Notes from a Stricken City.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 270, 12 November 1892, Page 3 (Supplement)

Notes from a Stricken City.

By a Visitor to.Hamburg,

We had hoped for a happy summer holiday in Hamburg, and up, to ) the , middle of August our expectations bad been fairly realised. The weather was brilliant, the town was gay ; there was no presentiment of misfortune. Theu> came a rumour that something was wrong. Tho word cholera began to be whispered, and on.the 22nd our landlany came in with the announcement thab a man had died of it next door. It is an instinct of human nature under such circumstances to rush to a chemist; for disinfectants, and a few minutes later we were in the streets on thab errand. The shops were already besieged by an anxious crowd, whose scared faces told clearly enough that the case so Dear to us was no isolated one. In thestreets men seemed to walk with quickened pace, looking anxiously at one another as if each feared to read in his neighbour's face the signs of death. And so the weary, anxious days dragged on. Death was in the air, and go whore one would there was bub one all prevailing topic of conversation. In private houses, in the half empty cafes, and in all places of resort, the only news was the latest number of victims. This great and wealthy town was all unprepared for ita awful visitor, and while the means at the disposal of the authorities were totally inadequate to the strain, there was a general uncertainty as to the exact nature of the foe which was to be fought, and whib should be the means. As an example, I may mention that aba certain dinner-table, where tho guests were presumably intelligenb and well-informed, I heard in positively stated thab nothing should be tasted bub what was hot, while ab another it was absolutely asserbed thab all food and drink should be cold. The general alarm was notably heightened by a feeling of wanb of confidence in ' the authorities. Why, ib was asked, had they allowed tho disease to rage for days before an announcement was made? Why were nob bhe Russian Jews shut off from Hamburg ? And the like. Ib was in particular againsb bhe Medical Inspector-General thab popular feeling was strongest Ho lived away in Rheinback, it was said, knew nothing of the real state of the town's sanitary condition, and had falsely tinder-estimated the numbers of the sick and dead. Among tbe organs of the press there was considerable divergence as regards these numbers. The 'Hamburger Nachrichten,' tho National Liberal paper, and the Conservative ' Correspondent' said comparatively little aa regards the cholera, Ib wus lefb for the waspish little ' General Anzeiger,' an evening paper which haa an enormous circular tion, and costs its subscribers 6d per month, to ventilate the complaints against the authorities, and to tell the public that tho official figures were false. The gloom was deepened by the closing ot all theatres, music-halls and the like, and the usually so gay Sanct Pauli was dark and deserted as the suburb of a town whose greatness is', vanished. Greater and greater grew the number ot the transport waggons and, carriages for sick and dead. A, walk by .the .pleasant Alater or along any of' Hamburg's streets was a dismal and a dreary thing. Of one's fellow-men there was a paucity, bob instead in quick succession would pass by tbe dead-carts,.some-times stopping immediately in front of one \ to take in an addition to their ghastly burden. Then came the terrible reports as to the condition of the dead-house, reports which seemed sadly enough to find confirmation from eyo-witnessos. here in Hamburg. Hotels were empty, shops without Customers, beerhouses deserted. The streams of fugitives, leaving the stricken city grow and grew,, and the railway stations were crowded. The risk they incurred was shown to be very great by the number of doatha occurring among those who bad lefb their homes. Several cases are reported in which a business man having sent away wife and children, himself remaining in Hamburg, has lost both, while he himßolf survives. I rayself was one Of those who judged it better to remain and take all necessary precautions than to run all the innumerable risks involved in travelling by rail or boob. During these firsb days there was a terrible suffocating beat that made tho day a misery and the highb a tormenb. The very air seemed pestilential, and often I returned half-choked froma brief walk. Standing late upon my balcony and looking oub into the nighb, ib almosb eeemed as though I could hear the Angel of Death crying doom to bhe ciby beneath. Then the silence would, perhaps, be broken by the rumble of the death-cart,;often conveying corpses from homes in one's own street; and, sickened, I would turn to my bed execrate the heat, and vainly seek repose. I do nob bhink thab I shall evor forgob bhe impressions of those awfal days.

Now, as I write, things are better. The heat went, and with its disappearance came a general sense of relief. Ab the same time the authorities became batten' able to grapple with the difficulties of the situation. < We gained precise information, as to how we should live, and the people ceased to drink the abominably polluted water of the Elbe. A feeling of security has grown, and Hamburgers Are to be complimented on the plucky way in which they have conducted themselves after the flrab ifaOck was over,