| Show Written for this Paper THE BLACK DEATH Copyrighted by bV Frank G Carpenter 1894 PEKING China June 9 1894 g LL China and andi aA a A aare the far e east a s t tare are much excited ex- ex excited excited cited over the 1 terrible plague which has recently recently re- re recently broken out in the southern pro pro- provinces provinces provinces vinces of this empire It originally origin 1 i in n a ally 11 y came came j inte-j from from the inte- inte interior interior V nor but it hasy has S reached C Can Canton a n- n ton and Hong Kong and the people are dying at the rate of hundreds per day The big steamship lines which sail from China to Europe are now refusing to stop at Hong Kong or orto orto orto to take passengers from South China and the papers of the countries sur sur- surrounding surrounding surrounding rounding this part of the world are full of rumors and fears that the plague willbe willbe will wille be e carried to Japan and elsewhere So far the trans trans Pacific Pacific steamers are making their regular voyages from San Fran Fran- Francisco Francisco cisco and Vancouver to Hong Kong and return but the greatest care is is be- be being being be being ing taken and every preventive is use used f to 10 keep this terrible epidemic from being carried to America The disease is practically practically practically an unknown one to the physicians of today but it is said to be the same as that which devastated Europe during the middle ages and which was so awful in its ravages that it got the title of the black death It ran over Europe again eighteenth and again from the sixth to the centuries and it is said to have caused aued more deaths than any of the thereat great reat epidemics which human flesh has been heir to It is the pest which Daniel Defoe describes in his story of the great reat plague of London of 1665 and 2666 1666 and it has done terrible damage in Arabia and Persia within the past gen gen- generation generation generation It came a few years ago from China to southern Russia and the czar stationed troops about the infected dis- dis districts districts dis districts and in this way kept it from the rest of Europe The plague that ravaged ravaged aged aged Europe in in the fourteenth century came from China and it has been known to to have existed for tor some years past in one of the Chinese provinces provinces above the Burmese frontier The black death broke out in Canton during the last week in February and for a time the average of those who died from it was about two hundred per day lay This average steadily increased until until in March and April it was five hun hun- hundred I wed ired per day and the mortality at the the present present time is is very large It is said that the Pearl river which flows past the city and upon wh which ch hundreds of o f thousands of people live contains many floating corpses and that the under undertaker taker are unable tomake to tomake make coffins enough i to supply the demand In ordinary times the Chinese spend large sums upon their funerals and they are more particular as to the styles of their burial caskets than they are as to those of their wedding beds Coffins cost all the way from a few dollars up to thou thou- thousands thousands s uns sands ands of dollars and it is not an un- un uncommon uncommon un uncommon common thing for a man to buy a coffin and keep it in his house for years so as asto asto asto to have a first-class first article on hand when he dies Children often make their par par- parents parents parents presents of coffins and they have their mutual coffin supply association somewhat like our building and loan as- as associations associations as associations or like our mutual life insurance insurance insurance ance societies Every member of such an association gets a coffin and burial clothes when he dies and the not hav hav- having having having ing these is considered a greater calam calam- calamity calamity calamity ity than death itself Today the dead in 10 Canton are carted out and disposed of in all sorts of ways and the greatest trouble is found in getting rid of them Often the pall bearers who are paid to carry the coffins to the grave are stricken with the dread disease on the way and of the four who start out with body bod only one or two return There There are not coffins enough for the grown persons and the children are being buried in baskets or wrapped up in pieces of matting In some places the babies are not buried at all and the baby towers are full These baby towers you find all over China They are little buildings with windows high up near the roof The babies are laid on the windows and ard are pushed inside to de- de decompose de decompose compose as they will I saw near Shanghai the bodies of babies thrown out upon the roadside and such corpses are often left by the poor for the dogs to eat Today many of the dead at Canton have not a burial plot and their coffins are left on the top of the ground This in the case of such an infectious disease as the black plague cannot but be of great danger to the rest of the people and the plague is said to be steadily spreading over the surrounding country Some of the coffins are her her- hermetically hermetically hermetically sealed by varnishing them again and again with a sort of lacquer