missions, namely, William E. Bunten, Henry M. Caldwell, who died of fever in Falmouth, Va., in 1862, and Andrew J. Stone, who was killed at the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864. Marcus M. Holmes returned a lieutenant and Horace Caldwell was orderly sargeant; Wilbur F. Brown died of starvation at Andersonville, and Benjamin Twiss narrowly escaped a like fate at Libby Prison. He was suffocated in a mine in the Far West not very long ago.

Two young men went to the Spanish-American War who were born in Dunbarton, and had lived here the larger part of their lives, namely, William J. Sawyer, who enlisted in the New Hampshire Regiment from Concord, and Fred H Mills, who enlisted at Marlboro, Mass., in the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, He died in Goffstown, June 26, 1900, of disease contracted in the army.

No railroad touches the town, and probably never will, but an electric car route over the hill has been prophesied.

The mail has always come by way of Concord, and the carrier's wagon has furnished transportation for many people. Hon William E. Chandler drove the mail wagon for a time some fifty years ago. The postoffice was first established in 1817, at the Center; another at North Dunbarton in 1834; a third at East Dunbarton in 1883. In 1899 the free rural delivery system was adopted, giving general satisfaction to the residents.

I have written chiefly of the past history of the town, but I think I may say that the people of the presentday are endeavoring to maintain as good a reputation as their ancestors.

Asiatic Cholera in Manchester, 1849-54.

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CONTRIBUTED BY GEORGE C. GILMORE. (BEING EXTRACTS FROM "TTE RAMBLER,' HENRY H. EVERETT, IN THE MANCHESTER UNION," JULY 12, 1884.)

The first visitation made by the Asiatic cholera to this city was in 1849. The disease broke out in New Orleans in December, 1848, continuing through the entire winter, and extending throughout the greater part of the country the following year. The first cases in Manchester occurred about the middle of July, but owing to the lack of official records it is exceedingly difficult to secure details of the ravages of the epidemic. Hon. Jacob F. James was mayor, and the late Dr. John S. Elliot was city physician. To the best of Mr. James's recollection, the mother of James S. Cheney, the expressman, was among the earliest if not the first victim. She resided on Lowell street, between Birch and Chestnut streets. There were in all 25 or 30 deaths that summer, and among them some very touching cases. A family living on Manchester street consisted of a man and wife and three children. The husband was taken sick at breakfast time, dying within an hour or two, and before noon the wife lay beside him, a corpse. Only one of the children, a girl, was old enough to realize their loss, and her pleadings to see her papa and mamma once mɔre were most pitiful. The mayor exerted himself in their behalf, and they were all three placed in good homes with relatives out of the city.

In a house near the one owned by the widow Wallace on Central street, an Irish woman died. The mayor went to Amherst that morning, having left directions for the immediate interment of the corpse. On his return later in the day he found

the corpse still unburied, and in the street about the premises were gathered hundreds of her fellow countrymen, determined that the funeral should not take place until the corpse had been shrived by a priest. The mayor at once took the matter inc harge. Entrance was made through the crowd into the house, and the coffin containing the body was being borne out by Major Ingham, then a police officer, and another officer named Knowlton, when a number of women threw themselves upon it forcing the bearers to drop their burden. It fell to the floor with a crash, emitting such a stench that it drove nearly every one from the house. The funeral then proceeded without interruption, though nearly a thousand people followed the corpse to the burial ground.

Another case occurred in the rear of Manchester street, and after death the friends of the victim proceeded to "wake" the corpse in the good old-fashioned way. Daniel L. Stevens, then city marshal, went to the house and was actually compelled to drive the "wakers" out of the room by force in order to get to the corpse and have it buried.

