CHAP. IX- Extravagant Letters from Philadelphia. Credulity put to the test.
That I might not interrupt the chain of events in Philadelphia, I have deferred, till now, giving an account of the proceedings in the several states, respecting our fugitives. As an introduction thereto, I shall prefix a short chapter respecting those letters, which excited the terror of our neighbours, and impelled them to more severe measures than they would otherwise have adopted.
Great as was the calamity of Philadelphia, it was magnified in the most extraordinary manner. The hundred tongues of rumour were never more successfully employed, than on this melancholy occasion. The terror of the inhabitants of all the neighbouring states was excited by letters from this city, distributed by every mail, many of which told tales of woe, whereof hardly a single circumstance was true, but which were every where received with implicit faith. The stresses of the city, and the fatality of the disorder, were exaggerated as it were to see how far credulity could be carried. The plague of London was, according to rumour, hardly more fatal than our yellow fever. Our citizens died so fast, that there was hardly enough of people to bury them. Ten, or fifteen, or more were said to be cast into one hole together, like so many dead beasts.1 One man, whose feelings were so composed, as to be facetious on the subject, (Page 46) acquainted a correspondent, in New York, that the only business carrying on, was grave digging,2 or rather pit digging. And at a time when the deaths did not exceed from forty to fifty daily, many men had the modesty to write, and others, throughout the continent, the credulity to believe, that we buried from one hundred to one hundred and fifty.3 Thousands were swept off in three or four weeks.4 And the nature (Page 47) and danger of the disorder, were as much misrepresented, as the number of the dead. It was said, in defiance of every day's experience, to be as inevitable by all exposed to the contagion, as the stroke of fate.
The credulity of some, the proneness to exaggeration of others, and I am sorry, extremely sorry to believe, the interested views of a few, will account, for these letters.
2 From a New York paper of October 2. Extract of a letter from a gentleman in Philadelphia, dated Sept. 23. "The papers must have amply informed you of the melancholy situation of this city for five or six weeks past. Grave-digging has been the only business carrying on; and indeed I may of late, pit-digging, where people are interred indiscriminately in three tiers of coffins. from the most accurate observations 1 can make upon matters, I think I speak within bounds, when I say, eighteen hundred persons have perished (I do not say all of the yellow fever) since its first appearance."
3 From the Maryland Journal, of Sept. 27. Extract of a letter from Philadelphia, dated Sept. 20 . "The disorder seems to be much the' same in this place as when I last wrote you: about, 1500 have fallen victims to it. Last Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, there were not less than 350 died with this severe disorder. As I informed you before, this is the most distressed place I ever beheld. Whole families go in the disorder, in the course of twelve hours. for your own sakes, use all possible means to keep it out of Baltimore."
Extract of a letter from 'Philadelphia, of the same date. "The malignant fever which prevails here, is still increasing. Report says, that above one hundred have been buried per day for some time past. It is now thought to be more infectious than ever. I think you ought to be very careful with respect to admitting persons from Philadelphia into your town."
4 From a Chestertown [Maryland] paper, of Sept. 10. Extract of a letter from a respectable young mechanic, in Philadelphia, to his friend in this town, dated the 5th inst. "It is now a very mortal time in this city. The yellow fever hath killed some thousands of the inhabitants. Eight thousand mechanics, besides other people, have left the town. Every master in the city, of our branch of business, is gone." [Comment by Carey: The 'some thousands' that were killed at that time, did not amount to three hundred. The authentic information in this letter, was circulated in every state in the union, by the newspapers. From the date, I suspect this letter to have been the occasion of the Chestertown Revolves.]
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