USA > Tennessee > Shelby County > Memphis > A history of the yellow fever : the yellow fever epidemic of 1878, in Memphis, Tenn., embracing a complete list of the dead, the names of the doctors and nurses employed, names of all who contributed money or means, and the names and history of the Howards, together with other data, and lists of the dead elsewhere > Part 21
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She wished all she could get, and a trifle additional. She got both, and the Lord-or the Lord-knows who-got her. She was distantly related to Oliver Cromwell of yore, if the record of
her deeds go for aught. Mrs. - - was nursing in the family of a well- known judiciary officer. Exe quam rideri is good enough in its way, but Mrs. preferred to seem rather than to be. She had abundant opportu- nity to exercise any extraordinary avaricious inclination she might possess during the delirium of her patients; and having heard that the little busy bee improves each shining hour, she sought to profit by example and filled her trunk with valuables, such as jewelry and silverware.
This trunk she sent to the express office to be shipped to - Before it had
gone Mrs. - took the fever, or perhaps the fever took Mrs.
The Howards, being very naughty people, peeped into her trunk and discovered her stolen treasures. The relentless reaper, meanwhile, had ----- , and thus she escaped any punishment
set about harvesting Mrs.
'One of the worst of my experiences with
earth may have given her. nurses,' said Dr. - to me, 'was in the case of a female patient. It took four to kill her. The first one stole her clothing and ran away: the second got drunk and neglected her; the third took sick and died; and the fourth, getting drunk, fell over on her bed with a wine bottle held high in one hand, dancing like an Indian in his intoxication. This scoundrel was arrested.' 'One man whom I wished especially to get well was deserted by his nurse at the most critical period,' remarked a physician to me, 'and other nurses I found drunk and their posts deserted. Some stole all they could, and many held drunken orgies in the rooms of patients.'"
The Church Orphans' Home, September 17th, was a hospital, with twenty sick children and one convalescent Sister of St. Mary's. Two of the good sisters
.
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died in the performance of their sacred duties, and two of the children. Uu- der a happier condition of things the sisters were glad to give a welcome to all the orphan children that were sent them. As it was, they positively declined to receive any more until after the epidemic.
Major W. A. Willis, superintendent of the Southern Express Company. died on Sunday, September 15th, after nearly a week's battle with the fever. As a member of the Citizens' Relief Committee, he had been of great service to the city at a most critical juncture of the plague. A noble soul, type of the most chivalric heroisin, his loss was mourned as that of a brother endeared by every tie.
The death of J. G. Lonsdale, Jr., treasurer of the Citizens' Relief Commit- tee, was a shock to the community. on Sunday, September 15th. He had worked so earnestly and cheerfully, and enjoyed such unusual good health that it was believed and hoped he would pass the crisis and convalesce. God willed it otherwise.
September 17th, the proprietor of the Evening Ledger, Mr. Ed. Whitmore, conquered the fever and was pronounced convalescent. His pluck and energy, conjoined to the labor of Captain Mathes, kept the Ledger going.
One of the most distressing scenes witnessed since the epidemic commenced, was that reported by a neighbor of R. W. Blew's. The gentleman called at Mr. Blew's on Monday morning, September 16th, and there found four dead. and three very sick. The four deaths had occurred within twenty-four hours.
A lady from Memphis, Mrs. Evans, who lost her husband on August 30th, and who had had the fever, fainted and fell on the platform at Waverly Sta- tion, on the Chattanooga road. She had a sick child with her. The announce- ment of the fact stampeded the town. and the people fled to the mountains.
The Very Reverend M. Riordan, vicar-general of this diocese. and pastor of St. Patrick's Church, died, September 17th, after two weeks' illness, from vellow fever. Like those of his brethren of the priesthood, who preceded him. he fell at his post. He contracted the disease while in the discharge of the duties of his sacred office, and well as the brave soldier of the cross loves to fall.
Dr. John Erskine, health officer, after a week's illness, died, September 17th. His death was a great loss to the city, and to the faculty of which he was one of the chief ornaments.
J. W. MeDonald, the volunteer telegraph operator from Cincinnati, died, September 17th. Mr. MeDonald was the sixth operator that succumbed to the fever. It was strange, but nevertheless true, that so far no telegrapher that had been attacked had recovered.
A very sudden death was that of Conrad Rasp, baker at the Peabody Hotel. He gave up work at nine o'clock. September 17th, and died at five in the after- noon. He had had the fever for several days, but refused to take to his bed.
