members in their feverai diilricts through the city and liberties, immediately to infpect, the condition of all taverns, boarding houfes, and other buildings
7 The pionsobferv.mce of this day, by an aim oft total cefla- lion of bisfinefs (except among the frieildSj w no Te {lores gene- rally remained open) and by the churches being univer (ally. fill- ed with people pouring forth the effufions of their gratitude for the 1 .; the dreadful fcourge, exceeded that of any other
of thanUfssivihg 1 have ever known.
( 43 )
in which the late contagious difordcr is known to have been ; to notify the owners or tenants, to have them purified and cleanfed ; to report the names of fuch as mould refufe compliance, and alio make report of every houfe fhut up, in which any perfon is known to have lately fickened or died. They caution- ed the vendue matters not to fell, and the public not to buy any clothes or bedding belonging to perfons lately deceafed, until they know that the fame has been fuuiciently purified and aired.
I have not judged it neceffary to enter into a minute detail of the builnefs of the committee from day to day. It would afford little gratification to the reader. It would be, for feveral weeks, little more than a melan- choly hifcory of fifteen, twenty, thirty applications daily, for coffins and carts to bury the dead, who had none to perform that laft office for them — or as many applications for the removal of the lick to Bufii hill. There was little variety. The prefent day was as drea- ry as the pail: — and the profpecl of the'approaching one was equally gloomy. This was the Hate of things for a long time. But at length blighter profpecls dawned. The diforder decreafed in violence* The number of the lick diminiihed. New cafes became rare. The fpirits of the citizens revived — and the tide of migration was once more turned. Avifible alteration has taken place in, the ftate of affairs in the city. Our friends return in crouds. Every hour, long-abfent and welcome faces appear — and in many iriftances, thofe of" perfons, whom public fame has buried for weeks pail. The ftores, fo long clofed, are nearly all opened again. Many of the country merchants, bolder than others, are daily venturing in to their old place of fupply. Ma'r- ket-ftrect is as full of waggons as ufual. The cuftom- houfe, for weeks nearly deferted by our mercantile people, is thronged with citizens entering their veiTels and goods. The ftreets, too long the abode of gloom and defpair, have aflumed the buftle fuited to thefea- fon. Our wharves are filed with velTels loading and unloading their rcfpeclive cargoes. And, in fine, as
( 41 )
every thing, in the early ftage of the diforder, teemed calculated to add to the general confirmation ; fo now, on the contrary, every circumflance has a ten- dency to revive the courage and hopes of our citi- zens. But we have to lament, that the fame fpirit of exaggeration and lying, that prevailed at a former period, and was the grand caufe of the harlh meafiires adopted by our filler itates, has not ceafed to operate ; for at the prefent moment, when the danger is en- tirely done away, the credulous, of our own citizens full abient, and of the country people, are ftill alarmed with frightful rumours, of the diforder raging with as much violence as ever ; of numbers carried off, a few hours aiter their return ; and of new cafes daily oc currinsr. To what defisrn to attribute thefe fhameful tales, 1 know not. Were 1 to regard them in a fpirit of refentment, I mould be inclined to charge them to fome fecret, interefted views of their authors, intent, if pofTible. to effect the entire deftruction of our city* But I will not allow myfelf to confider them in this point of light — and will even fupoofe they arife from a pronenefs to terrific narration, natural to fome men* But they mould confider, that we are in the fituation. of the frogs in the fable — while thofe tales, which make the hair of the country people ftandon end, are iport to the fabricators, they are death to us. And I here aiTert, and defy contradiction, that of the whole number of our fugitive citizens, who have already returned, amounting to fome thoufands, not above two perfons are dead — and thefe owe their fate to the moft fhamcful neglect of airing and cleanfinrr their houfes, notwithstanding the various cautions publifh- cd by the committee. If people will venture into houfes in which infected air has been pent up for weeks to- gether, without any purification, we cannot be fur- prized at the conferences, however fatal they may be. But let not the catailrorhc of a few incautious pcrfoiis operate to bring discredit on a city containing above fifty thoufand people.
( 45 j
C H A P. IX. Extravagant letters from Philadelphia* Credulity put to the iejbt
THAT I might not interrupt the chain of events in Philadelphia, I have deferred, till now, giving an account of the proceedings in the feveral hates, res- pecting our fugitives. As an introduction thereto, I ik:.\\ prefix a ihort chapter refpecling thofe letters, 'which excited the terror of our neighbours, and im- pelled them to more fevere meafures than they would ctherwife have adopted.
Great as wtis the calamity of Philadelphia, it was magmiled in the moft extraordinary manner. The hundred tongues of rumour were never more fuccefs- fuily employed, than on this melancholy occaiion. The terror of the inhabitants of all the neighbouring Hates was excited" by letters from this city, diftributed by every mail, rnanv'qf which told tales of woe, whereof hardly a fingle cmcumfrance was true, but which were every where received with implicit faith. The diftrefies of the city, and the fatality of the diibrder, were exaggerated as it were to fee how far credulity could be carried. The plague of London was, accor- ding to rumour, hardly more fatal than our yellow fever. Our citizens died fo faft, that there was hard- ly enough of people to bury them. Ten, or fifteen, or wore, were faid to be caft into one hole together, like fomany dead beafts*. One man, whole feelings were fo compofed, as to be facetious on the iubjcctj ac-
* The following extract appeared in a Norfolk paper about the middle of September : Extract of a fetter from Philadelphia, to a gentleman in 'Norfolk.
Sept. 9.
u Half the inhabitants of this city have already fled to <c different parts, on account of the peitilential diibrder that " prevails here. The few citizens who remained in this place, "'die in abundance, fo faff that they drag them isjjay, like d.jr.d <f beaftt, and put ten, or ff icen, or more, in a hole together. ZiU ike t( fiorts are flint up. I am afraid tids city will be ruined : for 4< nobody will come near it hereafter. I am this day removing 11 my family from this fetal place." 1 am Strongly inclined to imaging that this later Was the csjiufe of the Virginia pi oela* niation.
( 46 )
quainted a correfpondent, in New York, that the only bufinefs carrying on, was grave digging, or ra- ther pitdigging-f. And at a time when the deaths did not exceed from forty to fifty daily, many men had the modefty to write, and others, throughout the con- nent, the credulity to believe, that we buried from one hundred to one hundred and fifty*. Thoufands were fwept off in three or four weeks J. And the nature
+ From a New York paper of October z.
Extrafi of a letter from a gentleman in Philadelphia, dated Sep- tember 23. " The papers mud have amply informed you of the melan- " choly fituation of this city for five or fix weeks pad. Grape- '* di££":g has been the only bufinefs carrying on ; and indeed '* I may fay of late, plt'digging, where people are interred **• indiscriminately in three tiers of coffins, from the moft ac- iC curate obfervations I can make upon matters, 1 think I " fpeak within bounds, when I fay, eighteen hundred perfons u have perifhed (I do not fay all of the yellow fever) fince ** its firft appearance.-*'
* From the Maryland Journal, of Sept. i",th.
Extract of a letter from Philadelphia, dated Sept. 20th, u The diforder feems to be much the fame in this place as *' when I laft wrote you : about 1500 have fallen victilHS t© it. " Lait Sunday, Monday, and Tuefday, there were not lefs than " 350 died with this fevere diforder ! ! ! As I informed yon be- " fore, this is the moft diftreffed place I ever beheld. Whole fa- <( milies_go in the diforder, in the courfe of twelve hours. For u your own fakes, ufe all pofiible means to keep it out of Bal- *' timore."
Extract of a letter from Philadelphia, of the fame date : <( The malignant fever which prevails here, is {till increa- " fing. Report fays, that above one hundred have been buried " per clay for fome time paft. It is now thought to be more ** infectious than ever. I think you ought to be very careful " with refpect to admitting perfens from Philadelphia int» '* your town."
J From aChcfertown paper, cf Sjpt. 10. Extract of a letter from a rcfpeflable young mechanic, in Phila- delphia, to his friend in this town, dated the $th inf. '* It is now a very mortal time in this city. Theyellow fever ''hath killed fome thoufands of the inhabitants. Eight thoufand " mechanics, btfides other people, have left the town. Every " mafter in the city, of our branch of bufinefs, is gone." The "fome thoufands" that were hilled at that time, did not amount U> three hundred. The authentic information in this letter, was
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and danger of the diforder, were as much mifreprc- fented, as the number of the dead. It was faid, in de- fiance of every day's experience, to be as inevitable by all expofed to the contagion, as the ftroke of fate. The credulity of fome, the pronenefs to exaggera- tion of others, and I am forry, extremely forry to believe, the interefled views of a few*, will account for thefe letters.
CHAP. X. Proceedings at Che/iertown — At New York — At Trenton and Lamberton — At Baltimore.
THE effects produced by thofe tales, were fuch as might be reasonably expected. The confter- nation fpread though the feveral ftates like wild-lire. The firft public act that took place on the fubject, as far as I can learn, was at Cheitertown, in Maryland. At this place, a meeting was held on the i oth of Sep- tember, and feveral refolves entered into, which, after fpecifying that the diforder had extended to Trenton, Princeton, Woodbridge, and Elizabeth-town, on the poft road to New York, directed, that notice fliould be fent to the owners of the ftages not to allow them to pafs through the town, while there fhould be reafon to expect danger therefrom ; and that a committee of health and infpecticn mould be appointed,, to provide for the relief of fuch poor inhabitants as might take the diforder, and iikewife for fuch ftran- gers as might be infected with it. In confequence of thefe refolves, the Eaftern more line of ftages was ft opt in the courfe of a few days afterwards.
The alarm in New York was firft officially an- nounced by a letter from the mayor to the practiling
circulated in every ftate in the union, by the news papers. From the date, I fafpect this letter to have been the oceaiiori of the Chefteitown refolves.
* As this charge is extremely pointed, it may be re<]uifite to ftate the foundation of it, for the reader to form his opinion xipon. Some of the letters from Philadelphia about this time, were written by perfons, whofe intereil it was to injure the city, and gave llatements (b very different, even from the very wor!t rumours prevailing here, that it was morally impodible the writers thcmfelve-s could have believed their..
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phyficians, dated Sept. i : , in which he requeued therri to report to him in writing the names of all fuch. perfons as had arrived, or mould arrive from Phila- delphia, or any other place, by land or water, and were or mould be lick ; that fuch as mould be deemed fub-^ jects of infectious difeafes, might be removed out of the city. He notified them, that the corporation had taken meafures to provide a proper place as an hol- pital, for fuch perfons as might unhappily become fubjccls of the fever in New York. In this letter the mayor declared his opinion clearly, that the inter- courfe with Philadelphia, could not be lawfully inter- rupted by any power in the ftate. The 1 2th appeared a proclamation from governor Clinton, which, re- ferring to the " act to prevent the bringing in, and " fprcading of infectious diforders," prohibited, in the terms of that act, all veffels from Philadelphia, to approach nearer to the city of New York, than Bedlow's ill and, about two miles diftant, till duly dif- charged. The filence of this proclamation, reflecting paffengers by land, feemed to imply that the gover- nor's opinion on the fubject, was the fame as that of the mayor.
The fame day, at a meeting of the citizens, the ncceility of taking fome precautions was unanimouf- ly agreed upon, and a committee of feven appoint- ed to report a plan to a meeting to beheld next day. Their report, which was unanimoufly agreed to, the 13th, recommended to hire two phyiicians, to afiift the phyfician of the port in his examination of veffels ; to check, as much as poflible, the intercourfe by ftages ; to acquaint the proprietors of the fou- thern itages, that it was the earneft wiih of the inha- bitants, that their carriages and boats fhould not pals during the prevalence of the diforder in Philadelphia ; and to rcqueft the practitioners of phyfic to report, without fail, every cafe of fever, to which they might be called, occurring in any perfons that had or might arrive from Philadelphia, or have intercourfe with them. Not fatisficd with thefe meafures, the corporation, on the 17th, came to a refolution to (top
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\ the two cities ; and for t ards were placed at the different land*- ings, v. tars to tend back every perfon coming
from I kia ; and it any were difcovered to
i after that, date, they were to be direct- ly "Ihofe who took in lodgers, were cal- upbn I information of all people of the nn, under pain of being profeeuted • law. All good citizens were required to &tion to the mayor, or any member ol 3 of any breach in the premifes= Thc.'e -l/icl precautions being eluded by the fears and lance of the fugitives from Philadelphia. on the 23d there was a n held, of delegates
1 of the city, in order to adopt moi .At this meeting, it was refcl-
■ifh a night watch of not lefs than ten citi- zens in each ward, to guard againft every attempt to enter under cover of darknefs.'Not yet eafedof their r published air addrefs, in which ioned, that notwithftanding their utrrioi: e many perfon 5 had been clandeftinely landed . New York ifb.nd. They therefore aga upon their fellow citizens to be cautious
i ved itrangers into their houfes ; not to it all fuch to the mayor immediately up- . on tacjr arrival; to remember the importance of the ftceafion \ and to coniider what reply they mould maker .-Tentmcht of their fellow citizens,
- might expofe by a criminal neglect, kewiie declared their expecta- tion, that tbofc who kept- the different ferries oil
and Staten illand, would pay fuch their addrefs, as not to transport
i but 10 the public landings, and that in in and fun. The 30th they .'.i\y^ the various" . \ — the nature of the dif- i ha i died out of 3 communicating it to any one. blved, that G
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and clothing, packed up in Philadelphia, mould, previous to their being brought into New York, be unpacked and expoied to the open air in fome well-ventilated place, for at leaft 48 hours ; that all linen or cotton clothes, or bedding, which had been ufed, fhould be well wafhed in feveral waters ; and afterwards, that the whole, both fuch as had been and fuch as had not been ufed, fliould be hung up in a clofe room, and well fnioked with the fumes of brimftone for one day, and after that again expofed for at leaft twenty four hours to the open air ; and that the boxes, trunks, or chefts, in which they had been packed, mould be cleaned and aired in the fame manner ; after which, being repacked, and fuch evi- dence given of their purification, as the committee mould require, permiflion might be had to bring them into the city.
