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 22
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Avalanche, September 24th. - " New cases in the city, one hundred and fifty- six. Deaths, sixty-four. The hopes that had been raised in the hearts of the people that the fever was abating were rudely dispelled yesterday, when the reports of new cases began pouring in. All during the forenoon there was one continuous call for nurses, and many who were on the eve of departing home, thinking their services were no longer required, were placed on duty, and the demand was in excess of the supply. As the physicians extend their visite to the suburbs, many instances are discovered of whole families who are stricken, and have lain for days without any attention whatever."
There was a sad case out on Rayburn Avenue, just beyond the city limits. A family by the name of MeNamee were severely afflicted. Two of their chil- dren died of the fever, the mother and the father were down some time, leaving the only remaining member of the family, a young girl. alone, well enough to administer to the wants of the others. September 25th she was stricken down, and three were left. Nurses were sent to them, and they were carefully attended to.
The most startling death since the epidemic was first announced, and one that conveved a warning to convalescents, was that of Francis W. Schley, of 34 Winchester Avenue. It occurred September 27th, on Market Street, extended, between three and half past four o'clock-no one could tell exactly the moment, as he was alone, and no person seems to have traveled the street until about the latter hour-when Dr. Nuttal found the unfortunate man lying upon his back, quite dead, a basket containing a couple of perks of potatoes beside him. He left his wife at three o'clock for the grocery, where he pur- chased the potatoes, and was on his way home and within, perhaps. a hundred yards of it when his strength, which he had overtaxed as a convalescent, gave out, and he fell, perhaps lay down, and died. He had had a very severe attack of the fever, but for two weeks had been convalescing, and was supposed to be beyond any danger. But so slender and tender is the cord of life, as the fever leaves it, that even the slight exertion of a short walk and the weight of a basket a little child might carry without strain, broke it, and he passed away alone, so near and yet so far from the touch of a tender hand and the kiss of affectionate lips.
Persons who were not in the city can never realize the sorrows and pressure of duties resting upon the few who remained during the epidemic.' Let this case illustrate many, and indicate something of the condition. On September 26th the son of a pastor of one of the churches, numbering 400, was buried. The son himself had many friends. Who attended that funeral ? The parents, themselves just from a yellow-fever bed, and two nurses of the son-one an Italian, and the other a negro. These four and no others. Not a member of that pastor's church, not a citizen could be spared for an hour to go with him and his heart-broken wife to the grave of their son. This was not from any want of friendship, sympathy, or affection on the part of thousands who knew the family ; it simply shows into what fearful necessities and sorrows this " noisome" pestilence had brought them.
The Rev. W. P. Barton. of Greenville, Miss., assisted by one of our local physicians, a layman-Dr. C. W. Malone -- ministers, and has been ministering. to the wants of the people of the Methodist Church since the epidemic began. Mr. Barton was on his way home and was compelled to remain when travel by the river was cut off. He at once volunteered his services, and was on duty for some weeks.
Nothing was so significant of the effect of the epidemic upon Memphis as the attendance at the Jewish Synagogue. corner of Exchange and Main Streets, September 27th. The cecasion was one of the most interesting and sacred to the Hebrew race-the ushering in of the new year. When the fever was
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first announced there was a Jewish population of about three thousand. Of this number only eighteen were present at the solemn services, made more so by the surrounding sorrow and the evidence these few bore to the effect of the plague. Of the cighteen nine were fever convalescents, three were nurses from distant cities, the remaining six being those who alone escaped of all who remained to brave the disease. Mr. A. S. Meyers, acting president of the Masonic Relief Board, read the service, the scene being very affecting. There was not a dry eve among all those present, as they recalled the festival as it was observed in other and happier years, and remembered the brave and noble Menken, and many others who had passed away, the heroes of these times that try men's souls. It was a sad and mournful ushering in of the new year- a ceremony that will live in the hearts of all present to their latest hour.
