July 22, 1793 Ð Sickness ÒNot Yellow Fever,Ó Assures Physician
The inhabitants of our fair towne were yester-day assured by a physician that the unusually great number of recent deaths plaguing the city were Ònot caused by yellow fever.Ó ÒTwo hundred fatalities in three days is a high tally indeed, but the citizenry must not become alarmed,Ó assured Dr. Jamison Dancey yesterday aforenoon at his College of Philadelphia offices. ÒThe yellow fever is a foreign dis-ease, and these dozens of horrid, violent deaths are nothing more than coincidence.Ó
 Philadelphians were relieved at the report, with the scourge said to slay thousands at a single fearsome swipe. ÒIÕve been fretting about my current manner of ailing,Ó related shopkeeper Jonathan Rutherford, weakly grasping a banister as he choked back the urge to vomit. ÒIt must merely be a bit of the ague, is all.Ó His wife, Theresa Rutherford, was also made glad by the pronouncement. ÒWe were going to stay with my sister, up Bristol waye? But now that we know it shanÕt sweep the city like the reaperÕs scythe, weÕll stay right where we are.Ó
Amidst the good cheer, Mayor Clarkson urged a bit of caution. ÒWe must not let our guard down completely, as one cannot be convinced of GodÕs will,Ó he nodded whilst taking his evening constitutional. ÒYet I am duly pleased that experts such as Dr. Dancey have deemed our citizens safe from the dread fever.Ó Jonathan Rutherford seemed quite likely to concur with the mayorÕs summation. ÒI must admit, I have never felt so terrible in all my years,Ó he muttered, shuddering hard as he coughed black spittle into his trembling, jaundiced fist. ÒBut IÕll be up and about soon, of that I can now be sure.Ó |
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