The nth of October, they likewife refolved, that they would confider and publifh to the world, as ene- mies to the welfare of the city, and the lives of its in- habitants, all thofe who mould be fo felfifh and hardy, as to attempt to introduce any goods, wares, mer- chandize, bedding, baggage, S:c. imported from, or packed up in Philadelphia, contrary to the rules pre- fcribed by that body, who were, they faid, deputed to exnrefs the will of their fellow citizens. They recommended to the inhabitants to withftand any temptation of profit, which might attend the purchafe of goods in Philadelphia, as no emolument to an in- dividual, they added, could warrant the hazard to which fuch conduct might expofe the city. Besides all thefe refolves, they publifhed daily ftatenients of the health of the city, to allay the fears of their fel- low citizens.
On the 14th of November, the committee refolved, that paffengers coming from Philadelphia to New York, might be admitted, in future, together with their wearing apparel, without any refiriction as to time, until further orders from the committee.
The 20th, they declared that they were happy announce to their fellow citizens, that health was
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flored to Philadelphia ; but that real danger was full to be apprehended from the bedding and clothing of thofe who had been ill of the malignant fever ; and that they had received fatisfactory information, that attempts had been made to fhip on freight confidera- ble quantities of beds and bedding from Philadelphia for their city. They therefore refolved that it was in- expedient, to admit the introduction of beds or bed- ding of any kind, or feathers in bags, or otherwife ; alfo, fecond-hand wearing apparel of every fpecies, coming from places infected with the yellow fever ; and that whofoever mould attempt fo high-handed an offence as to bring them in, and endanger the lives and health of the inhabitants, would juftly merit their refentment and indignation.
The inhabitants of Trenton and Lambertcn affoci- ated on the 13th of September, and on the 17th paffed feveral refolutions to guard themfelves againft the con- tagion. They refolved that a total ftop ihould be put to the landing of all perfons from Philadelphia, at any ferry or place from Lamberton to Howell's ferry, four miles above Trenton; that the intercourfe by water ihould be prohibited between Lamberton, or the head of tide water, and Philadelphia ; and that all boats from Philadelphia, mould be prevented from landing either goods or paffengers any where between Bordentown and the head of tide water ; that no per- fon whatever mould be permitted to come from Phi- ladelphia, or Kenfington, while the fever continued ; that all perfons who mould go from within the limits of the affociation, to either of thofe places, mould be prevented from returning during the continuance of the fever ; and finally, that their ftanding committee fhould enquire whether any perfons, not inhabitants, who had lately come from places infected, and were therefore likely to be infected themfelves, were within the limits of the affociation, and if fo, that they mould
•)liged inftantly to leave the faid limits. The 1 2th of September, the governor of Maryland publimed a proclamation, fubjccHng all veflels from
adelphia to the performance of a quarantine, not
I Sn~ . )
not exceeding forty days, or a
be judged fafc by the health office:'.:. It further or- dered, that ail perfons going to Baltimore, to Havre de Grace, to the head of Elk, or, by any other route, making their way into that ftate from Philadelp] or any other place known to be infettc d with the malignant fever, mould be fubject to be examined, and prevented from proceeding, by per-fons to be appointed for that purpofe, and who were to take the advice and opinion of the medical faculty in c ry cafe, in order that private affairs and purfuiti might not be unneceffarily impeded. This proclaim tion appointed two health officers for Baltimore.
The people of Baltimore met the 1 3th of Ser I bcr, and refolved that none of their citizens mould receive into their houfes any perfons coming from Philadelphia, or other infected place, without _pro- ducing a certificate from the health officer, or officer of patrcle ; and that any perfon who violated that refolve, fhould be held up to public view, as a pro- per object, for the refentment of the town. The 14th, a party of militia was difpatched to take pofleffion of a pafs on the Philadelphia road, about twe miles from Baltimore, to prevent the entrance of any paffeng from Philadelphia without licenfe'. Dr. Worthington, the health officer ftationed at this pafs, was directed to refufe permiflion to perfons afHictcd with any mr~ nant complaint, or who had not been abfent from Phi- ladelphia, or other infected place, at leaf! feven days. The* weftern more line of Philadelphia ftages was flop- ped about the 18th or 19th. ■
The 30th, the committee of health refolved that no inhabitant of Baltimore, who (hoyld vifit perfons from. Philadelphia, while performing quarantine, fhouki be permitted to enter the town, until the time of quarantine was expired, and until y rtainly
known that the perfons he had vifited were free from the infection ; and that thenceforward no goods c ble of conveying infection, that had been landed or packed up in Philadelphia, or other infected pis fhould be permitted to enter the to *vn — nor fhc
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baggage of travellers be admitted, until it had been expofed to the open air fuch length of time as the health officer might direct.
[AP. XT. Proceedings at Havre de Grace — At Ha- — At Alexandria— At Wi, — At Bo/Ion — »
At Nswburyport — In Rhode I/land — At Newbern — At C hark /ion — In Georgia. — Fajiing and prayer.
THE 25th of September, the inhabitants of Havre de Grace refolvedthat noperfon mould be allow- ed to crofsthe Sufquehannah river at that town, who did not bring a certificate of his not having lately come from Philadelphia, or any other infected place ; and that the citizens of Havre would embody them- felves to prevent any one from crofiing without fuch a certificate.
At Ilagerftown, on the 3d of October, it was re- folved, that no citizen mould receive into his houfe any perfon coming from Philadelphia, fuppofed to be infected with the malignant fever, until he or me produced a certificate from a health officer ; that mould *ny citizen contravene the above refolution, he ihould be profcribed from allfociety with his fellow citizens ; that the clothing fent to the troops then in that town, mould not be received there, nor fufFered to come within feven miles thereof ; that if any -perfon from ■adelphia, or other infected place, mould arrive there, he mould be required inftantly to depart, and in cafe of refufal or neglect, be compelled to go with- out delay : that no merchant, or other perfon, mould be fuffered to bring into the town, or open therein, Any goods brought from Philadelphia, or other in- fected place, until permitted by their committee ; and that the citizens of the town, and its vicinity, fhould enrol themfelves as a guard, and patrole fuch re and paffes as the committee fhould direct.
The governor of Virginia, on- the 17th of Sep* tember, iffued a proclamation, ordering all veflcls fr Philadelphia, the Grenades, and the ifland of \ xo perform a quarantine of twenty days, at the
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chorage ground, off Craney ifland, near the mouth cf Elizabeth river.
The corporation of Alexandria Rationed a look-out boat, to prevent all veffels bound to that port, from approaching nearer than one mile, until after examin- ation by the health officer.
The people of Winchefter placed guards at every avenue of the town leading from the Patomac, to flop all fufpected perfons, packages, &c. coming from Philadelphia, till the health officers fhould infpect them, and either forbid or allow them to pafs.
The le2"iflature of Maffachufetts were in feffion, at the time the alarm fpread ; and they accordingly paf- fed an exprefs act for guarding againft the impending danger. This act authorifed the felectmen in the different towns to ftop and examine any perfons, bag- gage, merchandize, or effects, coming orfuppofed to be coming into the towns refpectively, from Philadelphia, or other place infected, or fuppofed to be infected ; and fhould it appear to them, or to any officers whom they fhould appoint, that any danger of infection was to be apprehended from fuch perfons, effects, bag- gage, or merchandize, they were empowered to de- tain or remove the fame to fuch place as they might fee proper, in order that they might be purified from
action ; or to place any perfons fo coming, in fuch places, and under fuch regulations as they might judge neceffary for the public fafety. In purfuance of this act, the governor iffued a proclamation to carry it into effect, the 21ft of September.
The felectmen of Bofton, on the 24th, publifhed their regulations of quarantine, which ordered, that on the arrival of any veffel from Philadelphia, fhe fhould be detained at, or near Rainsford's Ifland, to perform a quarantine not exceeding thirty days, during which time ilie fhould be cleanied with vine- gar, and the expibfion of gunpowder between the decks and in the cabin, even though there were no fick perfons onboard ; that in cafe there were, they fhould be removed to an hpfpital, where they fhould be detained till they recovered or were long enough
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to ascertain that they had not the infection ; that every veflel, performing quarantine, mould be depriv- ed of its boat, and no boat fuffered to approach it, but by fpecial permiflion ; that if any perfon mould efcape from veffels performing quarantine, he mould be inftantly advertifed, in order that he might be ap- prehended; that any perfons coming by land from Philadelphia, mould not be allowed to enter Bofton, until twenty one days after their arrival, and their effects, baggage, and merchandize mould be opened, warned with vinegar, and fumigated with repeated explofions of gunpowder. In the conclufion, the felect- men called upon the inhabitants " to ufe their utmoft vigilance and activity to bring to condign punifhment, any perfon who fhould be fo daring and loft to every idea of humanity, as to come into the town from any place fuppofed to be infected, thereby endanger- ing the lives of his fellow men."
The 23d of September, the felectmen of Newbury- port notified the pilots not to bring any veffels from Philadelphia, higher up Merrimack river, than the black rocks, until they mould be examined by the health officer, and a certificate be obtained from him, of their bein^ free from infection.
The governor of Rhode Hland, the 21ft of Sep- tember, iflued a proclamation, directing the town councils and other officers, to ufe their iitmoft vigi- lance to caufe the law to prevent the fpreading of con- tagious diforders to be moft ftrictly executed, more ef- pecially with refpect to all veffels which mould arrive in that ftate, from the Weft Indies, Philadelphia, and New- York ; the extenfion to the latter place was ow- ing to the danger apprehended from the intercourie between it and Philadelphia.
The 28th of September, the governor of North Carolina publilhed his proclamation, requiring the commiffioners of navigation in the different ports of the faid ftate, to appoint certain places, where all veffels from the port of Philadelphia, or any other place in which the malignant fever might pre/ail,
( 5^ ;
ihould perform quarantine for fud iber of
days as they might think proper.
;• commiflioneis of Newbern, on the 301]; of September, ordered that until full liberty fhi giyenj veilels arriving from Philadelphia, or any • tiei place in which an infectious difcrder might be, mould, under a penalty of five hundred pounds, flop and come to anchor at leaft one mile below the town, and there perform a quarantine for at leaft ten days, unle captains fhould produce from mfpectors
>urpofe, a certificate that in th nioi 'Snt5 v-i!-h fofety to the inhabitants,
proceed to the town or harbour, and there land 'their pafTengers or cargo. The 1 3 th of October, they or- chr sd, thatvif any free mail mould go on board
'.Dai Philadelphia, &e. drfiiould bring 'frotn . eiiel, any goods or merchandize, fore me was permitted to land her cargo or pail he ihould, for every offence, forfeit five pound". ; arid nave Ihould offend as above, he Ihould be lia- ble to be whipped not exceeding fifty laihes, rncl mailer to pay live poun- .'.
The rov:enorofS. Carolina, pub'" Hied a pi ing Philadelphia veffels to ounv date of which.! cannot afcertam. The inha ;:
Cliarlefton, on the Sth of Oct at which tliey reiblved, that no vei Delaware, either directly or after ac a r pert of the united Hates, motile1
ted to pals Ch a till the citizens
:d, and declare.
laaaphia. If 2 trary thereto, ihould croij the bar, the mould be requeued u .compel it te return to lea.
The governor of Georgia, puLiifned a proclamation, ofd; ph:a,v.: aldarrl.
ain in 3 sek, or in c
■
C 57 )
contravening this proclamation, were to be profecuted, and fubjected to the pains and penalties by law point- ed out.
The people of Augufta, in that ftate, were as active and vigilant as their northern neighbours, to guard againft the threatening danger.
The inhabitants of Reading, in this ftate, had a meeting the 24th of September, and paned fundry re- folutions, viz. that no dry goods mould be imported into that borough, from Philadelphia, or any other place infected with a malignant fever, until the expi- ration of one month from that date, unlefs permiffion was had from the inhabitants convened at a town meet- ing ; that no perfons from Philadelphia, or any other infected place, fhould be allowed to enter, until they mould have undergone the examination of a phyfici- an, and obtained his opinion of their being free from infection ; that no itage-waggon fhould be permitted to bring paflengers from Philadelphia, or other place infected, into the borough ; and that all communi- cation, by ftages, mould be difcontinuedforone month, unlefs fooner permitted by the inhabitants.
At Bethlehem, a meeting was held on the 26th of September, at which it was refolved, that perfons from Philadelphia, mould perform a quarantine of twelve days, before their entrance into the town. A fimilar refolve was foon after entered into at Na2areth. But at neither place was it obferved with any ftrictnefs. No guard was appointed. And the aflertion of any decent traveller, apparently in health, with refpect to the time of his abfence from Philadelphia, was confidered as fufficient to be relied on, without reforting to formal proof.
Various precautions were obferved in other places ; but I am not able to give a ftatement of them, not having procured an, account of their refolves or proceedings.
The calamity of Philadelphia, while it roufed the circumfpection of the timid in various places, excited the pious to offer up their prayers to Almighty God for our relief, comfort, and lupport. Various days were appointed for humiliation, falling, and prayer,
H
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for this purpofe. In New York, the 20th of Septem- ber ; in Bofton, September 26th ; in Albany, the ill of October ; in Baltimore the 3d ; in Richmond, the 9th ; in Providence, the fame day ; ths fynod of Philadelphia fixed on the 24th of October ; the protectant epifcopal churches in Virginia, November 6 ; the Dutch fynod -of New York, November 1 3 ; the fynod of New York and New Jerfey, November 20. At Hartford, daily prayers were offered up for our relief for fome time,
CHAP. XII. Conflift between the law of felf prcferm- tion and the law of charity. The law ef charity -viclo- rious,
WHILE our citizens were profcribed in feve- ral cities and towns — hunted up like felons in fome — debarred admittance and turned back in others, whether found or infected — it is with extreme fatisfaction I have to record a conduct totally diffe- rent, which cannot fail to make an indelible im- .preflion on the minds of the people of Philadelphia, and call forth the moft lively emotions of gratitude.