One of the saddest cases that have come under our notice is that of the family of John Dawson, who died at Elmwood Cemetery. Mir. Dawson died September 17th, after an illness of three days' duration. His brave wife arose from her bed to administer to the wants of her four little girls. She went on bravely, doing her duty nursing her little ones, till, on the morning of the 234, she succumbed to an attack of the fever. After four days of suffering she died peacefully, trusting in him who has promised to care for the father- less. A friend was with her to receive her dying requests. As she has no relatives in America. her children were taken to the Church home, where, un- der the care of kind Sister Frances, they are assured a mother's tender, watch- ful guidance. Their ages are, respectively, eight, five, three, and one. Mr. Dawson came from England in 1872, and has been an employe of the come- tery company for the last six years. During the epidemic of 1873, he worked like the brave man he was. He did his duty nobly and well then, as alway-, and with his wife has gone to his reward. Till-their English friends can be heard from the children will remain at the "home." It is hardly necessary to say that the children of a man who laid down his life in this sacred cause will be tenderly cared for till their relatives in England say what better can be done for them.
Dr. Paul Otey died of yellow fever at Mr. W. J. P. Doyle's residence, on Dunlap Street, at a .late hour, September 28th. He had been sick for over a week. and it was hoped would rally from the effects of the disease he cured in others so often, but his strength was not equal to the task. Dr. Otey was the oldest son of the late Rt. Rev. James H. Otey, first Episcopal bishop of Tennessee, and was educated at Kenyon College, Ohio, Pre-ident Hayes being among his classmates. Intended for the ministry, he preferred medicine, and studied for that profession with much of the' ardor of a lover. As such, he followed it, attaining. both in the Confederate army, in which he served throughout the war, and here in Memphis, where he had lived since its close, an enviable distinction, although by his own preference his practice was limited. He was a man of strong mind but good heart. To him the people of Memphis were indebted for the camp, which, while affording shelter and comfort to seven thousand refugees, insured them the health denied them at. home. From the outbreak of the epidemic he was active in behalf of the nurses. His sympathies were fully aroused, and up to the hour when he lay down to die he never ceased to interest himself in behalf of the people .*
# St. Louis Republican : " This gentleman, who, on Saturday afternoon, 28th inst., il his fifty-fourth year, was added to the list of heroic Memphis martyrs, deserves a trib- ute to his memory. He was the eldest son of the late Right Rev. James Hervey Otey, bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church for the diocese of Tennessee, and brother of Mrs. B. B. Minor. of St. Louis After academic preparations in his native State, and chietly under the an-pices of his father iwho was one of the greatest friends and pro- moters of Christian education that the West has ever had), he entered the Kenyon Col-
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E. E. Furbish died September 27th at the Peabody. He was formerly in the employ of B. Lowenstein & Co., but had recently officiated in a clerical capacity at the Howard Association headquarters. He had been ailing for several days, but refused to acknowledge the presence of the prevailing fever. On the 27th, while walking in the hall of the hotel; he fainted and fell pros- trate to the floor. He was conveyed to his room, and measures taken to produce a reaction, without avail, however, for he steadily sank and finally died as stated.
Mr. Engene W. Moore appeared on the street safely convalescent September 27th. Mr. Moore was of invaluable service to the Appeal, acting business manager, city and commercial editor, mail clerk, office clerk, and wherever he could put in a hand for work.
Avalanche, October 28th .- " New cases in the city and suburbs. 117. Deaths. twenty-eight. The fever, although not abating in cases, is not as malignant as it was several days ago. It gradually, as the cool north wind greets us, becomes miller, and one can judge from the death rate, if correctly reported, that persons who take it from this time on, have at least two chances out of three of getting over it. Our people have lost all appearance of panic. and are now coolly awaiting ' their tarn,' as it were, like the schlier who goes out on pieket, knowing not whether he will ever meet his comrades again."
Mr. R. B. Clarke, who succeeded John G. Lonsdale, Jr .. as treasurer of : the Citizens' Relief Committee, died of yellow fever. September 20th, after a week's sickness. Mr. Clarke, up to the time when he contracted the plague. was connected with the committee in a clerical capacity, and was so attentive to his duties as to commend himself to the officers of that organization as well fitted for the responsible position vacated by the death of Mr. Lousdale. He accepted the trust, and proved, by his subsequent management of the duties of the office, the wistlom of the committee's choice. His death was deeply mourned by his associates and by a wide circle of friends, who esteemed him as a gentleman of the highest character; courteous and polite, and full of that moral courage of which heroes are made.
