Jim Murphy

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Published by: Clarion Books
Release Date: June 23, 2003
Pages: 176
ISBN13: 978-0395776087

 
Overview

The summer of 1793 was so hot and humid that the swamps around Philadelphia turned to muddy puddles and swarms of mosquitoes filled the air. As the church bells tolled, it was becoming clear — the city was being ravaged by an unknown killer.

Long before SARS and West Nile virus, Yellow Fever was a medical mystery that forced thousands in the nation’s temporary capital to flee and brought the workings of the federal government to a virtual halt. This is a riveting account of this country’s first large-scale medical epidemic.

This is the story of how half the city’s residents fled and half of those who remained died; neighboring towns, cities and states barricaded themselves; Washington himself fled, setting off a constitutional crisis; and bloodletting caused blood to run through the streets. It is also the story of a little known chapter in Black History in which free blacks nursed the sick only to be later condemned for their heroic efforts.

Meticulously researched, first-hand accounts, newspaper clippings, death lists, and period engravings recreate the fear and panic while exploring the political, social, cultural, medical and scientific history of the times. A final chapter explores the causes of the epidemic and provides a wake-up call about the potential for epidemics today.

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Praise and Awards

2004 ALA. Newbery Honor Book Award
2004 ALA. Robert F. Sibert Informational
Book Award
National Book Award Finalist Medal
NCTE Orbis Pictus Award
An ALA Notable Children’s Book
A YALSA Best Book for Young Adults
A SLJ Best Book of the Year
Blue Ribbon, Bulletin of the Center for
Children’s Books
An Editor’s Choice, Kirkus Reviews

“Nobody does juvenile nonfiction better than Murphy.”
—The Washington Post

“A mesmerizing, macabre account that will make readers happy they live in the 21st century. Powerful, evocative prose carries the compelling subject matter. Stellar.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred)

“Superbly written…extremely accessible and readable. Represents nonfiction at its best.”
—Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

“Murphy chronicles this frightening time with solid research and a flair for weaving facts into fascinating stories.”
—School Library Journal (starred)

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Excerpt

Chapter One

NO ONE NOTICED

About this time, this destroying scourge, the malignant fever, crept in amount us.
—Mathew Carey. November 1793

Saturday, August 3, 1793. The sun came up, as it had every day since the end of May, bright, hot, and unrelenting. The swamps and marshes south of Philadelphia had already lost a great deal of water to the intense heat, while the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers had receded to reveal long stretches of their muddy, root-choked banks. Dead fish and gooey vegetable matter were exposed and rotted, while swarms of insects droned in the heavy, humid air.

In Philadelphia itself, an increasing number of cats were dropping dead every day, attracting, one Philadelphian complained, “an amazing number of flies and other insects.” Mosquitoes were everywhere, though their high-pitched whirring was particularly loud near rain barrels, gutters, and open sewers.

These sewers, called “sinks,” were particularly ripe this year. Most streets in the city were unpaved and had no system of covered sewers and pipes to channel water away from buildings. Instead, deep holes were dug at various street corners to collect runoff water and anything else that might be washed along. Dead animals were routinely tossed into this soup, where everything decayed and sent up noxious bubbles to foul the air.

Despite the stench, the streets nearby were crowded with people that morning – ship owners and their captains talking seriously, shouting children darting between wagons or climbing on crates and barrels, well-dressed men and women out for a stroll, servants and slaves hurrying form one chore to the next. Philadelphia was then the largest city in North America, with nearly 51,000 inhabitants; those who didn’t absolutely have to be indoors working escaped into the open air to seek relief from the sweltering heat.

In all aspects it seemed as if August 3 was a very normal day, with business and buying and pleasure as usual.

Oh, there were a few who felt a tingle of unease. For weeks an unusually large supply of wild pigeons had been for sale at the market. Popular folklore suggested that such an abundance of pigeons always brought with it unhealthy air and sickness.

Dr. Rush had no time for such silly notions, but he, too, sensed that something odd was happening. His concern focused on a series of illnesses that had struck his patients throughout the year – the mumps in January, jaw and mouth infections in February, scarlet fever in March, followed by influenza in July. “There was something in the heat and drought,” the good doctor speculated, “which was uncommon, in their influence upon the human body.”