At Woodbury, in New Jerfey, at an early period of the diforder, a meeting was held for the purpofe of determining on what fteps were requifite to be ta- ken. A motion was made to ftop all intercourfe with Philadelphia. But, four perfons only having rifen to fupport it, it dropped, and our citizens were allowed free entrance.
A refpectable number of the inhabitants of Spring- field, in New Jerfey, met the firft day of October, -and after a full confederation of the diftreffes of cur citizens, paffed a refolve, offering their town as an afylum to the people flying from Philadelphia, and directing their committee to provide a fuitablc place as an hofpital for the lick. The rev. Jacob V. Artf- dalen, Matthias Meeker, and Matthias Denman, took the lead in this honourable bufinefs.
I have been informed, by a perfon of credit, that the inhabitants of Elizabeth town have purfued the (ameliberajplan, as thofe of Springfield; but have not
C 59 )
been able to procure a copy of their refolves or pro* c-eedings on the fubject.
At Cheftertown in Maryland, a place was appoint- ed, at a diftance from the town, for the reception of fuch travellers and others, as might have the difor- der. It was provided with every neceffary — and a phyiician engaged to attend the fkk.
An afylum has likewife been offered to Philadel- phians, by feveral of the inhabitants of Elkton, in Ma- ryland ; and the offer was couched in terms of the utmoft fympathy for our fufferings. A place on the fame plan as that at Chefter, was fitted up near the town.
At Eaflon, in Pennfylvania, the only precaution ob- served, was to direct the emigrants from Philadel- phia, to abftain for a week from intercourfe with the inhabitants.
The people of Wilmington have acted in the mefl friendly manner towards our diltreffed citizens. At firft they were a little feared, and refoived on the ef- tablifhmcnt of a quarantine and guards. But they immediately dropped thefe precautions, and received the people from Philadelphia with the moll perfect freedom. They erected an hofpital for the reception of our infected citizens, which they fupplied with necef- faries. Yet of eight or ten perfons from Philadelphia, who died in that town, with the malignant fever, only one was fent to the hofpital. The others were nurfed and attended in the houfes where they fell fick. Humane, tender, and friendly, as were the wor- thy inhabitants of Wilmington in general, two cha- racters have diftinguiflied themfelves in fuch a very extraordinary manner, as to deferve particular no- tice. Thefe are doctor Way, and major Bum, whofe houfes were always open to the fugitives from Phila* delphia, whom they received without thefmalleft ap- prehenfion, and treated with a degree of genuine hof- pitality, that reflects the higheft honour on them. In the exercife of this virtue, they were not confined by a narrow regard to their particular friends or acquain- tance— but entertained with equal humanity wheis
(■Co )
families of perfonsVho were utter ftrangers to them. This \\ as of the more importance, and operated as a heavier tax on them, as, I believe, there was only ore tavern keeper, Brinton, whofe houfe was open for people from Philadelphia : and it was confe- quently fo crouded in general, as frequently to render it difficult to procure admittance.
The inftances of this kind, through this cxten- five country, have been very few ; but they are therefore only the more precious, and ought to be held up to public approbation. May they ope- rate on people, at a future day, in fimilar cafes of dreadful calamity, and teach them to temper their caution with as much humanity and tendernefs to the diftreffed fugitives, as prudence will allowft-and not involve in one indifcriminate profcription the healthy and infected.
CHAP. XIII. Difordcr fatal to the doctors— to the cler- gy— to drunkards — to jilles dejoie — to maid fcrvants — to the poor — and in clofejireets. — Lefs dejlruclive to the French — arid to the negroes.
RARELY has it happened, that fo large a propor- tion of the gentlemen of the faculty have funk beneath the labours of their very dangerous profef- fion, as on this occafton. In five or fix weeks, exclusive of medical ftudents, no lefs than ten phyficians have been fwept off, doctors Hutchinfon, Morris, Linn, Pennington, Dodds, Johnfon, Glentworth, Phile, Graham, and Green. Scarcely one of the practiling doctors that remained in the city, efcaped ficknels. Some were three, four, and five times confined.
To the clergy it has likewife proved very fatal. Ex- pofed, in the exercife of the laft duties to the dying, to equal danger with the phyikians, it is not furpri- fmg that io many of them have fallen. Their names are, the rev. Alexander Murray, of the protectant epifcopal church— the rev. F. A. Fleming and the rev. Laurence Graefsl of the Roman catholic — the * ev. John Winkhaufe, of the German reformed — the
( 6. )
rev. James Sproat, of the prefbytenan — the rev. Wil- liam Dougherty, of the methodift church — and like- wife four noted preachers of the Friends fociety, Da- niel Offley, Hufon Langftroth, Michael Minier, and Charles Williams. Seven clergymen have been in the great eft danger from this diforder, the fev. R. Black- well, rev. Jofeph Pilmore. rev. William Rogers, rev. Chriftopher V. Keating, rev. Frederic Schmidt, the rev. Jofeph Turner, and the rev. Robert Annan ; but they have all recovered.
Among the women, the mortality has not by any means been fo great, as among the men*, nor among the old and infirm as among the middle-aged and robuft.
To tipplers and drunkards, and to men who lived high, and were of a corpulent habit of body, this dif- order was very fatal. Of thefe, many were feized, and the recoveries were very rare.
Tq the Jiltcs de joie, it has been equally fatal. The wretched debilitated ftate of their confritutions, rendered them an eafy prey to this dreadful dif- order, which very foon terminated their miferable career.
To hired fervant maids it has been very deftructive. Numbers of them fled away — of thofe who remained, very many fell, who had behaved with an extraor- dinary degree of fidelity.
It has been dreadfully deftrutVrve among the poor. It is very probable, that at leaft feven eighths of the number of the dead, were of that clafs. The inhabi- tants of dirty houfes have feverely expiated their ne- glect, of cleanlinefs and decency, by the numbers of them that have fallen iacriiices. Whole families, in Inch houfes, have funk into one filent, undiiiinguifli- ing grave.
The mortality in confined ftreets, fmall allies, and clofe houfes, debarred of a free circulation of air, has exceeded, in a great proportion, that in the large ltreets and well-aired houfes. In fome of the allies, a third
* In many congregations, the deaths of men have been nearly twice as numerous as tbbfe of women.
C * 5
or fourth of the whole of the inhabitants are no m©re. Jn 30 houfes, the whole number in Pewter Platter alley, 32 people died : and in a part of Market-ftreet, containing 170 houfes, only 39. The ftreets in the fuburbs that had the benefit of the country air, efpe- cially towards the weft part of the city, have fufler- ed little. Of the wide, airy ftreets, none loft fa many people as Arch, near Water-ftreet, which may he accounted for* by its proximity to the original ieat of the diforder. It is to be particularly remark- ed, that in general, the more remote the ftreets were from Water ftrect, the left they experienced of the calamity*
From the effects of this diforder, the French newly- fettled in Philadelphia, have been in a very remarka- ble degree exempt j-. To what this may be owing, is a iubject deferving .particular inveiligation*. By fome it has been afcribed to their defpifmg the danger. But, though this may have had fome effect, it will not cer- tainly account for it altogether ; as it is well known that many of the moft courageous perfons in Phila- delphia, have been among its victims. By many of the French, the great fatality of the diforder has been attributed to the vaft quantities of crude and unwhole- some fruits brought to our markets, and coniumed by ail clalfes of people.
When the yellow fever prevailed in South Caro- lina, the negroes, according to that accurate obferver, dr. Lining, were wholly free from it. " There is vt fomething very lingular in the conftitution p£ the %' negroes," fays he, " which renders them not liable "c to this fever; for though, many of them were as M much expofed as the nuries to this infection, yet I " never knew one inftance of this fever among them, " though they are equally fubject with the white peo-
f The French who line! been long Cilablifhed here, were near- ly as much alFec~tecl as die natives.
* The frequent ufe the French mrke of laveHttnts% at all times, m*y probably account for their efcapins; io very generally as they did, Tbefe purify the bowels, help to di (charge the foul mat tar, and remove coflivenefs, which is one of the moft cerraia fupports of this and other ciifordcrs.
( «3 )
<e pie to the bilious fever*."" The fame idea prevailed for a confiderable time in Philadelphia; but it Wis erroneous. They did not efcape the diforder ; howe- ver, there were fcarcely any of them feized at firft, ind the number that were finally affected, was not greats and, as I am informed by an eminent doctor, ^ it " yielded to the power of medicine in them more ea- " lily than in the whites." The error that prevailed on this fubject had a very falutary eff-ct ; for at an early period of the diforder, hardly any white nurfes could be procured ; and, had the negroes been equal- ly terrified, the fufferings of the tick, great as they actually were, would have been exceedingly aggrava- ted. At the period alluded to, the elders of the Afri- can church met, and offered their afliftance to the mayor, to procure nurfes for the lick, and to afiiit in burying the dead. Their'offers were accepted ; and Abfalom Jones, Richard Allen, and William Gray, undertook the management of thefe two feveral Services. The great demand for nurfes afforded an •opportunity for imoofition, which was eagerly feized by fome of the vileft of the blacksf . They extorted two, three, four, and even five dollars anight for fuck attendance, as would have been well paid by a fmgls dollar. Some of them wrere even detected in plun- -dering the houfes of the lick. But it is unjuft to cait a cenfure on the whole for this fort of conduct, as many people have done. The -fervices of Jones, Al- len, and Gray, and others of their colour, have been very great, and demand public gratitude.
On examining the books of the hofpital at Bufh- hill, it appears that there were nearly twenty blacks received there, of -whom about three-fourths died,
* KtKiys and obfervations, vol. II. page 407.
f The extortion here mentioned, was very far from beinu eflrt - fined to the negroes ; many of the white nurfes behaved •■■ egmri rapacity.
( «4 )
CHAP. XIII. State of the weather. Attempt to refute the opinion that cold aiid rain extinguifhed the diforder* Average table of mortality*
THE weather, during the whole of the months of Auguft and September, and moft part of Octo- ber, was remarkably dry and fultry. Rain appeared as if entirely at an end. Various indications, which in fcarcely any former inftance had ever failed to pro- duce wet weather, difappointed the expectations, the wifhes, and the prayers of the citizens. The diforder raged with increafed violence as the feafon advanced towards the fall months. The mortality was much greater in September, than in Auguft — and (till greater in the beginning and till the middle of October, than in September. It very particu- larly merits attention, that though nearly all the hopes of the inhabitants refted on cold and rain, efpecially the latter, yet the diforder died away with hardly any rain, and a very moderate degree of cold. Its virulence may be faid to have expired on the 23d, 24th, 25th, and 26th of October. The fucceed- ing deaths were moftly of thofe long fick. Few perfong took the diforder afterwards. Thofe days were near- ly as warm as many of the moft fatal ones, in the middle ftage of the complaint, the thermometer be- ing at 60, 59, 71, and 72. To account for this fatif- fa&orily is above our feeble powers. In fact, the whole of the diforder, from its firft appearance to its final clofe, has fet human wifdom and calculation at defiance.
The idea held up in the preceding paragraph, has been controverted by many ; and as the extinction of malignant diforders, generated in fummer or the early part of fall, has been univerfally afcribed to the fevere cold and heavy rains of the clofe of the fall, or the winter, it is afferted that ours muft have fliared the fame fate. It therefore becomes necef- ary to ftate the reafons for the contrary opinion.
The extinction of thefe diforders, according to the generally-received idea on thisfubject, arifesfrom cold.
c m d
ram, or both together. If from the former, hew (hall we account for a greater mortality in September, than in Auguft, whereas the degree of heat was con- (iderably abated ? How ihall we account for a greater mortality in the firit part of October than in Sep- tember, abhough the heat was ftill abating ? If rain be the evident caufe of arrefting the dilbrder, as is mppoied bry thole who attribute its decleniion to the on the evening of the 15th* of October, how
.1 we account for the inefricacy of a conftant rain during the whole terrible twelfth of October, when one hundred and eleven feu is were fummoned out of this world, and a hundred and four the day follow* big ? To make the matter more plain, I requeft the :ention to the following: {tatement : — ■ • Thcrmcrm
Scot.
JQX
|
at 3 r. m. |
Deaths. |
WiRd |
[. Weather. |
|
19 70 |
61 |
SW |
fair. |
|
2D 69 |
6y |
SK |
hazy. |
|
21 78 |
57 |
fair. |
|
|
22 83 |
76 |
fair. |
|
|
13 74 |
93 ' |
NW |
fair. |
|
fl 74 |
Erg |
W |
fair. |
|
1 2 64 |
11 1 |
NW |
rai |
|
69 |
IC| |
fair. |
|
|
Co |
54- |
W |
fair. |
|
24 59 |
38 |
NW |
fair. |
|
35 |
S |
fair, high Wind |
|
|
V2 |
-3 |
sw |
cloudy. |
Iiis table, by any" man unbiaf- by the received opinion, will, I think, convince •ire afcthe hypo' ' . I have ad-
— that t :afe or i of the vio-
lence of the dl. i on ether caufes than
i of heat, colt, fakiy or dry wtnther. Here rs the moil palpable proof. The average of the thermo- meter, the four iirft quoted days, was y$° —-the ave- ■age of the deaths 65.5. The :.v.md too r days, the" rmorjieter a- 70.25, although the frightful
, 10-6.75. And on the laft fou f
- ram on this evening was not by ury mean|jb s he i2ch.
