Black Plague in San Francisco!
THE Chronicle of May 2 gives an account at length of the death of a young woman, Anastasia Dee, of what appeared surely to be the black plague. The attending physician bears a good reputation for candor and ability. He says he never saw a similar case,—the disease was new to him; but from the description of the black plague, he has no doubt it is clearly a case of that disease. The report says:— “On Tuesday she was feeling too unwell to work, and she sent for her brother. He called for her with a carriage. She walked to the carriage, rode to the house of her sister, Mrs. Edward Sass, No. 1025 Folsom street, and when she arrived there she walked from the carriage to the house. She was weak, but had no other evidence of illness. This was at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. An hour later she was seized with dreadful pains in the chest and abdomen, and a physician, Dr. E. O. Schmidt, of No. 722 Folsom street was sent for, and he saw her at 6 o'clock. She was then suffering frightfully, but was conscious, and remained so until 7 o'clock. At 8 o'clock she died. Soon after death the body assumed a very dark copper color, with here and there a large number of spots of a still darker hue.” The doctor said, “I gave the cause of death in the certificate as typhus petichialis, and fully believe it to be such. It was the same as the pest.” At the time of her being taken with sickness she was residing with a Russian lady, having been in her employ three or four months. It is supposed that the disease was conveyed from Russia by letter, as it has been thus communicated in Asia. If it was really the black plague, there is no reason why it should not spread in such a place as San Francisco. Later we learn that the health officers are using every precaution to prevent the spread of the pest.