Mrs. J. W. Clark. of Omaha, who volunteered to nurse the sick, fell a vic- tim to the fever, and died september 1sth. She was tenderly and lovingly prepared for the grave. and laid away by those who, knowing how noble her mission and how true she was to it, mourned for her as for a sister.
Dr. Hiram Pearce. of Cincinnati, Ohio, who volunteered and was assigned to duty by Dr. Mitchell, of the Howard Association, died September 18th, very much to the regret of the medical corps and all who bail met him. His mem- ory will ever be cherished by this people, as a noble example to the members of a profession whose ranks had been many times recruited and many times thinned since the epidemic began.
A gentleman, taken sick, was sent a nurse, who stole his horse and buggy and deserted him ; another was sent, who took sick and died ; a third was sent, who proved so worthless and inexperienced that he had to be sent away; and a fourth was sent, who got beastly drunk.
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A HISTORY OF THE YELLOW FEVER.
A cheekr nurse, but an incorrigible rascal and thief, who was sent to attend Captain Mathes, of the Ledger, stole his horse and buggy. September 18th. Captain Mathes received a postal card, mailed at Juka, Mississippi, notifying him that as his ulster was inconvenient to carry he had left it at some point (name not remembered), and any horse could be found at Moscow.
Among the dead, of September 18th, was the name of Rev. Mr. Schuyler, of Hoboken, New Jersey, who came, a volunteer, to do what he could to help his brethren of the Episcopal Church. He was in Memphis but a few brief days when the pestilence elaimed him for a victim, and he passed away to re- ceive the reward which awaits the brave and the just. While on duty he was of great help, as Rev. Dr. White, of Calvary Church, and Rev. Dr. Dalzell, of Shreveport, were the only Episcopal clergymen to attend to the immuner- able and every-day increasing wants of the members of the church. Rev. Mr. Harris, of St. Mary's, was still in the agonies of the fever, September 18th. and Rev. Mr. Parsons, of St. Lazarus and Grace Church parishes, bad just been laid away to rest.
When the fever began there were four Episcopal ministers on duty- Rey. Dr. George White, rector of Calvary; Rev. George Harris, dean of St. Mary's Cathedral; Rev. C. C. Parsons, reetor of the two parishes of St. Lazarus and Grace Church; and Rev. Mr. Gee, rector of the Church of the Good Shep- herd. All of these gentlemen remained to share the fate of their people, only two of them e-caping-Dr. White and Mr. Gee. Mr. Parsons died and Mr. Harris recovered after a long and serious illness. When the last two fell a prey to the epidemie, Rev. Mr. Schuyler. of Hoboken, New Jersey, and Rev. Dr. Dalzell. of Shreveport, Louisiana, volunteered. The former paid with his life for the. noble act of heroism, and Dr. Dalzell was on duty in charge of St. Mary's parish.
Of the Methodist ministers, Rev. Messis. Slater and Rosebrough devoted themselves to their people, with a singleness of purpose worthy the martyrs of the early church, laying down their lives as an attestation and seal of their faith and zeal as officers of the church.
Rev. Mr. Daniels, of the First Presbyterian Church, resided in the midst of what was originally the infected district, and fell early in the action, and found some difficulty in overcoming a severe attack of the fever.
Of the Baptist ministers Rev. Dr. Landrum alone remained. The witnesses of his zeal are as many as have died and lived. Even when the fever invaded his own household he was laboring in the streets, as a member of the Relief Committee, and in the homes of the people, carrying " the bread of life."
Of the German Protestant pastors, Mr. Thomas died from overwork, but Mr. Holmes was a tower of strength to his people. Their praises were spoken by every one.
The Catholic priesthood, for zeal, self-denial, and self-sacrifice stand unri- valed. The long roll of their dead attests this fact and challenges the admi- ration of all men, be their faith and nationality what it may. Uphearing the banner of the cross, symbol of faith and hope, Rev. Martin Walsh, pastor of St. Bridget's, fell, and with him his a -- i-tant, Rev. Mr. Meagher. The Rev. Father Asinus, of St. Mary's ( German Franciscan) also gave up his life in his efforts for his parishioner .. St. Peter's parish, under the care of the Domini- cans, gave three martyrs. R.v. J. R. MeGarvey, a volunteer from Harrods- burg, Kv., Rev. J. A. Bakel from Baltimore, Md., and the Rev. Mr. Van Troostenburg from Kentucky. St. Patrick's gave its pastor. the Vicar-General of the diocese, Rev. Martin Riordan, the Rev. M. MeNamara, and the Rev. J. P. Scannell, a volunteer from Louisville, Ky. Only three priests remained on daty. Rev. Father Kelly, pastor of St. Peter's, Rev. Father Aloysius, of St. Mary's, Rev. Father Walsh, at St. Patrick's, and the Rev. Father Mooney,
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who volunteered and arrived a few days ago from Nashville. To the list of martyrs is also to be added the names of Father Scanlin, of St. Peter's, and Father Maternus, of St. Mary's ( German) Franciscan Church.