( 66 )
days, the thermometer averaged 6$.$, whereas the* deaths were only 37.5. To facilitate the comparifon, I fubjoin an abftract of the preceding ftatement.
therm, deaths. Average of Sept. 19, 20, 21, and 22, 75 65
of Ocl:. 10, 1 1, 12, and 13, 7C>^5 l°6-75 of Oct. 23, 24, 25, and 26, 65.$ 37.5 Thus, thofe days on which the mortality was at its higheft ftage, were live degrees colder than thofe when the deaths had been only five eighths. And the difference of five degrees between the fecond and the third four days, will not be pretended to account for a decreafe of very nearly two thirds. To try the fyf- tem of heat, cold, and rain, ftill further, let us exa- mine the four laft days of Auguft. On thofe days the thermometer averaged 79.5 ; yet the deaths were only 20.75.
I here annex the weekly average of the thermometer and of the deaths, from the firft of Auguft to the 7th of November, for the reader's infpection*.
Average of Average of
|
thermometer. |
deaths |
|||||
|
Auguft 1 to 7, |
- |
84 |
- |
- |
9 |
|
|
8 to 14, - |
- |
35 |
- |
7 |
||
|
15 to 21, - |
- |
83 |
- |
- |
7 |
|
|
22 to 28, - |
- |
77 |
- |
- |
J5 |
|
|
92 to 31, - |
- |
85 |
- |
- |
17 |
|
|
Sept. |
1 to 7, - |
- |
81 |
- |
- |
l9 |
|
8 to 14, - |
- |
74 |
- |
- |
35 |
|
|
15 to 21, - |
- |
75 |
- |
- |
65 |
|
|
22 to 28, - |
- |
76 |
- |
- |
70 |
|
|
29 and 30, - |
- |
74 |
- |
- |
60 |
|
|
Oct. |
1. to 7, |
- |
71 |
- |
- |
72 |
|
8 to 14, - |
- |
71 |
- |
- |
1 00 |
|
|
15 to 21, - |
- |
53 |
- |
- |
67 |
|
|
22 to 28, - |
- |
58 |
r |
- |
39 |
|
|
29 to 31, - |
- |
46 |
- |
- |
18 |
|
|
Nov. |
i to 7, - |
- |
58 |
- |
- |
}5 |
From the above table it appears, that during the
* When the fractions c:ccee<l half, an unit is adtle<l ; when they .ue below half, they are rsjctrtcd. '
( 67 )
month of September, there was a rapid incrcafe regu- larly of deaths, except on the 29th and 30th, although the weather was growing cooler nearly the whole time. Let any advocate of the theory of cold and rain, compare the firft week in September with the fecond week in October. He will fee that the former was ten degrees warmer than the latter, yet the mor- tality of the one, was only a fifth part of the other. If he will, after this, fay that the difference of 13 de- grees between the fecond week in October and the 3d and 4th, will account for a reduction of the mor- tality from ico to 6y, and then to 39, I can only anfwcr, that an inveterate prejudice too often clouds the reafon, and renders it impoflible to fee the truth, however evident.
In oppolition to what I have advanced, it lias been obferved, that the unfavourable effects of very ful- try days were felt for feverai fucceeding ones. This is a weak refource, as will appear from examining the table. The heat of the firft and fecond weeks in Oc- tober was the fame : yet the mortality in the fecond was nearly one half more than in the firft. The heat of the fourth was equal to that of the third, although in the former the deaths were nearly double what they were in the latter.
I hope, therefore, the reader will acknowledge, that the Great Difpofer of winds and rains, took his own time, and without the means, either moral or phyii- cali, on which we placed our chief reliance, to refcue the remnant of us from deftruction.
CHAP. XV.— Origin of the difcrder.
4
'- g 1HIS diforder has moil unquefrionably been im- _!_ ported from the Weil: Indies. As yet, however, irfg to various obvious reafons, it is difficult to fix, h abfolute precilion, on the veflel or * it is very probable it came in feverai, from the dif- ferent infected i (lands) by which it was introduced. That it is an imported diforder, refts on the following , each of which, fingly, juftifies the theory, but
( 68 ;
all;, collectively, eftablifo it to the (atisf; cruiciid and reafonable ma».
i ft. The yellow feyfer °::'ftcd in fever r:! of the Weft India iilands a long t'ime before its appearai here*.
cd. Various y^ffels from thofe iilands here
in July.
3d. Scarcely any precautions were ufed to guard a gainft the difordcr.
4th. A refpectable citizen of Phi1 \, fuperr
cargo of one of our veffels, faw, in July, fix or feyen people fick of this fever on board a brig at Cape Francois bound for our portf.
5th. A veilel from Cape Francois, which arrived here in July, loft feveral of her people with this fever. on her paiTage.
* Extraii from a London paper, of, dvgufl 13, xy;;.
" Tiie plague, brought from Bulsm, which firft ma "'• appearance at Grenada, has (bread molt r y. Eighty
, permits died in one day at Grenada of this epidemic.
" hnrricane months juft coming on, arc not "likely to make it l< lefs violent in its trFecls.'
" [It appears by a i"ubicr,ucnt paragraph in the " that-the difeafe was afceitained to ie the yel.l&w fever, j"
r.:<i rail from the Courier, a Lyndon pap <r, <f A
« Before the fleet left Antic"; fo preat was the rr pre' ■ " entertained there of the plague, that all vefltls fiom Gn " da, were obliged to perform Quarantine ; and all letters 1 '* the latter ifland, were fmoaked at the former. Thejnfet! f was reported td have readied Dominica."
Extrafl l front : \oa toapir, of A fugufi 25.
tl The plague, *.ve are diftrefled to hear, has made its appear- %* ance in feveral of our Weil India iilands. At Grenada, and '• Dominica, the fvmp.oms are (aid to .1* highly aiarnimgf."
Extras from a Kingp on paper, oj >2.
" The iflnnds of Barbadocs and Dpminiea c< afflicted with' a malignam fever ; about 50c •' have periflied in the former, and near 5:0 i') the iatter,"
•f- To any enquirer I am read y toi ame of the
Supercargo, and the name of the bi
( <59 )
. A perfon from Gape Francois, died of this fever at Marcus Hook} — and another at Chefter§- 7th. The vef&fe in which thofe perfons arrived, and ick were infeebed with the effluvia of the fick and d, came freely*to our wharves, and particularly* to that very one where the diforder made its firfi ap- nce. *
8th. Perfons fick of the yellow fever have been landed in our city from vcffels arrived from the Weft Indies".
„ Dead bodies have been feen depoiited fecretly on board fome of thofe veliels.
icth. There is the ftrongeil reafon to believe, thai beds arid bedding of the fick and dead were not deftroyed, but, on the contrary, brought into our city, nth. This diforder had every characTeriftic fymp- tom that marked it 011 former cccaiions, when its im- portation was unqueftioned.
Laftly, Of all the reafons advanced to rapport the o- pinion of its having been generated here, theo- that has even the appearance of piauflbility, viz. I influence of a tropical feafon, fuch as we had laft mm* mer, is unanfwerably refuted by the concurring tefti* mony of Lind, Lining, Warren, and Bruce, who, in the mofl uk equivocal manner, have declared that it does, not depend on the weather.
Ci It docs not appear, from the moft accurate ob- ' fervations of the variations of the weather, cr any " difference of the feafons, which I have been able to F make for feveral years paft, that this fever is any '• way caufed, or much influenced by them ; for 1 f have feen it at all /i:nes, and in a(( feafons ; in the
1 I do hereby declare, that I was at Marcus He ok late in July, when a woman, who had been landed there fvorr. one of the vef- fels latejy from Cape Francois, died ; that I was informed I French perlbiij a neighbour, that {he died of the yellow fever ; that this, perfon burned 4 quantity of rar at th.e door, for the porpofe, as he informed nie; of purifying the air.
" JO H N M AS S v< Y. • information o.f the death of this rei fan is derived from ?. fetter wrirten by dr. William Martin to dr. Currie.
and QtherF ean tcfdfy to the truth of this.
( 7° )
u cooltjl, as well as in the hotteft time of the " year."*
" This fever does not feem to take its origin from " any particular con/lit ut ion of the weather, indepen- " dent of infectious miafmata, as dr. Warren has for- " merly well obferved ; for within thefe twenty-five " years, it has been only four times epidemical in " this town, namely in the autumns of the years " 1732, 39, 45, and 48, though none of thofe years, " (excepting that of 1739, whofe fummer and au- " turan were remarkably rainy) were either warm- " er or more rainy, (and fome of them lefs fo) than " the fummers and autumns were in feveral other " years, in which we had not one inftance of any " one feized with this fever : which is contrary to " what would have happened, if particular conjlitutions '• of the weather, were prod uclive of it, without infecti- " ous miafmata j."
In ornni anni tempejlate, fefe effert hie morbus ;
fymptomata autem graviora obfervantur, ubi calor " magnus cum multahumiditateconjungiturj."
CHAP. XVI. Defultory fads and reflexions. A collect tion of f craps §.
"* HE want of a lazaretto, whither perfons laboui -.- ing under contagious diforders, might be fent, and of a proper law on the fubjeel, empowering the civil authority to interpofe with the neceffary energy,
* Hillary on difeafes of Barbadoes, p^ge T46.
-J- Lining, Efiiiys and obfervations, polirical and literary, vol. 11. paj;e 406.
nre, q'tored by Lind on hot climates, 257.
§ Tliis and the fucceeding chapter calls for feme apology. Many or the anecdotes herein related, arc of little importance, except from their having a tendency to reflect light on Hie of the public mind during ;i time in which men were noli com- pletely taken by furprife. Confidenng the fuhjedl in this point of view, hardly -any occurrence, of fo eventful a period, on to be fnffered to fink in oblivion. Sorne, of a ludicrous 1 introduced as areltef to the {ombre 'complexion of a na in which the predominant characters are death and del' and a cold regard i'ov lelf alone.
C Z?.. >
at the firft inroad of fuch a dreadful deftroyer, has been the caufe of our late fufferings ; for, humanly fpeaking, had decifive meafures been adopted any time before the firft of September, while the diforder exifted only in cne ftreet, and in a few houfes in that ftreet, there can be little doubt, that it might have been very foon extinguiihed. But the former fuf- ferings of this place in 1762, were foon forgotten — and no fteps taken to provide for the removal of fuch an evil in future, after it fhould invade the city. It is to be hoped our legiflature, as well as that of every Hate in the union, will fee the propriety of giv- ing this important fubject the confideration it fo am- ply deferves, and of making provifion againft like calamities in future. In Italy, at Spalato, where the plague rag^d fifteen or twenty years ago, if the infect- ed did not reveal their fituation to the proper au- thority, they were fubjected to capital punifhment ; and the fame penalty was denounced againft fuch as did not inform of infected perfons, when they knew of them. This is too fevere for the paternal mild- nefs of our criminal code ; but fome penalties ought to be denounced in fuch cafes. Indeed, were lazaret- tos on a proper eftablifhment, it would be an object of defire with the lick, to be tranfported to them.
— <S><S>'3> —
It is hardly conceivable that the funeral of entire ftrangers could afford fubject of fatisfaction. Yet they have produced that effect. After being fo long accufto- med to behold the bodies of the dead, drawn to the grave on the fiiafts of a chair, the fight of a corpfe carried by men to be interred, afforded fomething like the. appearance of former times ; and I believe the fatisfaction excited by that confideration abforbed every thought of the deceafed.
The appearance of moft of the grave yards in Phila- delphia is extremely awful. They exhibit aftronglike- iiefs of ploughed fields ; and were any thing capab-s
£ % )
of fiamping .its indelible impr'effion
uncertai^HHbe term; we hold our
precarious exigence, a turn though one cf our bui grounds coUid#lr/. | fail to produce that effect.
ic is to beTer.re.il, that with the ■ wifl vanriii
all recollection 6f .re have pafl
through.
It has been dx ;: a peffb'nis twice ifefceptifc
of the yellow fever. The of»ni it has a good
tendency, to invpire confidence in convalefcents, x in thole who have quite recovered, might perhaps as. be fullered to pais uncontr everted, were not truth the object. Several perfor.s in this city been twice fiek is diforder. I know it is ufiraf
to call this a relapfe. But relapfe or net, thofe peo- ple whom I mean, have been ill — have recove: tirely — and been a fecond time taken do- or them are now no more, wituefs mr. Flemin . William Young was worfe the feeoiid time than the firft.
,f U) LUC
One obi n, of great
6f humanity, efcaped me in the former editions ought to be very particularly attended to in fuch dreadful cri . ; we have experienced. Of very large number c
order, it is not improbable that a half or have perifhed merely for want of ne* attention, owing'to the ex .ary panic. .
all the remarkabJ of recovery are to Lx
under providence, to tht
children, and fervants, who" br fe dangx
;rtninedtO obey the dictates of
ons inftaftdes ofpei to may be fa
e been by theie me; I from t
; having been 10 far ref ns made. — And for the er who r time, or in
laiives in tl
( 73 )
remarked, that few of thofe who difcharged their duty to their families, have fufFered" by it^fhere are infgfttties of individuals, who have nuried and attend- ed Si fix, eight and ten perfons unremittingly, in their own houfes, without ever taking the infection. Others, before their own ilinefs, and after their reco- covery, nurfed and reflored their families. "Willi- am Young had nolefs than ten in his houfe fick, and nearly all at one time. Ke attended on them till he was taken ill ; and, during his ficknefs, gave direc- tions for the management of them, as effectually as if he was well. After his recovery, he a^ain attended them himfelf. Of his whole family, his wife only died ; and it is fuppofed her death was accelerated by her being in an advanced ftage of pregnancy. There are cafes of iingle perfons having the diiorder in large families of eight, ten, and twelve, and none catching it from them. In the family of David Clarke, who died of the malignant fever, there were no lefs than twenty-two perions, not one of Whom caught the in- fection, altho* he had the fame attention paid him by all his family, as if he had been in any other diforder. Not one of the carters employed by the committee in the very dangerous office. of removing the lick and burying the dead, ever had it*. The nurfes at Bum- hill have all efcaped, except two ; as have the worthy manager:*. Thomas Boyles, the tenant, who occupied the building at Bulhhill, at the time it was taken as an hofpital, that is, the 31ft of Auguft, lived there until.