varnish and as the wood is often tour inches thick in ordinary times they donot do donot donot not cause much trouble from their offen offen- offensive offensive n- n sive smell Now however the haste with which the dead are disposed of o f does not admit of such treatment and the very air about Canton is laden with the pestilence The richer Chinese of o othe f the city have been doing what they the y could to relieve the distress and there are a number of charitable associations association s which are aiding in the disposal of the W dead At one dispensary alone 2000 coffins have been given away and it is i s estimated that up to this time coffins have been furnish furnished d by such suc h associations The sanitary board of Hong Kong g visited the stricken plague parts of o f Canton some weeks ag ago ago and made a report on the disease and its symptoms It comes upon one without warning in inthe i ithe inthe n the shape of a fever which raises the th e temperature of the patient in a short time to degrees and upward There is no chill and and no other premonitory ry symptoms The fhe patient has a severe sever e te headache and he shows signs of stu After twelve hours the glands of Ineck neck the armpits or the groin begin swell and they soon become as b a hens hen's egg These swellings are and exceedingly tender but they do suppurate In some cases a of blood occurs and within a few h the man dies Some few recover s shaving having been attacked and if they keep themselves alive for more than days after their exposure there chance for tor them The disease e see seebe seebe seema be very and in those qua quart where it is raging it has more than than- thaw the population In one s street the th sanitary bord bond of Hong K I found thirty deaths and in another of people only forty have At of the of one gates Canton a took a box the other day and dro drop a cash into it every time a coffin carried out At 4 o'clock in the a anoon noon he counted the cash and foun fOUD t had in the box The disease is very sudden in its its tacks and the only safety from it s sto sto to be to get out ot of its range For w the people have been flying from Ca and a letter which I saw the other states that every house seems to its dead A few days ago a thief ent a house in which the whole family died of the plague expecting toan toan to an easy haul He was stricken in the act of robbing the dead a day anday aday or two later his body with the b b- b hotA hA upon it was found lying in the hb h- h A curious thing about the plague is isit it affects kinds of some animals as- as asas asas as as men and in Canton it attacked rats of the city first Dead rats found in the drains of the inti quarters and th the rats ran from places almost as fast as the human Ii e des cies In every house where dead were found it was seen that the p had phad taken the black plague and sign of a dead rat will now cause a ily aily to fly The Hong Kong doctors at first that the disease e was not ofa of a par nature and that it could not be car carto canto to any great distance but this is th tb by many to be a mistake and it is said that its germs can be in clothing and in other ways and Japan Mail is advising the most sanitary precautions against all of Hong Hong Kong steamers In one edi it asserts that even a shotgun a would Wit be justifiable against it and it is remembered that every ten d Hat big steamship from Hong Kong at San Francisco and would seem advisable that the gr gre care ArnIt be taken to keep it out of 1 Arn It is thought hought here that the disease not get get a firm hold of any quarter has food good san sanitary tary arrangements a far afar Y believe only have afflicted with it It has attacked Kong and on the of May MaYI deaths four deaths were then reported Japanese Japanese papers had bad reports that were one or two deaths in different of Japan lapan but these reports have been denied The Japanese are better prepared to su suppress press suO su plague should it break breakout break out th tb- China They are the cleanliest in the world in 10 regard to their pe and their towns and houses are of neatness China is the filthiest nastiest country on on the face ace of ot the and outside of the treaty ports ther the f no DO no means of 0 f fr enforcing r sanitary meas meal ayes UteS At different points along themo the themos mos most t crowded of the streets you will F cesspools in which the vilest of slops lops s are poured and left to ferment even eiren in the hottest of weather There area are drains in some of the cities but tb the S are flushed only by the rains and itis it to said that one cause of the rapid spread of the plague in Canton was the prolonged drought which has afflicted the city this spring The fact that the plague exists in Canton makes its dan danger er greater than it w would uld be had it broken out in any other ci city in China Canton is the New NewYOrk NewYork YOrk of the empire It is the biggest of the Chi Chinese ese business cities and in con con- confine r fine s something like of people Its Ifs boat population is is said to number and as many people as soy you Y will find in Washington Cleve Cleve- Cleveland Cleveland land Buffalo or Cincinnati are born live F and die upon the waters Its people are aref areF f F the brightest in in China and they