Appeal, September 20th .- The following is a copy of a telegram sent to New York, to be read in Booth's Theater on the 21st: " Deaths to date, 2,250; number sick now, about 3.000; average deaths, sixty per cent. of the sick. We are feeding some 10.000 persons, sick and destitute, in camps and in the city. Our city is a hospital. Fifteen volunteer physicians have died ; twomy others are sick. A great many nurses have died-many that had the fever before, and thought themselves proof. Fever abating some to-day, for want of material, perhaps, and things look a little more hopeful. We are praying for frost-it is our only hope. A thousand thanks to the generous people of . New York."
Ledger, September 20th. -- "One phase in the condition of the plague-smitten Southern cities is scarcely realized at the North, even with the daily deserip- tions given in the papers, of the distress prevailing there. All industries have ceased. The stores are closed, the factories are not running, wharves and depots are deserted, for boats and trains neither arrive nor depart, so that means for earning their daily bread is taken away from those who are not stricken with the fever. Work is the panacea for many evils, and at such times as these if the head and hands are occupied the danger is dimin- ished ten-fold; and besides the agony of brooding over the pestilence, hundreds and thousands of people have nothing to live upon. Their money is gone, and they can earn no more. Even if' they could, the store of provisions is exhausted. Markets are closed, market wagons have ceased to come in from the country."
After two weeks or more of fever, Dr. S. R. Clarke, to the surprise of his physicians as well as friends, died September 20th, at his re-idence on Beale Street. The loss of his wife no doubt preyed upon his mind, and had much to do with the suddenness of his death. For several days he had been pronounced convalescent, and was supposed to be slowly but surely reaching that stage toward complete recovery when his doctors would be able to leave him to hi- own course, when, without premonition of the end, he died. His loss was deeply deplored. He had a wide circle of friends among the best of our people, and specially endeared himself to those who, like himself, had remained to brave the epidemic, by his devotion to the duties of the office he held as a member of the Citizens' Relief Committee. In all the relations of' life he was a true man. His loss was mourned as one of the severest the epidemic had cost Memphis.
The figures of September 20th, as to the sick and dead by yellow fever, were most reassuring. The falling off in the number of both, from the average of the past ten days, afforded occasion for devout thanks.
September 221, one by one the surviving employés of the Appeal returned to their posts. Mr. White, business manager, was at work on the 19th of September: Mr. Brooks, river and telegraph editor, on the 230; and Mr. MeGranu, foreman of the composing-room, Mr. Woodlock, foreman of the press-room, returned to duty on the 17th. Of the compositors, Mr. Schiller has been at work since September 16th, Mr. Hoskins since the 19th, for a few hours each day, and September 21st, Mr. Will Taylor tried his hand for a few hours. Mr. Fred Brennan, city editor, was still confined to his room, conva- lescing slowly, but surely.
September 22d the following postal card was received from George Francis Train :
Citizen J. M. Keating :
.
MADISON SQUARE, P. E. 40.
The fever is born of panie, based on gormandizing diseased animal food-fish,
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eggs, butter. Meat is the delirium tremens of flesh. All your remedies only make matters worse. Stop alcohol, tobacco, brandy, quinine, drugs. But, above all, keep in the open air. Abolish hearses, funerals, and the grave-yard hor- rors ; they spread the pestilence. Commence at once cremating the dead. The disease is mental. It is not the yellow fever (that my father, mother, three sisters, nurse, doctor, and five servants died of in New Orleans in a few days when I was but four years old, 'tis the Asiatic plague, or consolidation of all the diseases through mental action or tear of death. Memphis knows me. If you have faith, I will stop the pestilence. Telegraph and I will come by express. Mavor and citizens' committee must sign the dispatch. My guaran- tee of good faith is that you will see me moving among the dying and dead.