* Let not the humble fphere of life in which he moves^pre- vent me from here mentioning a worthy and faithful man, Tho- mas WilkHiPon, employer! by the committee, in burying the dead, and removing the ficlv, from their organization till the ex- tinction of the diforder. Such was the noxious iitwation of ma- ny dead bodies, that he frequently returned vomiting from the performance of his duty. In one indance, in railing the eorpfe of a woman feve-al days dead, he was covered with putrefcenc blood. Yet he 1H11 perfevered in the moft unwearied manner, through dangers, that render his prefervation equally aftoniih- ing with that of Girard, Helm, Helmuth, mrs. SaviUe, and others. It is to be hoped the corporation will find feme comfor- table fituation for him, in which to pals the remainder of his clays.
K
( 7+ )
the 29th of October, with his wife and fix children, none of whom were ever affected with the malignant fever. Let thefe initances fuftice at all future times to prevent fear from totally overpowering the under- standing, and producing fcenes of cruelty that make "a feeling being blufti for his fpecies.
Among the country people, large quantities of wild pigeons in the fpring are regarded as certain indica- tions of an unhealthy fummer. Whether or not this prognoitic has ever been verified before, I cannot tell. But it is very certain, that during the laft fpring, the numbers of thofe birds brought to market, were immenie. Never, perhaps, were there fo many before.
Several claffes of people were highly benefited by the public diftrefs. Coffin-makers had full employ- ment, and in general high prices for their work. IVIoft of the retail ftores being Ihut up, thofe that re- mained open, had an uncommon demand ; as the whole of the bufinefs was divided among a few. Thofe who had carriages to hire, to tranfport families to the country, received whatever they pleafed to re- quire. The holders of houfes at from three, to twenty miles from the city, who chofe to rent the whole or part of them, had high rents. The two notaries, who protefted for the banks, profited highly by the abfence of the merchants and traders.
— <s>s><s>—
I have learned with great pleafure, that a few land- lords, commiferating the diftrefles of their tenants, have come to the very humane refolution of remit- ting the payment of rents due during the prevalence of the diforder. Were they to enter into refdlutions generally to do the fame, it would reflect honour on them. But there are fome, whole hardened hearts "know no compaflion, and who will have " the pound " of flelh — the penalty of the bond." Indeed, when lie diforder was at the higheft ftage, foine landlords
( 75 )
feized the fmall property of poor roomkeepers, wh# were totally unable to pay their rent. A man wrote to the committee, informing them that the poverty of his tenants rendered it impoflible for them to pay him y he therefore begged the committee would, as they were appointed to relieve the poor, pay the ar- rears due him ! Another perfon, a wealthy widow,, procured recommendations for fome poor roomkeep- ers, her tenants ; and the committee gave them each a fmall fum. As foon as they had received it, me feiz- ed the money and their clothes !
A man loft his wife with the diforder. He had it himfelf, loft his fight totally, and was left pennylefs, with two infant children. Yet his landlord, before his convalefcence was complete, feized his clothes and furniture, and turned him out of doors ! ! !
" You may as well ufe q-teftion with the wolf, " Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb, ** As feek to (often that (than which what's harder ?) " His flinty heart." Shakespeare.
I hope the reader takes more pleafure in perufing- cafes reflecting honour on human nature, than thofe of a different defcription. An amiable woman in New York, feeling for the fituation of the numerous or- phans in this city, wrote to a member of the commit- tee, to choofe her one of them, as nearly refembling a child me had loft, as poffible. She particularly de~ fired one without connexions, if fuch could be pro- cured. She propofes to adopt it, and, with her huf- band, to beftow on it all the tendernefs one of her own would have had. Would it not be unjuft to withhold her name ? Every reader anfwers, yes — and I will therefore reveal it— Sufan Willet. Several appli- cations of a fimilar nature have been made by fome of our own citizens.
-< >" <s> ^& <&$> ••<►»
In the fummer of 1791, the yellow fever prevailed in New York, in a part of Water-ftreet, and in pro- portion to the fphere of its a&ion, was as fatal there 3&
C 75 )
it has been here. It began in Auguft, and continued till the middle of September, when it totally difappear- ed, and has never fince vifited that place. This mould eafe the fears of many among us, who, always view- ing the black fide of every thing, terrify people with their prognoftications, that we fhallhave it again next fpring or fummer. All the fymptorns were full as dan- gerous and alarming in New York, as in Philadelphia. Many perfons died in three days ; " ftupor, delirium, " yellownefs, the black vomit, and death, rapidly fuc- " ceeding each other. "J It fprcad no farther at that time, than the one ftreet, although no precautions, -as far as I can learn, were taken to prevent its extenlion. The fame fpecies of diforder raged in this city in 1762, with great violence. It difappeared in the month of November, and has not from that time until this year vifited Philadelphia.
The fummer and fall of this year have been un- healthy in many parts of the union, as well as in Phi- ladelphia. At Lynn, in Maflachufetts, I have been informed, but have no means of afcertaining the truth or falfehood of the report, that a malignant fever, not unlike ours, prevailed in Auguft. In many of the towns of Virginia, intermittent fevers have been much more prevalent and mortal than they have been at former periods. Georgetown and its vicinity, which are in general very healthy, loft, in the courfe of a few weeks in fummer, an unexampled number of people by the flux, which diforder has raged with great violence in many parts of America. The influ- enza has generally fpread through the union, and been very fatal. It has been twice in Vermont, where likewife the putrid fore throat has carried off numbers. At Harrilburg and Middletown, in this flate, the flux and a putrid fever have been extremely deftructive, and fwept away, I am credibly informed, a fifteenth
X Letter from aphyfician in New York, to his friend in New Jeriey. Federal Gazette, Sept. 21, 1793.
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part of the inhabitants. Delaware ftate, particularly Kent county, has fuffered much from fall fevers, which have produced a very great mortality. At Do- ver, in the fame ftate, a bilious colic raged with great violence, during laft fummer, and was extremely fatal. At Pauling's Kill, in Suflex county, New Jerfey, a bilious and remittent fever has made very great ha- voc. And various other places have experienced a mortality, very uncommon, and which, but for the ca- lamity of Philadelphia abforbing public attention every where, and being the ftandard of comparifon, would have created great alarms and uneafmefs.
Of the number of citizens who fled away, it is diffi- cult to form any accurate eftimate. In the city, from Vine to South ftreet, which has been furveyed by a man employed by the committee, of 21,000 inhabi- tants, the number of abfent people is ftated to be 8600. But as this bufmefs was feveral weeks performing, considerable variations mull necefTarily have taken place. The emigration was not fmifhed in thofe ftreets examined in the early part of his progrefs, — -and to- wards the latter part, the returns had been already confiderable. One may be fuppofed to balance the other, and the removals in the liberties to have been equal to thofe in the city. We fhall therefore probably not err much, when we eftimate the number who left the city at about 17,000. This is not fo many as I formerly fuppofed, having eftimated them at 23,000. Which of the two is accurate, or whether either of them is fo, I leave the reader to determine.
— <s>«><s> —
The effect, of fear inpredifpolingthe body for the yel- low fever and other diforders, and increafing their malignance, when taken, is well known. The fol- lowing exception to the general rule, which may be depended on, is curious and interefting. A young wo- man, whofe fears were fo very prevalent, as not only to render her unhappy from the commencement of the diforder, but even. to interfere with the happinefs
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«f the family with whom {he lived, had to attend on &ven perfons, all of whom were in a very dangerous ftate, and one of whom died. Her attendance was afli- duous and unremitted for nearly three weeks. Yet {he has never been in the flighteit: degree affected.
The watches and clocks in this city, during the dis- order, were ahnoft always wrong. Hardly any of the watchmakers remained — and few people paid atten- tion how time palled. One night, the watchmen cried ten o'clock when it was only nine, and continued the miftake all the fucceeding hours.
The Hope, a veflel from Londonderry, arrived in our river towards the end of Auguft. The paflengers had a malignant diforder among them, in confequence of which j orders were iftued to have them landed at State Illand, that they might undergo examination. Nevertheless, feveral of them came to the city, and added to the dangers already cxifting. The mayor, on the 3d of September, iffued a proclamation, calling upon the citizens not only to ufe their endeavours to detect fuch as had arrived, and to prevent others from coming, without procuring the proper certifi- cates ;, but to make report to one of the magiftrates, of the names of thofe by whom they were harbour- ed, that they might be proiecuted according to law. On this fubject. an obvious reflexion arifes, which I will not fupprefs. Our citizens have generally been in the habit of ieverely cenfuring the inhabitants of* thofe places in which very ftricl: precautions were ta- ken, to prevent the fpreading of the diforder that prevailed here ; and yet we fee that our own conduct, in a cafe nearly fnnilar, has not been very different. I would not wifh to be underflood as if I meant to juftify the whole of the proceedings that took place every where ; far from it ; fome of them have been to the laft degree fevere, and unnecefTarily fo ; for all the cautions recmifite, were compatible with a fmali
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degree of attention to the comfort and convenience of fellow citizens, in good health, travelling for buii- nefs, for pleaiure, or the prefervation of health, and even of life. — Whereas in many places it would ap- pear as if the harfheft mode of carrying harfh mea- sures into effect, was purpofely adopted. My intenti- on is merely to mow, that fuch as indifcriminately vilify thofe who have reforted to precautions dictated by prudence, do not weigh the matter in the fcales of impartial juftice.
Governor Moultrie's proclamation, announcing the exigence of the malignant fever in the Grenadas, &c. and ordering a quarantine, is dated the 7th of June.
Some of the poftmafters, in the different ftates, ufed the precaution to dip Philadelphia letters into vinegar with a pair of tongs, before they handled them. Seve- ral of the fubfcribers for Philadelphia papers, made their fervants fprinkle them with vinegar, and dry them at the lire, before they would venture to touch them.
Jofepri Inlkeep attended feveral fick perfons in a family near him. When he was ill himtelf, he wanted afliftance*, and fent for fome of them to attend him — r but they ungratefullv refufed ! O Shame ! where is thy bluih ?
Many of our citizens who fled from the city, neglected or forgot to leave their fervants money enough for their fupport ; fo that fome of thefe poor creatures had to depend for iuftenance on the chari- ty of their neighbours.
Some of our unemployed tradefmen wifhed to pro- : at the new roads now makh
* His wife was ill at the feme time.
cure work at the new roads now making. But the
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people who were employed, agreed, that if they were engaged, that they would all abandon their work ; fo that the overfeers were obliged to renounce the idea.
The incautious fecurity of the citizens of Phila* delphia, at the firft ltage of the diforder, is highly to be regretted. Moft of thofe who died of the malig- nant diibrder, before the 26th of Au^uft, were carri- ed to burial with the accuftomed parade of atten- dants which fo generally prevail in this city. The chief of the perfons who at that' time carried the dead to the grave, and feveral of thofe who attended the funerals, were fpeedily taken fick, and hurried into eternity.
Sebaftian Ale, an old grave-digger, who had long loft the fenfe of fmelling, fancied he could not take the diforder, and followed his bufinels without ap- prehenfion. A hufband and his wife who lay -fick to- gether, wifhed to be interred in the fame grave. Their deaths happened within a few days of each other. When the latter of the two was to be buried, xSebaf- tian was employed to dig open the other's grave. He ft ruck upon and broke the coffin, and in ftooping down, received into his mouth fuch an intolerable and deadly flench, that he was taken lick immediately, and in a day or two died.
The fcourge of the yellow fever has fallen with ex- treme feverity on fome families. There are various inftances of five and fix, and fome of eight, ten, and of Godfrey Gebler's family no lefs than eleven were fwept off the face of the earth. Dr. Sproat, his wife, fon, and daughter — Michael Hay, his wife, and three children — David Fiickwir and five of his family — Sa- muel Weatherby, wife, and four grown children, are no more. And there are numbeilefs inftances of a havee equally great in particular families. There is one houfe in this city, from which above twenty per-
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•ons \vere carried, fome to Bufhhill, but the moft of them to the grave.