On a Saturday evening a man living at the corner of Elm and Manchester streets, where the Straw Block now stands, came into the market kept by Dustin Marshall, on the opposite corher, under what is now the Merchants National Bank, and purchased meat for his Sunday dinner. Before Sunday night the man and his wife both lay dead in the same room. Dr. Thomas Brown attended these cases, and here contracted the disease which was soon to end his own life. During the month of August a number of cholera patients were sent to the city farm or poor house, which then as now was also the house of correction. Between Saturday and Sunday, about the middle of the month, a number of deaths occurred at the institution, and about three o'clock Monday morning, Mayor James was awakened by a patrolman, who told him that Rundlett, the keeper, his wife, and Young, the assistant, had all run away, leaving the patients and criminals to take care of themselves. Mr. James arose and went in search of Dr. Elliot, whom he found sick

and unable to go out, so he went alone to the poor farm, which he found in a horribly filthy condition, both indoors and out. All the day long the mayor labored to straighen out matters, and it was not until nine o'clock in the evening that he felt able to come away, leaving one of the prisoners in charge. He subsequently sent a man by the name of Sherburne to have the charge of the house, and requested Dr. D. F. Stark to attend to the patients. The Doctor sent word to the mayor to send him some Otard brandy, and two gallons were sent up. Under the Doctor's care the patients began to mend, and no more deaths occurred there during the epidemic. The fugitive keeper subsequently returned to the city, and after a rather bitter debate he was reinstated by the officials in charge.

The most wide spread consternation was caused by the death of Dr. Thomas Brown, a very popular physician. He was stoutly-built, of medium height, quite bald, the picture of rugged health, tipping the scales at 200 pounds. As stated before the Doctor attended the cases occurring at the corner of Elm and Manchester streets on a Sunday. The day was intensely hot, and Dr. Brown was accompanied by Dr. Thomas Wheat, now practising here. The odor of the room was very bad, and Dr. Brown went to an open window, and wiping the sweat from his brow he remarked, "This is the devil, ain't it?" an expression quite common with him when a little excited. The following Tuesday or Wednesday he was attacked by the disease and died before noon. The evening previous to his death the Doctor passed Daniel L. Stevens, who was sitting on the steps of his steam mill, on the site now occupied by David B. Varney's foundry. "How are you, Doctor? queried Mr. Stevens, and receiving in reply the laconic expression, "Perfect," a common word with the Doctor. The next morning, about eight o'clock, Mayor James met him on Concord Square, and was greeted with, "Good morning, Mr. Mayor," from the Doctor, who immediately added, "For the first time in my life I am alarmed," The mayor looked at the Doctor, and saw plainly signs of the fatal scourge, mainly in the glazed appearance of his eyes.

which he described as much like the glare of a dead person. He told the Doctor to go into the house at once and he would send a physician. The Doctor lived near the common, and Drs. Gregg and Wheat went to him, but the disease had already done its fatal work, and he died in fearful agony about eleven o'clock in the forenoon. During his hours of suffering his shrieks could be heard away across the Square. The death of Dr. Brown caused more fright than anything that had preceded it, and a feeling of utter despair crept over the community. The afternoon following his death the streets of the city were deserted, and old residents say that from one end of Elm street to the other not a living person was to be seen. The epidemic spent its force in August, and with the advent of fall had entirely disappeared.

The second epidemic made its appearance in Manchester in 1854, as before breaking out in the south several months previous. As in the epidemic of 1849, no published data of any extent is attainable, the city officials, mill management and press combining to keep the matter quiet for fear of interrupting business and keeping operative help from coming to the city. But the scars left by the first visit had hardly healed, and the fears occasioned by it were still fresh in the memory of the people, and so upon the re appearance of the disease the excitement approached very nearly to a panic. No report of a physician appears in the city report of 1854, and but few deaths are recorded in the papers of that year, but the number is variously estimated from one score to four score, the latter estimate by a gentleman who was Noble Grand of an Odd Fellows lodge at the time and an overseer on the Stark corporation, so that his opportunities for obtaining facts were exceptionally good. Yet in view of all the facts obtainable it does not appear as if the mortality was as great as in 1849. Among others others there died, August 20, Elizabeth Duby, who worked for George C. Gilmore on the Stark corporation. She left the mill Saturday afternoon at the close of work, apparently as well as ever. Sunday night the poor girl was borne to her last resting place