G. F. T.
Appeal, Sept. 24th .- Mr. Robert R. Catron, agent of the Associated Press in this city, died last night of yellow fever, after four days' sickness. Every thing that the tenderest solicitude and the best medical skill could suggest and accom- plish was made use of, but to no purpose. The disease invaded his brain, and he passed away peacefully in a semi-unconscious state. No man of his year- and position did more or better work than he throughout the epidemic. When the editorial and reportorial staff- of the Avalanche and the Lodger were all down with the fever, some of them sick, and more dying. he volunteered, and for some days worked on both papers, besides doing what he could for imme- diate personal friends sick of the fever, and who, he thought, had paramount claims upon his time. Every moment of his waking hour- was spent in doing good. Alive to the dreadful effects of the epidemic, and in full sympathy with the suffering people whom he knew so well, his dispatches were always within the limits of fatets. He avoided sensationalizing as unworthy the occasion, and confined himself to the simplest statement of each day's sad history. What effect this had upon the public mind of every State in the Union, let the man- berless active charities tell, which continue to pour their beneficence upon us. Modest and unassuming, his growth in the profession was due to his own worth and abilities, and not to any fictitious aids such as sometimes help to push men beyond their depth. He was equal to all the demands made upon him whether professional or friendly, and went to his grave followed by the regrets of all who knew him, especially those who saw how nobly he met death at his post.
Charley Brooks, the last member of the family of Mr. Will Brooks, of the Appeal, died September 23d.
The Gregg family were swept from the face of the earth. The father and six children had died, and. on September 24th, the mother died.
The brutality, barbarism, and indifference developed by this epidemie stand out in marked contrast with the heroisms which cost so many lives. Scarcely a day passed that the community, bowed in sorrow for so many weeks, was not shamed by one or other of these hideous phases of inhumanity : as if it were not enough that the experiences of the times developed cases of total neglect. which were brought to light when the sufferers were past home and beyond the reach of human aid. But there were creatures, in the semblance of men, who, terrorized out of all reason, surrendered themselves todemoniacal passions, and expressed their fears in acts that were a disgrace to our race and blood.
A little child of, perhaps, three years was surrendered to the keeping of one of the noble volunteer doctors by a mother who now fills a nameless grave in the potter's field. She was an outcast-had thrown herself away because aban- doned by her husband-and finding herself fast sinking, from the combined er- feets of the most bathsome of diseases and the yellow fever, gave her child to her physician, that it might find the home and care the cowardly father had denied to her and it. How shocking to every sense !
No man in Memphis had, during this epidemic. done more or better work
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than the Rev. Dr. Boggs, pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church. Night. and day he was on the move, going anywhere and every-where he could do any good. Nothing came amiss to his hands. He prayed or nursed, counseled or consoled, as the time or place demanded; and he stood not for calls, He went about among his people and kept up with them. In the country or in the city, it was all the same to him. Poor or rich, they were all alike. He asked no questions. He saw what was to be done, and he did it. He was the messenger for the doctor, or the medicines, as often as any thing ele, and yet he never lost a moment as guardian of the orphans of the Leath Asylum. His many anxieties concerning them were those of a father for his children, and when the fever made its appearance among them he was one of the first to fly to their succor aad relief. He was vouchsafed just two days' duty with the poor children, when he and his wife were taken down. Of course, he had the best of nursing, care, and the first medical skill, besides which, he had a good constitution and a brave heart.
Dr. Augustus Kuehne, formerly of Ohio, at present of Memphis, paid the following tribute to his dead compatriots: "The physicians who died were Hiram B. Pearce, Cincinnati ; Robert Burchman, Columbus; Dr. Tuerk, Cin- cinnati, and Dr. Tate (colored), also of Cincinnati. Dr. Tate was a friend of the suffering sick of his own race -- a true and noble man. Without hesitaney, he worked, without rest, day and night. His own race caused him the greatest distress. Home physicians, with but very few exceptions, cared very little for the colored race. I have seen how colored men have placed their hands on Dr. Tate's coat collar, carrying him . per force' (the doctor) to their wretched habitations. If a man had been cast of iron, he must, under such trying cir- cumstanees, have succumbed. Dr. Tate died in the house of a colored friend, Mr. Morgan, a dentist, residing on Beal Street. It is a fact that Dr. Tate's life could have been saved had he not been too brave. He left his bed, after four days' sickness, believing himself strong enough to return for duty. The sad result was a relapse of the fever, which cut him down within three days. Dr. Hiram B. Pearce, animated by the true sense of duty as a physician and a man who believed in our Savior-that friend beloved as he was to me-left. Cincinnati in my company, notwithstanding he was surrounded by all the com- forts and luxuries of life. No mercenary spirit