■■< ■■< <S£ <s <s> ••<••<
There is one fact refpccting this diforder, which renders it probable, that the exercife of the duties of humanity towards the fugitive Philadelphians, would not have been attended with the danger uni- verfally imagined. In defiance of all the refolutions entered into by the inhabitants of various towns, ma- ny of our infected citizens evaded their vigilance, and took refuge among then! ; and in very few cafes is it known that they communicated the infection. — Three perfons died of this diforder, in one houfe near Wood- bury, in Ntw Jerfey ; they had been attended during their illnefs, by the family, none of whom caught the difeafe. Six cr feven died at Darby, as many at Ger- mantown, and eight at Haddonfield, without com- municating it to any of the inhabitants. A man from Philadelphia, of the name of Cornell, died in New York, about two days after his arrival. The place of his death was a boarding houfe, in which were feveral boarders, one of whom flept in the fame bed with him. Two of the family only were flightly affected — -but not in fuch a degree as to require medical aid. Seve- ral other infected perfons from our city, died there, and no one caught the infection from them. A man died at one of the principal taverns in Baltimore, of the fame diforder. Many people had vifited and atten- ded him during the whole of his illnefs, without in- jury. No perfotti was affected but his doctor, whofe in- difpofitidn was not oflongcominuar.ee. Agrfeat num- ber of limilar instances have occurred at Burlington, BordentOn, Lamberton, Princeton, Brunfwic, Wood- bridge, Newark, Lancafter, and various other places. Since the firft edition appeared, I have had infor- mation from a number of creditable perfons, that the i that the diforder has not been communicated out hia, is erroneous. A family, of the name :er, near Woodbury, took it from feme Of our nd three of them died. A womaii L
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in Chefter countv. who had boarded and lodged fbme of the lick, died of the malignant fever. Three peo- ple, of one family in Trenton, took it from a fick per- fonfrom Philadelphia, and died of it. A negro fervant belonging to mr. Morgan, of Penfaucon creek, in New Jerfey, took up an infected bed floating m the Delaware, which fpread the diforder in the family, and mrs. Morgan and her girl both died of it. It was introduced by his fon from Philadelphia, into the fa- mily of mr. Cadwailadcr, at Abington, fome of whom died with it. Some others in different places caught the infection, and died. But the cafes of this kind have been extremely few, confidering the numbers, who carried the diforder from hence, and died with it in the country.
C II A P. XVII. Another colkcl ion off craps.
I^HOSE who reflect on the many mocking cafes of cruelty and defertion of friends arid relations which occurred in Philadelphia, however they may re- gret, cannot be furprifed, that in the country, and in various towns and. cities, inhumanity mould be expe- rienced by Philadelphians, from ftrangers. The uni- verfal confternation* extinguished in people's breairs the moft honourable feelings of human nature ; and in this cafe, as in various others, the fufpicion operated as injuriouily as the reality. Many travellers from this city, exhausted with fatigue and with hunger, have been refufed fb.elter and fuftenance, and have fallen victims to the fears, not to the want of charity, of fe to whom they applied for relief*. Instances of this kind have occurred on almoft every road leading from Philadelphia. People under fufpicion of havi this diforder, have been forced by their fellow travel- lers to quit; the ftages, and peiifhed in the w i >ods with- out apoiiibility of procuring any affiftance. AtEafcon, in Maryland, a wai from Phila<
* The fir precautions :. country people.
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phia was actually burned ; and a woman, who came with it, was, it is faid, tarred and feathered i
In a town in Jerfey, anaffociation was entered into to prevent all intercourfe with Philadelphia, and the inhabitants agreed to mount guard, alternately. One man, who was principled againft this feverity, refufed to do duty, or join in the combination. He was adver- tifedj and all people forbidden to have any communi- cation with him — indeed he was abfolutely refufed the necefTaries of life— -a butcher, who paffed his door, told him, when applied to for provifions, that he had meat enough, but none for him. Having gone, for a fhort time, from home, in the direction towards Philadelphia, but not within thirty miles of the city, the centinel on duty flopped him on his return — and he perfifting in his determination to proceed, the other prefentea his firelock, and it is fuppofed would have fhot him, but for the interference of a third perfon.
The fon of a citizen of Philadelphia? arrived at a town in Virginia fourteen days before the time of fixing the quarantine, which was for twenty days. However, he was ftill obliged to undergo the full qua- rantine after that time, which made thirty-four days, exclufive of above fix days fpent on the road.
An emigrant from Philadelphia, who had been
away nearly three weeks, had to crofs a ferry in a
neighbouring ftate, and was provided with proper
certificates of the length of time he was abfent. He
... got into the fcow, with his wife, and carriage, and
was rowed over to the oppofite fide. There he was re- fufed permiffion to land, as he had not a pertificate from a particular magistrate in that part of the coun- try. He leaped out of the fcow, en a rock, and the centinel fwore he would blow his brains out, if he advanced a ftep farther. His wife, who was in the boat, was under the molt dreadful apprehenfion
ymen were drunk, the hories in the CarHag :
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fretful, and the wind high. In fpite of his intrea: and his offers to prove the length of his abfence, he was obliged to return in quell of the magiftrate poin- ted out. When he arrived at his houfe, which was feveral miles from the ferry, the juflice concealed him- felf, though fear of catching the diibrder. He then went to another, fome miles further back. By the time he returned to the ferry, it was nine o'clock, and he had to wait till next morning.
A poor man was taken lick on the road at a village not far from Philadelphia. He lay calling for water, a confiderable time in vain. At length, an old woman brought a pitcher full, and not daring to approach him, me laid it at a diftance, deliring him to crawl to it, which he did. After lying there about forty-eight hours, he died ; and the body lay in a ftate of putre- faction for fome time, until the neighbours hired two black butchers to bury him, for twenty-four dollars. They dug a pit to windward — with a fork, hooked a rope about his neck — dragged him into it — and, at as great a diftance as ppilible, call earth into the pit tc cover hiin.
One of our citizens loft hi* brother in the country with the malignant fever ; and, owing to the fears of the neighbours, could not prevail on any perfon even to make him a coffin. He was obliged to wrap hirn up in a blanket, to disc a grave for him, and biflrv him with his own hands.
..<(..@®@.<f..
In a fmall town not far diftant from Philadelphia, very arbitrary attempts were unfeelingly made to oblige one of our fugitives to mount guard againft his own fellow citizens. He refuted ; and finding him refolute againft every eflbrt, they were obliged to. fiefifl.
In one of the American ports, a Philadelphia vef- icl, juil arrived, was forced to return to fea wit!
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two gallons of water for each man. In the fame port, one of the captains from our city had his boat ftove to pieces.
The 17th of September, the weilern ihorc Baltimore ;j was ftopped about two miles from that town, by *an armed guard. The hour of arrival was about tight o'clock at night. There was a tavern at piftol- fhot from the place. But the tavern keeper refufed to receive the paflengers, twelve in number. They were detained on the road all night without any fhelter but the ftage, in which they dozed a part of the night ; during the remainder of it, they lay before a fire which they had kindled in the woods. Next morning, the tavern-keeper, one Murray, an inhuman Goth, when they fent to him for breakfaft, refufed to give them any. But about two hours afterwards, he flet them have fome bread, cheefe, wine, and cider, with which they breakfafted on the road. In this iitu- ation they remained until the afternoon, that is, for eighteen hours. A captain in the French navy, with his wife, and feveral French gentlemen, were among the Daflensrers.
A refpeclable citizen of Philadelphia left the city on the 17th of September, intending to refide on |.ong Ifland till the diforder ceafed. li^: was taken ill on the road — and prevented from proceeding, near Newark. Fie took lodgings at a captain LittePs near Second river. The alarm fpread of an infected man being in the houfe — the neighbours affembled — fixed a fence on each lide of Littel's houfe, and obliged the people to remove out of a houfe near to it, which the fence likewife enclofed. The road and river lay before j.iitei's door ; the former was entirely c\it off by the ience, which run clear to the river. At the diftance of a hundred yards, was a church, in which public worlhip was intermitted for three or four weeks, .through fear. Travellers took a circuitous route of ■•, to avoid dano-cr.
( 86
*
At length he died — and his fon, about nine years old, had to afiift in performing the laft melancholy rites for him. The fence remained for ten days after his death, to afcertain whether or not his family had taken the diforder.
Juftice requires me to add, that they were not fuf- fered to be in want of any neceffaries. They were di- rected to write what they had occafion for, on a paper and fatten it on the fence. Perfons were appointed to fupply them with whatever was requiiite.
«<►•• <& <s> <se>— <►•«
An artful girl, jufl from Philadelphia, completely deceived the centinel flationed near Bordentown. She afked him, with much earnejtnefs, as if afraid to ven- ture in, was that there confounded yellow fever got into the town ? — " No," fays he, " you may go in with as much fafety as to your own home." I need not add, that fhe went forward.
»4r~<G£> <^<SS> ••<>••
A Philadelphian, in a fmall town near this city, loft his child in the fever, and went to bury it. On his return, he found all his furniture on the road, and the doors locked : and no intreaties could again procure him admittance.
~« ■•* @: <^> 1&§>*-Y~
When tar was in ufe among the various preventa- tives, a boy was determined to fecure himfelf by night as well as by day ; and accordingly tied a tarred rope twice about his neck, and afterwards buttoned his
ir with fome difficulty. He woke in the night, half ftrangled, and black in the face. He may with
•:e be (aid to have nearly choaked himfelf, to fave. hi* life.
It would be extraordinary if' fo very favourable an opportunity of inventing marvellous ftories, mould e been fufTered to pafs over without fome prodi -■ gies being recorded. Mankind are ever prone to
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extravagant, efpecially when their paffions are warm- ed. And pity and terror, two paffions particularly calculated to fofter this difpofition, being roufed into action to the higheft degree, the marvellous {lories, which were every where current, and which even ftole into print, can be eafily accounted for. Some of the Maryland papers relate, that " a voice had been heard in -the ftreets of Philadelphia, warning the inhabitants to prepare for their doom, as written in the prophet Ezekiel, ch. 27." The Marylander who heard this voice, was certainly gifted with a moft extraordinary ear, as, at the diflance of above a hun- dred miles, he heard what we could not hear on the fpot. And it would appear that his fight was equally good with his hearing ; for he faw two angels con- verfing with the watch. It is true, he is too modefl to fay, he faw them himfelf — he only fays " two angels were feen converfing with the watch at midnight, about the fubject of what the voice had previously proclaimed." But no perfon here having ever feen them — it is fairly prefumable, as it would be highly criminal to doubt of facts refting on fuch authority, that he mull; have been the eye-witnefs himfelf.
A merchant of Philadelphia, who had been abfent for feveral weeks, was returning to the city in the fecond week of November, having heard that the danger was no more. He met a man on the road go- ing from Philadelphia ; and naturally enquired into the ftate of affairs. The other told him, that a coffin maker, who had been employed by the committee for relief of the fick, had found fuch a decreafe of de- mand two weeks before, that he had a large fupply of coffins on hand ; but that the mortality had again fo far increafed, that he had fold all, and had feven journeymen employed day and night. This fo alarmed the Philadelphian, that he again returned with his fa* ■~, to wait a more favourable iffue.
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A drunken failor lay in the ftreet, in the northern liberties, for a few hours alleep, and was fuppofed by the neighbours to be dead with the difcrder : but they were too much afraid, to make perfonal exami- nation. They fent to the committee at the city hall for a cart and a coflin. The carter took the man by the heels, and was going to nut him into the coffin. Handling him roughly, he awoke, and- damning his eyes, afked him what he was about ? the carter let him drop in a fright, and ran off as if a ghoft was at his heels.
A lunatic, who had the malignant fever, was ad- vifed, by his neighbours, to go to Bufhhiil. He con- fented, and got into the cart ; but foon changing his mind, he flipt out at the end, unknown to the car- ter, who, after a while, miffing him, and feeing him at a diftance running away, turned his horfe about, and trotted hard after him. The other doubled his pace; and the carter whipped his horfe to a gallop ; but the man turned a corner, and hid himfelf in a houfe, leav- ing the mortified carter to return, and deliver an. ac- count of his ludicrous adventure.
Several inftances have occurred of ihz carter- r ;. their arrival at Sufhhillj :\:io. proceeding to deliver up their charge, finding, to their amazement, the c. empty.
voman, whofe hu Pound died, rerufed to h:.v?
him buried in a coffin provided for her by one of her
fritnds, as too paltry and mean. She bought an e!e-
i colli y One — and had the other laid by in the"
[n a week, {he was herfelf a corpie — and v
buried in the scry coffin (he had fo much defpii
of a man who lived in Walnul i the malignant fever, and given o tiufband
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next night lay out of the houfe for fear of catching the infection. In the morning, takirag it for granted, from the very low flate flie had been in, that fhe was dead, he purchafed a coffin for her ; but on entering the houfe, was furprife-d to fee her much recovered. He fell fick (hortly after, died, and was buried in the very coffin, which he had fo precipitately bought for his wife, who is ftill living.
The powers of the god of love might be imagined to lie dormant amidft fuch fcenes of diftrefs as Buih- hill exhibited. But we find that his fway was felt there with equal force as any where elle. John John- fon, and Prifcilla Hicks, two of the patients, who had recovered, and officiated as nurfes to the fick, were fmittenwitheach other's charms — and^procuring leave of abfence for an hour or two, they came to the city on the 23d of September, were joined in the bands of matrimony, and returned to their avocation at the hofpital. A long chafm took place in the hymeneal re- cords ; for no adventure of the fame kind occurred, until the 5th of JsTovember, when Naffy, a Portu- guefe mulatto, took to wife Hannah Smith, a bouncing German girl, who, as well as himfelf, was employed as nurfe.
The ftate of the police and of fociety in Philadel- phia, appears to no iinall advantage, when we confider one circumftance. Notwithftandins; the abfence of the magiftrates, and the immenfe value of property left unprotected through the fears of the owners, and the deaths of the perfons left to take care of it, there was only one or two burglaries committed. — One was at- tempted : but the rogues were difcovered and taken. A hardened villain from a neighbouring ftate, formed a plot with fome negroes to plunder homes. He was a mafter rogue, had digefted a complete fyftem, and formed a large partnerfhip for the more fuccefsful ex- ecution of his fchemes. However, he was foon feized5 jukJ the company diiTolved.