Mr. John M. Peabody, Superintendent of the Leath Orphan Asylum. died Tuesday evening, October 1st, of yellow fever. He had been in charge of the asylum for five years, and during his term of office made a faithful and
lege, Ohio. Thence he was drawn to Richmond, Va., by the residence there of his brother-in-law, and attended one full course of lectures in the Richmond College in the palmy days of Warner, Cullen, Bohannan. and Manpin. But he obtained his medical diploma from the Jefferson school in Philadelphia, where he continued his studies under the auspices and in the office of the distinguished Dr. Thos. HI. Matter. Though his preparation for his profession was so complete, he did not prosecute it long, but. having married quite early, he preferred the life of a planter, and opened a cotton plantation in a very fertile part of Phillips County, Arkansas. Here the late Confederate war found him in the immediate neighborhood of another brother-in-law, General Daniel C. Govan. They both entered unhesitatingly into the Confederate service. and Dr. Ofer, resuming his profession, became known as a surgeon of no mean repute, and was as such quite intimately associated with his friend, Dr. Charles Michel. now of St. Loni -. At the close of the war Dr. Otey settled in Memphis, to devote himself to his profession. and has done so ever since. He has remained faithful during two visitations from vel- low fever, and one from cholera, A fearless sympathy with suffering, and a strong feeling of humanity, have combined with professional esprit to keep him at his post ; and, no doubt. his experience, gained on former fields of duty and of danger, made him the more efficient until he was himself stricken down. Prepossessing in per- son, agreeable and easy in manners, and genial in disposition, he made many strong friends, who, while so deeply lamenting his death, will join with the whole community. whom he has so dauntlessIs and ably served. in doing honor to his memory and spread- ing chaplots over his grave. He was suddenly and sadly made a widower soon after hi- last settlement in Memphis, and leave- an adopted daughter to bemoan her now re- doubled orphanage."
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efficient officer, ever sympathizing with the little ones under his charge, and doing all things to render their home an agreeable one. Mr. Peabody was an active member of the Masonic, Odd-Fellows, and Knights of Honor lodges of this city.
A man and his wife were living in rather an isolated locality. The husband was sick of the fever. The physician made his call about three o'clock in the afternoon, when he found him very low, but the wife, who had undertaken to nurse him, showed, up to that time, no symptoms of the fever. He called the next day, as usual, and found the man had been dead twelve hours, and his wife lay beside the corpse with a burning fever. She had been taken so suddenly and so severely that she was unable to summon assistance.
Mrs. Hood, a widow of some property, died and left two children. The undertakers were about to send her body to the potter's field, when Mr. Sim- mons, who had charge of the Howard nurses, interfered to prevent it. A telegram was sent to Mr. Barnum, of Werne & Barnum, Louisville, who tele- graphed funds for proper sepulture. Two efforts had been made to take the body away during this interval, which had been frustrated; yet while Mr. Simmons was making arrangements necessary to the final disposition of the remains, the poor woman was carted off to the potter's field, or the trenches, and it would be utterly impossible at this day to tell where she is resting. This was caused by demands of the citizens made upon the undertakers. The laws required that bodies should be removed as soon as death had taken place, and the undertakers were several times arrested for the sup- posed violation of this rule.
A man named Donahoo was taken down with the fever. On the fourth day his reason was dethroned, and, invested with the strength born of insanity, he jumped from his bed, drove nurses out of doors, and, seizing a weapon that had been left in the house, attempted to murder his sister. Assistance came before he had accomplished the deed; he was overpowered, and was sent to the county jail a raving maniac.