are the theft theE E best traders and the best workers among ft the celestials They will win command higher b ghee her wages than the Chinese from any other cities and you find Canton men e aged in business all over China I Isad sad Met them in I found them on onAle tile Ale busiest streets of and waking kin f and here in Peking they own l I some ae orthe of the best property and are en engaged en- en red aged in all sorts of undertakings A part of our imports come from fromn QI aton ton n and the credit of ot the big Cant Canto Can- Can Cane to t e e merchants is as good as that of r Ae the most solid Americans in the banks E of tI London It is a city of millionaires t aid d paupers and it contains the richest richest the i the poorest of the Chinese When y I t visited it not long ago I was enter enter- tabled ta by the Jay Gould of China a man J wed 4 ed How Qua who is said to be bew worth tr w t his tens of millions and in op p to Canton on the steamer I saw a J eyed d boatman greedily grabala grab ala ata at a- a ad d d d a t which was thrown him from oft T ship and which I doubt not furd fur- fur 0 d the piece de resistance for his f fly a ly 1 ily dinner It is from the Cantonese ice e that the most of the Chinese in inca America ca a come and its people are noted noted t f T r their their turbulence as well as for their l Jul hands bands and their sharp business y r t r t I have never seen anywhere ere such a Bite W of humanity as the city of Can Can- J t and tad I cal cali can i imagine agine no place better better O fhe dissemination of a plague like 7 a The he streets are so narrow n that y big g hats which the coolies c lies wear ear al- al alt als algaze t graze gaze e the walls on either side and andam s can am stand in the middle of some of best business quarters and touch trails rails on both sides by y stretching out r f hands andS The maID main streets fairly j nt with Chinese men and women Ml half i of these celestial humans are are Jp tod They push and crowd against 0 other as they work their sweaty through h the city and the disease if possessed by one are easily easil f to many They pack pack packy y i es together in the houses and lation Cation of a smal small city is crowded y a a aT single block The poorest of have only a few cents a day for the theof i ft of their families and 10 ro of our a good wage for a days day's work A t ral la laborers about the city doo do Y o M jM e more mort mor than 5 cents a day are paid still less The 3 workingman who can save 5 a ax as I x s 1 t j year is doing very well wen and the ques ques- question question question tion with the majority of the people isone is isone isone one of existence e The diet of the laboring classes con con- consists consists of salt Balt fish vegetables and rice and if they can add to this meat three or four times a year they deem them them- themselves themI themselves themselves I selves happy It is not uncommon to toI I find people p ople living in a little nest ofa of ofa ofa a dozen story one-story houses and rents per family range from 2 a year and up up- upward upward upward ward Canton is the only city I h have ve visited where cat dog I restaurants and it is the only city where I have seen dried rats exposed for sale in many quarters I priced some of these rats and was charged five cents for the one I bought It could not have weighed more than eight ei ht ounces and I suppose I paid double price for it it Atone At Atone Atone one of the dog restaurants I treated alot a lot of coolies to a stew of black dogs dog's flesh and the price for it was ten cents a plate I could have gotten a stew of yellow dog for less but when one gives a treat even in China he ought to buy the best Black dogs dog's meat is worth twice the price of that of the yellow canine It is cooked with a tuft of the hair left on the end of the tail taU to show the color of the dog and it looks when in the pot much like the flesh of a sucking suck suck- sucking ing pig The dog is killed and the hairis hair hairis hairis is taken off as we take the bristles off a pig and when stewed it is cut into small pieces pieces At this same place I saw cat meat cooking and there were cats in inI I cages awaiting the orders of customers Cat meat is higher priced than dog or rat meat and the tabbies are killed only upon order The people whom I saw at such restaurants however were those only of the poorer classes and there are in in Canton as costly restaurants as you will find anywhere in the world I saw places where you have to pay 5 S Sa a plate for your birds bird's nest soup and where tea is served which you cant can't get for less than 10 io a pound The black plague account of the poor diet of the people and their poverty will last longer in Canton than it would in an American city There are practically no facilities for taking care of the sick and Chinese medicine is worse than no medicine The mis mis- missionary missionary hospital will do much It is one of the best hospitals in the east and it does a great deal of good The chief Chinese charitable institutions of Canton are a blind asylum from which blind beggars go out day aay day after day over the city a foundling asylum supported out of the salt tax and a leper asylum This last is in a banyan grove two miles from the gate of the |
