THE CATASTROPHE OF TWELVE HOURS. 



665 



" Ay, so would I, a thousand times/' said the girl ; " for didn't 

 they cut off the head of poor William's boy, that hadn't got the 

 plague at all, but was only sent to the hospital to be out of the way 

 after his mother's death ?" 



" That they did, indeed," answered the father ; " for I helped to 

 take the poor creature out of its grave, and to carry it through 

 the street headless as it was ay, and had we caught the villains 

 when we broke open the pest-house, every one should have been 

 carried out in the same condition as the poor child ; but the poison- 

 ing rascals had fled, and we could only wreak our vengeance on the 

 walls and furniture of the house, and by breaking that accursed van 

 into atoms."* 



" God save us," said the grand'am ; " Jane at the next door has 

 told me, that no sooner is any one taken in, than the doctors pour 

 down their throats, and have them nailed up in coffins, dead or alive, 

 and carried away while they are yet warm ; and then to think if any 

 of the poor creatures should come to life again !" 



" It's almost too horrible to think of," said the mother, " and if I 

 should have the plague let me die quietly, and not be hurried away 

 with the dread of being murdered on my mind. Perhaps even I 

 might be buried alive, and reviving find myself thrown into a noisome 

 hole amongst many others in the same condition, struggling and 

 screaming to be released. Oh ! it's quite horrible to think of." 



" That you never shall be whilst I have life," answered her hus- 

 band ; " but whoknows if it has not been the lot of hundreds ! for 

 the moment a patient ceases to struggle, after he has been dosed with 

 laudanum, he is taken into the dead house as they call it, instantly 

 nailed up, carried off and thrown into a wide trench amongst the 

 putrefying remains of many others, a few planks drawn over the 

 opening, and not covered with soil till it is nearly filled with 

 coffins."'!' 



" It's very dreadful, and many may have been buried alive. 

 Perhaps poor Mary Jones has met with this shocking fate, and her 

 five little children will be left helpless orphans, for James will never 

 come alive out of the pest-house." 



No time was allowed tor farther conversation, for the bell chimed 

 three-quarters past twelve, and all but the mother and the grand'am. 

 were at once dispersed in pursuit of their various occupations. 



whom attention might probably have saved. One evil effect of this was, that 

 the authorities seldom heard of a case till it was so far advanced, that removal 

 almost invariably hastened death, and thus indirectly hastened the popular 

 opinion, that they were carried away only to be destroyed. 



* An incident like this actually occurred from the "ill-advised conduct of a 

 boy in one of the hospitals, which gave rise to many horrible, though unfounded 

 reports. 



f The most extraordinary tales were afloat of people being buried alive, and 

 of others having been carried off by their friends when pronounced dead and 

 found to be alive ; in fact, a very curious book might be made out of these un- 

 founded stories. 