M
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The jail of Philadelphia is under fuch excellent re- gulation, that the diforder made its appearance there -only in two or three inftanccs, although fuch abodes of mifery are the places where contagious diforders are mod commonly generated. When the yellow fever raged moft violently in the city, there were in the jail one hundred and fix French foldiers and tailors, confined by order of the French conful ; befides eighty convicts, vagrants, and perfons for trial ; ail of whom, except two or three, remained perfectly free from the complant. Several circumilances confpired to produce this falutary effect. The people confined were frequent- ly cleanfed and purified by the ufe of the cold bath — they were kept conftantly employed — vegetables formed a confiderable part of their diet — in the yard, vegetation flourifhed — and many of them being em- ployed in ftone-cutting, the water, conftantly running, kept the atmofphere in a moiit. ftate, while the peo- ple of Philadelphia were almoft uninterruptedly parched up by unceafing heat. Elijah Weed, the late jailor, caught the diforder in the city, and died in the jail, without communicating it to any of the people confined. I hope I mall be excufed for paying a tribute to the memory of this valuable citizen, under wli( e government of the jail, and with whole hearty co-operation, moil of the regulations in :hat inititu- tion have been effected, which, with the fuccefsful :riments made in England, prove that jails may be eafily converted from finks of human depravity and wretchednefs, into places of reformation ; fo that, inftead of rendering the idle vagrant, confined merely on fufpicion, or for want of friends to protect him, obdurate, wicked, and ripe for rapine and fpoil, — the profligate and abandoned may be fo reclaimed in them, as, on their liberation, to become ufeful members of fociety. For the honour of human nature, it ought to be recorded, that fome of the convicts in the jail, a part of the term of whofe confinement had been remitted, as a reward for their peaceable, or- derly behaviour, voluntarily offered themfelves as nurfes, to attend the fick at Bufh-hill, and have in
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that capacity conducted themfelves with great fidelity., Among them are fome who were formerly regarded, and with jufcce, as hardened, abandoned villains, which the old fyftem ufiially rendered every tenant of a jail, who remained there a few weeks. According; to the lame fummary fyitem, thefe men's lives would have been long fince offered up as an atonement to ibciety for. the injury they had done it. That is, in plain- Englifh, becaufe foci ety had mffered one injury by ra- pine, it was neceffary it mould fuffer another by law. But by the preient improved and humane plan, they and great numbers of others are reftored to fociety and ufefulnefs once more. So much better, although a little more troublefome, is it9 to reform men, thaa to butcher them under colour of law and juftice.
The fympathy for our calamities, difplayed in vari- ous places, and the very liberal contributions raifed for our relief, reflect: the higheft honour on their in- habitants, and demand our warmefr. gratitude. The inhabitants of Gloucefter county, in New Jerfey, have the honour of being firft in this laudable race. So early as the 30th of September, they had a confldera* ble turn collected, with which they purchafed a quan- tity Of provifions for the ufe of the hofpital at Bufh- hill. They have, from that time, regularly continued copious fupplies twice a week. In addition to this, they have made, and are now making, confiderable purchafes of wood, for the relief of the poor during the winter. From a few citizens of Philadelphia, near Gcrmantown, there have been received two thoufand dollars ; from others near Darby, fourteen hundred ; from New York, live thoufand ; from a perfon un~ known, five hundred ; from Bucks' county, iixteen hundred ; from Delaware county, twelve hundred ; from Franklin county, nearly five hundred ; from Bofton, fundry articles, which have been fold tor nearly two thoufand; and from fundry other perfon* and places, contributions equally liberal and honour* able,
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There has been a very ftrong analogy between the ft ate of Philadelphia, and that of an army. About the clofe of Auguft, and till the middle of Septem- ber, when the dangers were few, and, by prudent management, might have been eafily furmounted, an univerfal trepidation benumbed people's faculties ; and flight and felf-prefervation feemed to engrofs the whole attention of a large proportion of the citizens. Juft fo, with an army of recruits. Every breath of wind terrifies them. Vague rumours are heard with fear and trembling. In every tree at a diftance is be- beheld a formidable enemy, to whom they are ready to lay down their arms, and furrender at difcretion. But when the " din of arms, and cannon's rattle" have familiarized them with the horrid trade of death, the obftinate phalanx beholds, unmoved, its ranks mowed down, and death advancing, with rapid ftrides, to terminate their (asit is falfely termed )glorious career. —Even thus was it here. Towards the clofe of Sep- tember, and during the firft part of October, when the horrors of the fcene were conftantly increafing, and from fifty to a hundred were interred daily, then people call away their various preventatives — thieves' vinegar, tarred ropes, garlic, camphor bags, fmelling bottles, &c. — And then it was, that they afiumed a manly fortitude, tempered with the fober, ferious pen- fivenefs, befitting iuch an awful fcene.
A friend, to whom 1 communicated this idea, has endeavoured to explain the matter differently. He fays, that thofe who were terrified at firft, generally fled away-r— and left behind fuch as were poflefTcd of a ftronger frame of mind. This is an error ; as many men, who were among the moft itriking inftances of the influence of terror at firft, behaved, in the end, with the moft exemplary fortitude.
Shall I be pardoned for pafling a cenfure on thofe, whofe miitaken zeal led them, during the moft dread- ful ftages of the calamity, to croud fome of our chur- ches, and aid this frightful enemy in his work of dc- ftru&ion .? who, fearful, left their prayers and adora.
. ( 93 3
tion at home would not find acceptance before the Deity, reforted to churches filled with bodies of con- tagious air, where, with every breath, they inhaled noxious miafmata ? To this fmgle caufe I am bold in, afcribing a large proportion of the mortality — And. it is remarkable, that thofe congregations, whofe pla- ces of worihip were moil crouded, have fiiffered the moil dreadfully. Will men never acquire wifdom? Are we yet to learn, that the Almighty architect: of the heavens a-nd earth, does nor require " temples " made with men's hands?"' that going to a place of worihip, againft the great law of feli-prefervation, implanted in indelible characters by his divine hand, on the breaft of every one of his creatures, conftitutes no part of the adoration due to the maker and prefer- ver of mankind ? That a " meek and humble heart" is the temple wherein he delights to be worlhipped r I hope not — I hope the awful leflon fome of our congre- gations hold forth on this fubjeft, by a mortality out of all proportion to their numbers, will ferve as a me- mento, at all future times, in the like critical emer- gencies !*
— <&*a&<&> —
Some of thofe who remained in the city, have, for reafons not very eafy to juftify, been in the habit of reproaching thofe who fled, with criminality, as defer- ters, who abandoned their polls j . I believe, on the
* This paragraph, although erroneous, is retained, that I may have an opportunity, which I chearfully embrace, of acknow- ledging the miftake I have committed. On a revifion of the bills of mortality, it appears, that thofe congregations who kept vp religious worfhip regularly, did not lofe more than, and fome not fo many as, their ufual proportions. In one year, ending July 31, 1793, the German Lutherans buried more than a fixth of the whole number of the dead in the city — the German re- formed, a fifteenth — the Friends, a tenth — and St. Mary's, an eighth. From Auguftt, to Nov. o, 1793, the burials among the German Lutherans were not quite a fixth — among the German. Reformed, nearly a fixteenth — among the Friends, an eleventh— and in St. Mary's grave-yard, a fixteenth. Thefe were the con- gregations I alluded to, in the above remarks.
f If they were even guilty of a crime, it brought its own pn. nifliment ; as I am fully convinced, that thofe who were abfent, and a prey to the anxiety caufed by the frightful reports current^ offered as much as thofe who remained in the city,
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contrary, that as the nature of our government did not allow the arbitrary meajures to be puriued, which, in defpotic countries, wouid prouibiy have extin-. guiihed the diiordcr at an early period — it was the duty of every periQD to avoid the danger, whoie c:r- cuiiii;ances and ikuation allowed it. The effects ol the defer lion were, moreover, iaiutary*. Thefphere of action of the diforder was diminimed. Two or three empty houfes arrefted the difeafein its progreJs, as it was liowiy,. but iurely travelling through a ltrect, and prr fcuedi neighbourhood from its rava-
ges. We ihaii long have to mourn the, fevere lofs our city has felt, in being bereft of fo many valuable citi- zens: and had the iv.oco, who retired, been in the city during the prevalence of the diforder, and loft as large a proportion of their number, as thofe did who remained, we ihould, initead of40codead, have loft nearly 6000 ; and perhaps had to deplore in the number, another Clow, a Cay, a Lea, a Sims, a Dun- kin, a Strawbridge, men of extenfivc bulinefs, whofe lofs will be long felt — a Fcnnir.gton, a Gientworth, aKutchinfon, a Sargeant, a Howell, a Waring* n endowed by heaven with eminent abilities — a Fle- mirg, a Graefsl, a Sprcat, men of exalted piety and virtue — a Wilfon, an Adgate, a Baldwin, a Carroll, a Tomkins, an Offley, citizens of moil eilimable cha- racters. Let thofe then who have remained, regard their long-abfent friends, as if preferred from death by their flight, and rejoice at their return in health and fafety. Let thofe who have been abfent, acknow- ledge the exertions of thofe who maintained their ground. Let us all unite in the utmoil vigilance to prevent the return of this fell deftroyer, by the moft Scrupulous attention to cleanfing and purifying our fcourged city — and let us join in thanksgiving to that Supreme Being, who has, in his own time, ftay- ed the avenging ilorm, ready to devour us, after it had laughed to fcorn all human efforts.
* Pei haps had all ©nrcfrizSeifs' remained, famine -would have been added to our calamity ; whereas, the markets were abun- dantly fupplied during the whole time. The prices, too, were, in general not far beyond what they ufually are at the fame lea- fon of the year.
Committee for relieving the fick anfrtfiftreflfed, appointed by a mrtf* itig of the citizens of Philadeiphipj fuim/ioned by udvirt'tfeneni nt the public paper sf Sept. 1 3, 1793.
John Letchworrh. James bh:irf\voud. Samuel Benge.
S'Jl'tRINTENDANT OF THB BURIAL* OP THE DEAD, AND fcSMOVAi. «*
PRESIDENT.
Matthew Cl^iclon.
iJtORjTAKY.
Caleb Lounes.
TREASURER.
Thomas Wiftar.
Ma^AOIRS O? EUSHHILL HOSPITAL.
m Uirard. Peter Helm.
OkI'IIAN COM.MIi'flS.
Ifrael I
John Letchworth. }j..:.jb Kerr. James Sharftvpod.
Committee or distribution. Ifrael Ifrael. John Haworth. James Suaine. Mathew Casey. Thomas Savery. James Kerr. Jacob Witman.
rut Samuel Benge.
Dl8 l HJB;[ TOR Olf SUPPLIES.
Henry Deforeft.
Committee or accounts. James Sharfwood. John Conclly. Committee on the publication
Or LETTERS,
Caleb Lownes. Mathew Carey.
Deceased member*, Andrew Adgate. J. D. Sargcant. Daniel OiHey. Jofeph Iolkcep.
Northern Liberties William Peter Spi agues. William Gregory. Jacob \\rifinan. James Swaine. Jofeph Burns.
> ge Forepaugli. r Snyder. Peter Smith.
Vine to Race flrect, Rich.-ird Whitehead. Jofeph Kerr. John Ettries.
Race to Arch. Thomas Willis. Daniel Dawfort. Peter Thorn fon. Thomas Allibone. Lambert Wilmcr.
Arch to Maket. William Sanfom. J;:fi;iiian Fox. Amos Wickerfham.
Market to Cksfnut. Arthur Howell. Alexander Cochran. Thomas Dcbfou.
Aft ft ant committer, chofenGttobtr 14.
SAMUEL COATES, Chairman.
John Oldden, Secretary.
Chefnut to Walnut, Jeremiah Paul. James Cummins. Cafpet W. Morris. Thomas Cafhere.
Walnut to Spruce, George Rutter. Benjamin W. Morris.
Spruce to Pint". Samuel Pancoaft, jun. John Woodllde. Lev! Hollingnvorth. William Watkins.
Pine to South, John Wood. Adam Brittle. William Eckard. Thomas Dickfey. Fergus M'Elwaine.
Southwark, William Innis. Richard Me.iely. William Robinfon, fen. John Grantham. John Savadge. John PattlJba,
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APPENDIX. No. L
Art account of the -plague in London, in the year 1665.
ABOUT the clofc of the year 1664, the plague was brought over to London in ibme Levant goods, that came from Holland.
The narrownefs of theftreets and lanes in London, the clofenefs of the houfes, and their being croud- ed with families, rendered the inhabitants very liable to fuffer by infectious diibrders in fickly feafons ; and the plague was almoft continually among the dif- eafes enumerated in the bills of mortality. The goods above mentioned, were carried to ahoufe in Long-acre, near Drury-Lane, where they were firft opened. Here two Frenchmen died ; the diforder communicated to other houfes in the neighbourhood, and infected the pa- rifh. officers who were employed about the dead. Ano- ther Frenchman, whp4ived near the infecled houfes, removed, for fear of the diflcmper, into Eearbinder^ lane, where he died : and thus the plague got into the city.
The further progrefs of this cruel diforder was flopped during a hard froft which fet in this winter, and continued till March, 1665, — when its virulence was revived, by the advance of the fpring. At firft it feized one here, then another a mile or more dif- tant, after which it appeared again where it was ob- ferved before, jufl as accident furniflied it with con- veyance, and according to the time when perfons contracted the diftemper.
The uiual fymptoms of infection, for it is not propofed to enter into a ftrict medical confuleraticn of the plague, are thus enumerated by dr. Hodge*, who lived then in London, and attended patients in all ftages of the diforder. Firft, a horror, vomiting, delirium, dizzinefs, head-ach, and ftupefaction ; then a fever, watching, palpitation of the heart, bleeding at the nofe, and a great heat about the pnecordia : but the figns more peculiar to the peftilence, were, ihofe puflules, which the common people called blain*,
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buboes, carbuncles, fpots, and thofe marks called to- kens. The buboes were hard, painful tumours, with inflammation and gatherings upon the glands, behind the ears, the armpits, and the groin. Thefe tumours, at their firft appearance, were hard, and the event of the diforder was prognofticated from their fudden Or flow increafe> from their genuine or untoward fup- puration, and from the virulence of their contents. The peftilential fpots appeared chiefly on the neck, breaft, and back, and were not eaiily diftinguifhable from flea-bites. The genuine peftilential characters, commonly called tokens, as being the forewarning:* of death, were minute diftinct blafts, which had their orl^pi from within, and rofe up in little pyramidal protuberances, fometimes as fmall as pin-heads, other times as large as a filver penny, having the peftilential poifon chiefly collected at their bafes, gradually taint- ing the neighbouring parts, and reaching the furface as the configuration of the veflels and pores favoured their fpreading. They were alfo derivable from exter- nal caufes, as from the injuries of air, when the pefti- lential miafmata were pent up and condenfed ; and by that means their virulence increafed, fo that life was immediately extinguiflied when they reached ^he noble Organs.
