THE DREADED PLAGUE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLIII, Issue 9787, 1 February 1923, Page 5

THE DREADED PLAGUE

SMALLPOX IN GREECE.

DEATHS AT CHURCH SERVICE.

TERRIBLE PLIGHT OF REFUGEES

(Per Press Association, CopyngM.) (Received This Day, 10.25 a.m.) LONDON, January 31. ; The "Daily Express" reports thai worshippers suffering from smallpox, complicated by meningitis, dropped dead in two churches at Piraeus on Monday. The congregations fled panicstricken into the streets. Crowds had flocked to the churches for Holy Trinity and to pray for deliverance from the plague. Two men fell dead directly after the Consecration, while the Sanctus bell was ringing. Those near by shrank back and then tried to leave the church unnoticed, but a panic spread and soon the congregation became a howling mob. The priests were left in the church with the dead. The two congregations met in the streets, thus increasing the panic. Thousands of sick refugees are now living at quarantine stations on St. Georges, which is now known as' "Death Island." They are huddled in tents, built against the rock, with only five small huts for the , doctors.; The island is without water supply and it is feared the sick on the island will all die unless doctors and drugs are: sent. ~-.'•.

[Pirastfs, also called Port Draco, has been the harbour of Athens since the ;days of Pericles, who, with Cimon before him, built the three long walls that connected it with the capital, and so ensured a safe passage from one to the other. Its fortifications were destroyed by Sulla in 86 8.C., and from that time the town sank into decay. The modern Piraeus which has grown up since 1836 is a mean-looking place, with a naval and military school, arsenal depots, and some manufactures. A railway connects it with Athens and with the north of Greece.]