Stanton, Edwin McMasters (1814-1869) to Jeremiah S. Black
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02229 Author/Creator: Stanton, Edwin McMasters (1814-1869) Place Written: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 24 September 1854 Pagination: 2 p. : docket ; 21 x 13 cm. Order a Copy
Informs Black of the cholera epidemic in Pittsburgh, and warns him not to return to the city until it has abated. States a hundred people a day are dying. Jeremiah S. Black was chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and later U.S. attorney general and Secretary of State.
Excerpt:
"The cholera has been more fatal since I wrote to you, the reported deaths on Thursday and Friday being each day a hundred or over. Saturday there was some abatement there not being over fifty - and yesterday about forty. But there is no reason to believe that a decided improvement has taken place…for the cases that occur are as malignantly mortal as ever, and many of them among those who are well cared for & provided. Unless there shall be a more decided improvement I do not want to see you here next Monday for several cases have occurred of travellers and strangers who have met their death by stopping in the city. And members of the Bar ought not to be brought from their homes under present circumstances. If my health continues good I will advise you during the week as to the true State of affairs for no reliance whatever can be placed on the papers. Your friends generally are well."
Jeremiah S. Black was Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and later United States Attorney General and Secretary of State.
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