In the treatment of the fick, all the phyficians agreed in throwing out the peftilential malignity as foon as poflible by alexipharmics, and to thefe, as foon as the belly was loofened, recourfe was had as to a facred re- fuge : in extremity fome had recourfe to mineral pre- parations, as mineral bezoar,fulphur auratwn, aura vita, &c. in order to drive out the peftilence by mere force. For external applications, they ufed blifters and cataplafms ; the buboes were opened by incifionj and the efchar formed by the virulent ichor, difcharged by the carbuncles, was chiefly got off by actual caute- ry ; nor were the blifters, ulcers, or incifions, fuflfer- ed to heal until the malignity of the difeafe was fpent. But fuch was the delufory appearance of this peftilence, that many patients were loft, when they were thought in fafe recovery; whereas, others furvived, who were
N
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given over for loft, much to the difcredit of the medi- cal art.
The apprehenfions of the people were greatly in* creafed) by the crafty predictions of fortune-tellers, cunning-men, aftrologers, and quacks, who hung out their iigns in every ftreet, and found their account in heightening the general terror ; nor was their trade Hopped, until thefe men of fuperior knowledge in the decrees of providence, were themfelves fwept away in the common calamity* As foon as the ma- giftrates found that the contagion extended into f& veral parifhes, an order was ifmed for fhutting up in- fected houfes, to Hop the communication of the difor- der. Thefe houfes had red croffes painted on the doors, with this infeription, Lord, have mercy upon us! and watchmen were placed before them, who were daily relieved, to hand neceffaries and medicines into the confined families, and to reftrain them from coming abroad until forty days after recovery. But though thefe regulations were flriclly executed, the propriety of them was much controverted, and the hardfhip uni- verfally complained of; for if a frefh perfon was feized in the fame houfe, but a day before this quarantine expired, it was again renewed; which intolerable te- dious imprifonment of the healthy with the fick, fre- quently ended with the deaths of whole families. Nei- ther did this confinement of the fick prove effectual; for each houfe having but one guard, and many houfes having avenues behind, it was impoffible to iecure all palfages; fo that, fome would amufe the watchmen with difcourfe on one fide of the houfe, while the reft of the family made their efcape at the other; until, at length, the men were left to watch empty houfe?. Some watchmen were publicly whipped through the flreets, for taking bribes to let perfons out privately ; and where fuch opportunities did not offer, the watch- men were fometimes ill treated: one near Colem^n- ftreet was blown up by gunpowder; and while he lay difabled by the explofion, thofe who had firength, efcaped out of the houfe. Some perfons alfo would Jet themfelves down from the windows, armed with iwcrds
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and piftols, in the fight of the watchmen, and threaten them with inftant death, it" they called out or ftirred. Many of them were even killed in difputes with thofe they were charged with the care of guarding.
It is a fad, though true character of human nature, to remark, that there are always mifcreants ready to take advantage of public calamities ; and what greatly con- tributed to the lofs of perfons thus (hut up, was the villainous behaviour of fome nurfes. Thefe wretches from an inhuman greedinefs to plunder the dead, would not only flrangle their patients, and charge their deaths to the difremper in their throats ; but would fecretly convey the peftilential taint from the fores of the fiek to thofe who were well. Yet though they were without witneffes in thefe diabolical practices, they often fell themfelves the jure victims of their own unguarded "prefumption.
Dogs and cats, being domeflic animals, apt to run from houfe to houfe, and being fuppofed to convey the noxious effluvia in their fur or hair ; an early order was made by the lord-mayor and other magifrrates, by the ad- vice of the phyficians, that they mould all be immediately killed; and an officer was appointed for that purpofe. It was computed that 40,000 dogs, and five times as many cats, were maffacred in confequencc of this pre- fcription ; and all poflible endeavours were ufed to ex- terminate rats and mice by poifon, on the fame account.
It was inconceivable, as the plague increafed, with what precipitation fuch inhabitants of the city as were able to leave it, deferted into the country; for fome weeks it was difficult to get to the .lord-mayor's door, for the throngs that crouded in to get paffes and certi- ficates of health ; without which none were permitted to travel through, or lodge in, any towns on the road. The nobility, gentry, and richer tradefmen retired firit, and in the broad ftreets leading out of town, nothing was to be feen but waggons and carts loaded with eoods, and fervants ; coaches full of families-^-and horfemen , all hurrying away; with empty carriages returning for frefh loads.
Some families that had no country retreats, laid up a ftore of pravifionsj and ffmt themfelves up fo cars--
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fully, as not to be heard of nor feen, until the plague ceafed ; when they came abroad fafe and well 5 — among thefe were feveral Dutch merchants, who kept their houfes like garrifons befieged, fuffering no one to go out ojreome in, and thus preferred themielves in health. ~Many merchants and ihip owners fhut themielves up on board mips, and as the plague increafed, removed down the river, nor was it heard that the diforder reached any veflels below Deptford. Poorer perfons took refuge in hoys, fmacks, and fifhing boats ; but thefe took the infection ; others went up the river in boats, lodging by night in tents made of their fails, on more; for though the country people would fupply them with provifions, they would not receive them into their houfes. The poor who ran abroad in their extremities into the country, were often ill uled and driven back, which caufed great exclamation againft the cruelty of the country towns; but felf-prefervation extinguifhed humanity ; and yet notwithstanding all their care, there was not a town within twenty miles but fuffered more or lefs by the diforder.
Thus the diftemper was felt chiefly to prey on the common people ; which it did to fuch a degree as to obtain the name of the peers plague. The lord-mayor, Iherifrs, aldermen, or their deputies, with many of the common council, very humanely to compofe the minds of the people as much as poffible, publilhed their refo- lution not to quit the city, but to be always ready at hand to preferve order, and to do jultice on all occafions. The lord-mayor held councils every day, making ne- cerfiry difpofitions for preferving the pubiic peace ; the people were treated with all the gentlenefs circum- stances would allow, while prefumptuous rogues, houfebreakers, and plunderers of the lick or dead, were duly punifhed, and fevere declarations iifued againft them.
It was one of their principal concerns to fee the re- gulations for the freedom and good fupply of the mar- kets, obferved — and every market-day the lord-mayor, Sir John Lawrence, or the Sheriffs, attended vigilantly on horfeback, to fee their orders executed. The necef- fity of going to market was greatly contributory to the
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ruin of the city, as there the people caught the infec- tion one of another, and it was fufpecied that even the provihons were tainted ; all imaginable precautions were however ufed in thefe negociations — for customers took the meat from off the hooks themfelves, that they might not receive it from the butcher — and for his fecurity dropped their money into pans of vinegar, always carrying fmall money with them, that they might receive no change. Every one that could procure them, carried fcents an .1 perfumes about, them, while the pooveft inhabitants were forced on all occafions to run all hazards.
The infection, noufithftanding every caution, conti- nued through the months of May and June, with' more or lefs feverity — fometimes raging in one part, and then in another-^-about the latter end of June, above twenty parifhes were infected, and the King re- moved from Whitehall to Hampton court. Government was not however inattentive to the diftrefifes of the me- tropolis— for bef.de appointing a monthly fa ft for pub- lic prayer, the king commanded the college of phyfi- cians to compofe and publim an Englifh directory of general advice in this calamitous feafon. Some of the college were appointed to attend the fick on all occa- fions ; and two out of the court of aldermen were re- quired to fee this hazardous duty performed : nor were there eminent phyficians wanting who voluntarily and courageoufly gave their affiftance in fo dangerous an employment ; eight or nine of whom were deftroyed in the duty.
In the nrft week of July, the bill rofe to 725, the next week to 1089, the third week to 1843, and the next week to 2010. About the middle of the month, the diforder, which had chiefly raged in St. Giles's Holburn, and toward Weftminfter, began to travel eaftward, and over the river to Lambeth and South- wark ; but kept principally in the out parifhes which were fulleft of poor. When it abated in the weitern parifhes, it exerted its violence in Clerkenwell, Crip- plegate, Shoreditch, Bifhopfgate, Alderfgate, White- chapel and Stepney. In the months of Auguft and Sep- tember the diforder made mcft terrible daughter,
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three, four, or five thoufand died in a week, the deaths one week amounted to 8,000 and were believed to ex- tend to 10,000 ! for the regifters in fuch confufion were not kept with great accuracy.
Under thefe mocking circumftances, when the peo- ple were in the greateft want of fpiritual confolation, they were in general forfaken by their parochial mi- nifters; and lad as the minds of the people were, there were not wanting fome who fatirized them in lampoons, for this fcandalous defertion of their dii- trefled flocks. When on fome church doors were written, Here is a pulpit to let, and on others, A pulpit to be fold, then it was that the ejected non-conforming minifters, fhowed that difinterefted concern for the people, ' that conftitutes the true effence of the clerical character; for, unmindful of their legal difability, and regardlefs of the furrounding danger, they refolutely mounted the vacant pulpits, often twice a day, and foothed the griefs of crouded audiences by their pious difcourfes and other religious exercifes.
When deaths became fo numerous, the church yards were unable to contain the bodies, and the ufual modes of interment were no longer obferved: occafional pits of great extent' were dug in feveral parts, to which the dead were brought by cart-loads, collected by the ring of a bell, and the doleful cry of Bring out your dead! They were put into the carts with no other covering than rugs or iheets tied round them by their friends, if they had any furviving; and were (hot down in pro mifcuous heaps! Sometimes the drivers of thofe caffs. would drop in their employments, and the carts would be found without any conductor; in the parifli of Step-^ ney, it was faid they loft within the year, 1 16 fextons, grave-diggers and their affirmants !
Trade was at a ftand, fhops were fhut up, every day- looked like a folemn Sabbath ; few were to be feen in the ftreets, and neither cart nor coach appeared but fuch as were employed for immediate acls of neceffity : grafs grew in the moft public ftreets, and in the Royal-Ex- change,— and the broad ftreet in Whitechapel might be miftaken for a green field. Thofe families who carried pn retail trades, or fubfifted by labour, were, now fap^
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ported by charity, which is recorded to have been wor- thily extended by thofe who had ability to beftovv it* The king contributed ioool. a week, and dr. Sheldon, archbifhop of Canterbury, who remained at Lambeth the whole time, befide his own benefactions, procured great fums to be remitted from the diocefes under his jurifdidtion, by his affecting letters to the bifhops — ■ Monk, afterwards duke of Albemarle, with lord Craven, remained in London, and exerted all their abilities to al- leviate the diftrefies they were witnefs to. Though the city was in general abandoned by the rich, yet tbefe did not forget thofe who were left behind— large fums were fent up by them to the magiitrates, as well as from the trading towns in the remoteft parts of England. The degree of general diftrefs in the metropolis may be fup- poled void of exaggeration, when it is faid that befide private charities, the lord mayor and aldermen were enabled to beftow ioo,oool. a week for feveral weeks together to the poor !
That nothing might be left untried to difperfe the contagion, large fires were ordered to be made in the public ftreets ; yet the phyficians were very diffident of the fuccefs of this expenfive experiment ; and the trial foon decided in favour of their doubts. Coals were then 4I. per chaldron ; and two hundred chaldron were ap- plied in making fires at the cuftom-houfe, Billingfgate, at the bridge-foot, three cranes, Queenhithe, Bridewell- gate, the corner of LeadenhaJI and Grace church flreets, at the north and fouth gates of the Royal Exchange, Guildhall, Blackwell-hall, at the lord-mayor's door iri St. Helens, at Bow church, and at the weflern end of St. Paul's cathedral.— -The fe fires continued for three days— and were then almolt extinguifhed by a fmart rain : but the following night, from whatever caufe it might proceed, was the mofr fatal of the whole; for more than 4000 then expired ! and this unfortunate e- vent was a difcouragement to any farther attempts of that nature.
When the difeafe was at the greatcft height, little regard was had to the giving medical afliftance; for many of the mod eminent phyficians and furgeons were already dead: and it was in vain to keep houfes
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fhut up, when they were mofHy empty with their doors and windows open and (nattering with the wind. At length the diforder, after having braved the art of man, gave way to the courfe of nature, at the decline of the fummer feafon, when, though the numbers of the in- fected were not obferved to leflen, yet the diforder grew weaker; more in proportion recovered, and the deaths infenfibly diminished. When this began to be perceived, the dread that had invaded the minds of the people wore off, and contributed to their recovery; and whereas in the height of the diforder it ufually killed perfons in two or three, days and not above one in five recovered — now it did not kill in lefs than eight or ten days, and not above two in five perifhed ; the nurfes alfo grew either more cautious or more faithful; fo that after a little while a dawn of health appeared as fuddenly as it was unexpected. In the beginning of November, the face of affairs was quite altered: though the funerals were yet frequent, yet the citizens began to return without fear; and in December they crouded back as faff, as they had fled in the fpring. Such as were cautious, took great care in feafon ing their houfes ; and abundance of coftly things were con- fumed, which not only anfwered their own particular purpofes, but filled the air with grateful fmells, which were ferviceable to their neighbours ; fome burnt pitch, brimftone, and gunpowder, to purge