tempted him to sacrifice his life in order to save the lives of others. Before our departure from Cincinnati, Dr. Pearce told me that he had received a letter from his father, threatening him with disinheritance should he leave for Memphis. Hold this up to the medical profession of Memphis, and, at least, let them speak a kind word of those who are slumbering now in Elinwood. Dr. Pearce was taken with fever in room 91 of the Peabody Hotel. Dr. Tate and your informant removed him to the Court Street Infirmary. Dr. Bryan, from Texas, had charge of the place. It is an old dilapidated building, and a terror crept over me as soon as I had placed my foot within it. Misericorde-how coukl valuable lives be preserved within such non-ventilated, but overheated, rooms like that ? A long row of beds, and yellow fever pestilence every-where. Clouds of poison- ous atmosphere were enshrouding the bedsteads of every individual patient. Dr. Bryan treated me with brusque discourtesy on the following morning. I desired to see my poor friend Dr. Pearce. He positively refused me 'as a physician,' entrance. stating that he had control over all his patients. . I have no words to express my indignation over such unprofessional conduct. Dr. Pearce died. Dr. Robert Burchman was a graduate of Edinburgh, Scotland. I made his acquaintance in Cincinnati. Drs. Pearce, Burchman, and myself came to Memphis together. On the 17th of September, I was taken down, ant while on my sick-bed I heard of his sickness, and in a few days of his subsequent death. Dr. Burchman was a brave and good man. Fearlessly he
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went to his work and discharged it faithfully. After midnight, Dr. Burchman and Dr. Tuerk came to my bedside, on the first day of my sickness, and ron- dered professional services. May his grave be kept green by some friendly hand in the Mississippi Valley. Dr. Tuerk was a graduate of Heidelberg, Ger- many. I do not know any thing of his previous history. However, I will say that he was one of the hardest workers in the First Ward. I valued hi- friendship, and never will I forget his memory. Dr. McFarland, Savannah, Ga., Hon. Milo Olin, Augusta, Ga., Dr. T. Grange Simmons, Charleston. Dr. Carswell, Americus, Ga., and Dr. De Graffenreid deserve special notice, and, in fact, a large number of the Southern Howard physicians will tell you what I do." Dr. Carswell indorsed the foregoing.
Major Pollard Trezevant, died September 25th, of fever. after an illness of only a few days. Since the epidemic began he had been working as a Howard. never thinking of himself, and only intent upon the good he might do. Major Trezevant, before and during the war, held high official positions, but since has been engaged in the real estate business. A member of one of our most honored families, he owed nothing to that fact. He made himself all that he was by his own efforts, and died, ag he lived, an honest man.
" Mr. Charles G. Fisher, chairman of the Citizens Relief Committee, died and was buried yesterday (September 26, 1878)," says the Appeal of the 27th. " He had been sick of the fever only a few days, but having overtaxed him- self in his efforts to keep up with all the demands upon his time, he had but little of hi- native vigor left with which to contend with so violent an enemy. His death was not any more the result of the yellow fever than of overwork. The position Le occupied was one of more than ordinary care and responsibility, which, under brighter auspices, would task a very strong man to the utter- most. He might be said literally to be on duty every hour of the twenty-four, for though he had office hours, much of his business was transacted upon the streets. at his home, by the sick-bed, perhaps. of a friend, or wherever else the needy or the friends of the sick might find him. Kind and gentle, he was also firm and unswerving in the performance of his duty. He felt that to him and his associates the people of the whole country had given a sacred trust. the administration of which required more than ordinary care. He, therefore, scanned narrowly all claims for relief, and impressed on all about him the duty of so apportioning the money and food sent to us by the good people of all the States as to make their charity a beneficence and not a means of encouraging idleness. In this he succeeded only partially, but failure was due to circum- stances he could not overcome, and which the citizens, though they have re- solved time and again, have not yet been able to overcome. He was faithful to his trust, and zealous in the discharge of his duties. He was also energetic in behalf of the sick as well as suffering. His house was a home for many who were there nursed safely through the fever, and some who died, notwithstand- ing the greatest care. To them all he was full of consideration and kindness. He gave them what he couldl of his time, and nursed them to the neglect of himself. He was always equal to the occasion, equal to the demands made upon him, and proved himself throughout the epidemie a hero of heroic mold. Mr. Fisher was a member of one of our principal cotton firms, and had. with his partner, Mr. William Gage. built up a business within the past ten years that ranked second to that of no other house in the city. He was popular with the people, and was elected to represent the sixth ward in the Board of Councilmen for several terms. He was a native of Tipton County, a son of Dr. Fisher, of Covington, and served throughout the war in the Confederate army, making for himself a name as a brave soldier only second to that which he made withis the past few weeks for a moral heroism and courage that crowned his life with martyrdom."
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