Avalanche, Oct. 2d. - " Lonis Daltroof, the Howard undertaker, had the most terrible experience of any person who worked through the epidemic period. He has been alone, at midnight, with the rain falling, in the cemetery digging graves and burying the dead without assistance. One night, at twelve o'clock, while the patients were dying so fast at one of the hospitals, that from twenty to thirty corpses would accumulate in the dead-house between the trips of the wagons, he was handed a telegram from some one connected with the house of Menkin & Brother, requesting him to procure the body of a much-respected young Israelite, who had been in their employ, and died, also to bury the deceased in the Jewish cemetery. No time was to be lost if the wishes of the friends of the young man were to be respected. Daltroof repaired at once to the hospital charnel-house, where bodies were piled on top of each other, mattresses and all, just as they died. After working for an hour or more, and removing nine bodies in the last stages of putrefaction, he found the one he sought, and buried it according to instructions, digging the grave himself, and returned to headquarters for duty by four o'clock the same morning."
Aralanche, October 2d .- " New cases in the city and suburbs, ninety-nine. Deaths. thirty-three. The fever has spread until it has embraced within its death -fold every residence within a radius of twelve miles, and the end is not vet. It has branched off and followed the line of railroads running out of the city until it has extended for fully fifty miles. to the north. east and south. Only the west has escaped, and not altogether, for there are several cases of fever in Hopetield."
Among the early victims of the epidemic was a man who, ten years ago,
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became a wreck. Coming to Memphis, where he was surrounded by kindly influences and encouraging friends, he reestablished himself, and deserved and received the respeet of all citizens. His name is unnecessary to the de- tails of his fall, but he sleeps to-day amid the verdure of Elmwood, one of those men of heroic mold, who, like Anteus of old, renewed his strength with each defeat. At the time above stated he was a resident of New Orleans, in which city be mingled with men who are measured by their failings rather than the absence of them, and was identified with the fastest phases of a rapid lite. He was engaged as a wholesale grocer on Tchoupitoulas Street, but outside expenses precipitated their unfailing sequel, and he suspended. For a time he was lost sight of, but at an unexpected period he came to the surface and involved himself in a conspiracy, in which the originator and director was a cotton factor and a former politician. The twain loaded a vessel with what. was represented to be a cargo of cotton. but which was in fact moss, and cleared the venture for Liverpool. While in the Gulf the ship was mysteri- ously burned, the cargo reported lost, and a demand made on the companies which had written policies of insurance for an adjustment. The matter was investigated, the ,losses paid, and deceased disappeared. Soon after the true condition of affairs became known, and efforts were at once instituted for the apprehension of the alleged criminals. For a time the party referred to eluded arrest in the quiet of a side street in Chicago, but his retreat was discovered in the following manner: He cherished an affection for a beautiful Camelia, of New Orleans, who reciprocated, it is said, the feelings he manifested, and when he became a fugitive she was in the habit of posting him as to the situation of affairs in the Crescent City. This came to the knowledge of the Pinkerton Agency, who were upon his track, and their detectives closed in upon him, procured his arrest at the post-office in Chicago as he was receiving a letter from his New Orleans friend, and advised the companies he had defrauded. But he was not prosecuted; the companies recovered 8275,000 of their loss, and ordered his discharge. As stated. he came to Memphis. where he built up for himself a redeemed reputation, and enjoyed the confidence of all who knew him. In the epidemic of 1873 he served as a humanitarian, and per- formed noble work. When the epidemic of 1878 came on, he sought the most exposed position, labored with the courage of a Spartan, sickened and died, and was buried among the first on the long list of heroes the terrible experience just closed gave birth to. Almost at the hour when he was laid away in his grave, Lelia Burton, the New Orleans friend of former days, fell in a faint at the bedside of a fever patient in that city she was nursing, and before aid could minister to her resuscitation she had crossed over the beau- tiful river, and was, it is to be hoped. in paradise.
There was truly a sad sight at the residence of the late Mike Cannon, a member of the old police force, who died early in the epidemic, after a ten hours' sickness. Three of his children, a girl just blooming into womanhood. a lad eleven or twelve years of age, and a little boy about nine years, lay dead in the house at one time, the mother being nearly prostrated with grief.
