CHAPTER XV
 

u4.RLY in the spring of 1832 the news "went
abroad over the country that Asiatic
cholera, then but little known in this
County, had appeared in Montreal. A
vague alarm was felt which was increased
among the timid and superstitious by the an¬
nouncement in June, of the expected appearance
of Halley's great comet. Men looked forward
with absolute dread to the expected appearance
of its baleful light, connecting it, as it has always
been, with approaching disaster. In Julie the
Governor of the State issued his proclamation,
setting apart the approaching Independence Day
for religious observance, not only in thanking God
for the political liberty we enjoy, but to offer pray¬
ers for its continuance and also that he \\ould
graciously arrest or mitigate the threatened dread¬
ful visitation. Clergymen were requested to read
the proclamation from their pulpits. Towards
the last of the month, Henry Clay offered a resolu¬
tion in the Senate of the United States, asking
the President to appoint a day to be observed as
a day of general humiliation and prayer to Al¬
mighty Gott that he might in his mercy, "avert
from our country the Asiatic scourge, which is
now traversing and devastating other countries.
And should it be among the dispensations of his
Providence to inflict this scourge upon our land,
may it please Him, in His mercy, so to ameliorate
the infliction as to render its effects less disas¬
trous among us." July 4th, that year, was the
quietest up to that time in the history of the
County. The desire to drink toasts was not en¬
tirely suppressed, but in Hagerstown there was
less toast drinking and less hilarity than ever be¬
 

fore. All business was suspended and a large
concourse of people, including flve hundred child¬
ren of the Beneficial Society and the. Sunday
schools, gathered on Potomac street before the
Market House, and marched in procession to the
Lutheran Church to engage in religious exercises.

Before this William D. Bell, the moderator of
the town gave public notice that the cholera must
shortly be expected to appear in the town, and
that under Providence, cleanliness is the best pro¬
tection. Pie therefore exhorted all citizens to
cleanse streets, alleys, gutters, cellars and vacant
lots. Ward committees were appointed to inspect
the town thoroughly and they soon reported that
the town was clean. It was probably due to this
intelligent action of the moderator, that Hagers¬
town escaped so lightly compared with other towns
similarI3' situated.

Meanwhile the epidemic was approaching,
nearer and nearer. In July it was raging in the
great city of New York. Deaths were occurring
at the rate of from seventy-five to a hundred and
fifty a day. It was estimated that not less than
a hundred thousand people had left the city and
fied for safety. Thirty thousand of these had
departed in a single day. The malady came on
with fearful suddenness and often had an equally
sudden termination. The patient would feel an
uneasiness of the bowels with great heat and
intense thirst; then would follow a feeling of
heaviness and weakness, an almost total suspension
of the pulse with a low, weak and very plaintive
voice; then the "rice water'' discharge would take
place, violent vomiting, oppression of the stom¬
ach and an impeded respiration.    The circulation