Through the kindness of Colonel M. Burke, Superintendent of the Memphis and Tennessee Railroad Company, a special train was, on October 7th, fur- nished Mr. J. H. Smith, Secretary of the Howard Association, to take nurses and supplies to the sick at Garner Station, twelve miles north of Grenada. Dr. T. L. Gelzer, of Mobile, was placed in charge as Howard physician. There were twelve cases, as follows: Dr. J. W. Payne, his wife, son, and grand- sun ; three children of P. M. Robinson, Mrs. Dr. Combs. Mrs. H. L. Combs, Mrs. Broom, daughter of J. J. Flack, one colored woman and a colored boy. Dr. Payne and Mrs. H. L. Combs were very sick. The train was hailed and a physician inquired for Me Courtland, to see Captain Knox, reported down with the fever.
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The death of Dr. Nelson, the seven-footer, and of his entire family, was mentioned a few days ago. In the same connection it was mentioned that he was miserly, and possessed a large estate. Whether that be so or not, there is a little story connected with one Hamburger, who gets his comforts through the gratings of the Adams Street sation-house, that may develop something as to the true condition of the man's estate. Hamburger was one of the nurses, and very officiously performed the last sad rites at the demise of the only remaining member of the family, October 5th. A few days later Mr. Hamburger, in company with another of his kind, was seen taking unusual luxury in a hack in company with a couple of colored wenches. His conduct attracted the atten- tion of the police to the extent that he and his party wore pulled, during which there was a mysterious box, which was attempted to be concealed. This box contained a lot of valuable jewelry, which Hamburger claimed was given him by his uncle. He stuck to the " unele" story until pressed to the last extremity, when he confessed that a daughter of Dr. Neison had placed it in his keeping, with written instructions what to do with it. The instructions were in a book, somchow, that the police authorities had taken from him, and would not let him get hold of.
A sul sight might have been witnessed Sunday evening, October 6th. did not the laws which govern in this fearful epidemic forbid the keeping of late hours by those not engaged in caring for the sick. Mitchell Brown, son of the respected Dr. R. F. Brown, Secretary of the Board of Health, died just at sundown, under circumstances that necessitated the earliest possible interment. His triend, the companion of his childhood, Louis Frierson, was present, nearly heart-broken at the loss of bi- bosom friend. Appreciating the circumstances, with a stout heart and determined will he summoned three other persons, Mr. Wm. Lytle, Dr. Chandler, and Captain Harrison, in charge of the Charleston nurses, the four going on foot (no vehicle could be hired for love nor money) to the undertaker's establishment of Messrs. Flaherty & Sullivan, and procur- ing a suitable casket they carried it by the silver handles to the residence of Dr. Brown, on Madison Street, and carefully and tenderly placed the remains in it, closing it ready for the hearse early on the morning of the 7th. It was a sad sight to witness those four friends silently performing the last offices for the departed friend. But this is only one of the many equally as heart-touch- ing events the present epidemic has produced.
Appeal, October 5th. - ". A warning to refugees, in another column, will, we hope, have the attention it deserves from those for whom it is intended. To return now, or at any time before the epidemic is officially declared over, is to court almost certain death. A few of our citizens who did so, in defiance of good advice to the contrary, have paid the penalty of their temerity and are nuw numbered with the dead. Their fate should be a warning and serve to enforce the timely and urgent appeal of the Howard Association, to which we refer all readers of the Appeal at home or abroad."
Little Rock Democrat, October 5th .- " It is with a sad heart we announce the death of Dr. Easley. We have seen our friends dropping daily and dying rapidly. Of the many brave physicians and nurses our Howards have sent to Memphis, this day but a handful remains. Dr. Easley, one of the best surgeons in the United States, and an able physician, one of the first to risk his life in succoring the atilicted of our sister city, died this morning. We had hoped, as he held so tenaciously to life, that he would be spared, but relentless were the fates. He is dead. Mark his grave, ve Knights of Pythias, that in the future a monument may mark his last resting-place. Dr. Easley, we believe, was a native of Mississippi; a graduate of the Madison ( Mississippi) College, a graduate in 1875 of the Louisville Medical College. He first practiced his pro- fession in Dallas, Texas. He came to this city in 1875, and at the time of his
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departure for the fated city, he, with Dr. E. HI. Skipwith, had joint offices in the Gazette building. The deceased was a star in his profession, about thirty years of age, and unmarried."
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