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Imagine it's a cloudy evening in

0:19

mid September seventeen ninety three.

0:22

You're a widow riding in a carriage just

0:24

outside eastern Maryland, one hundred

0:26

miles south of your hometown of Philadelphia.

0:29

You finally left your disease ridden city

0:31

behind. And for the first time in weeks,

0:33

and feel yourself relaxing. You're

0:36

desperate though for hot meal and a soft

0:38

bed, and you're hoping to find a decent in

0:40

up ahead or you can spend the night. You

0:43

startle at the sound of man whooping and

0:45

hollering in the distance. You crane

0:47

your neck out the window, but can't see anything

0:49

in the door. We call out to your servant

0:51

driving the carriage. What's that sound?

0:56

Why are we stopping? All

0:58

of a sudden someone throws open the door to

1:00

your carriage. Strange

1:03

man pulls you out of your seat and shoves you

1:05

to the ground. You try to get

1:07

up, but you trip over your twisted skirts.

1:10

Look for your servant. He's also

1:12

been thrown to the ground. Large

1:14

man with a musket slung over his shoulder

1:16

looms over him. Please, don't

1:18

hurt us. Just take what you want and leave us

1:20

alone. Your taker's upper

1:22

lip curls menacingly as he stares

1:24

down at you. He reeks of vinegar.

1:27

Eastern is closed to Filipians.

1:30

Now

1:30

you understand. You

1:32

thought these men were going to rob you,

1:34

but they think you're contagious with yellow

1:37

fever. So slowly

1:39

you try to sit up holding your hands

1:41

above your head. Please, I'm not

1:43

sick. I'm searching for a safe place

1:45

to ride out the epidemic. We'll find

1:47

somewhere else. We're not gonna let the fever

1:49

invade our town. Well, where am I supposed

1:51

to go? I've already been turned away

1:53

from a tavern in Wilmington. I'm running

1:55

out of options. not my problem.

1:58

I get out of here. You

2:00

stand and make your way back to the carriage,

2:03

but the man steps in your way. not

2:05

so fast. Well, if you won't, let me stay.

2:07

At least let me go. The man

2:09

eyes the luggage piled up in the back of

2:11

the carriage. and lets you spread this

2:13

pestilence? No. Do

2:16

watch in horror as your attacker lights

2:18

a torch and holds it to the wooden

2:20

wheels of your carriage. Your belongings

2:23

are infected, and we can't allow you

2:25

to haul them about the countryside, spreading

2:27

the fever. A go back to where

2:29

you came from, Be thankful we didn't

2:31

burn you too. You

2:35

stare helplessly as the flames all

2:37

your worldly possessions. you

2:39

thought that nothing could be more dangerous than staying

2:41

in Philadelphia, but it's starting to

2:43

feel like nowhere is safe.

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From

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wondering, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this

4:14

is American History Tellers, our

4:16

history. your story.

4:26

And

4:30

so

4:34

Kimber seventeen ninety three,

4:36

yellow fever continued to cut a deadly

4:38

swath through Philadelphia. Thousands

4:40

of residents had already fled to the

4:42

countryside, and many more tried to

4:44

join them. The mistaken belief

4:46

that the disease was contagious caused

4:48

widespread panic and paranoia. Armed

4:51

gangs took to the roads to prevent

4:53

the disease from invading their towns,

4:55

and they had good reason to be frightened. In

4:57

Philadelphia, then the nation's capital,

5:00

Dozens of men, women, and children were

5:02

suffering grisly deaths every day.

5:05

Bodies were left out in the streets to decay.

5:07

Overwhelmed by the misery surrounding him,

5:10

the city's leading physician, doctor Benjamin

5:12

Rush, raced to find a cure.

5:14

But his treatments sparked controversy as

5:16

the debate over what caused yellow fever

5:18

and how to contain it became politicized.

5:21

Only a handful of doctors remained in

5:23

Philadelphia, Local and state government

5:26

officials had already fled, and

5:28

the federal government ground to a halt

5:30

as clerks and cabinet secretaries abandoned

5:32

the city as well. President

5:34

George Washington weighed his options as

5:36

the nation's bureaucracy crumbled around

5:38

him. Philadelphia was

5:40

teetering on the brink of collapse, and

5:42

soon the crisis would fall on the shoulders of

5:44

a handful of courageous citizens who

5:46

refused to stand by and watch their

5:48

city fall apart. This is

5:50

episode two. fears and

5:52

falsehoods.

5:56

As

5:57

the fall of seventeen ninety three approached,

5:59

Philadelphia's

5:59

yellow fever epidemic exploded.

6:02

In the first week of September, the

6:04

number of daily deaths more than doubled

6:07

from nineteen to forty two.

6:09

Whole families were wiped out. Husbands

6:12

deserted their wives and parents abandoned

6:14

their children at the slightest sign of infection.

6:16

Other children were left alone as their

6:18

parents succumb to the disease. These

6:20

orphans were left to wander the streets.

6:23

Many people died alone, especially

6:25

poor residents who lack the funds to pay for

6:27

care. The city's doctors

6:29

got little sleep. They visited

6:31

dozens of fever victims every day.

6:34

And when they returned home, they found their

6:36

waiting rooms full of men and women desperate

6:38

for care. Doctor Benjamin

6:40

Rush had been the first to identify the

6:42

epidemic and the burden of contagion weighed on

6:44

him heavily, and his usual optimism

6:46

began to waver. In a letter to his

6:48

wife, Julia, he admitted, I

6:50

even strive to subdue my sympathy for

6:52

my patience. Otherwise, I should sink

6:54

under the accumulated load of misery. I

6:56

am obliged to contemplate. Doctors

6:59

struggled to devise a treatment that would save

7:01

their patients from the grave. Some

7:03

relied on bleeding and purging. others

7:06

chose a milder treatment known as the French

7:08

cure because it was used in French

7:10

colonies in the Caribbean. Doctors

7:12

administering this method had their patients

7:14

ingest chamomile tea, wine,

7:16

and lauding them. They recommended cold

7:18

baths and rest. The goal

7:20

of this method was to ameliorate

7:22

the worst symptoms of the fever and let

7:24

the body heal itself. But

7:26

Roche tried a different approach.

7:28

When

7:28

he first began treating patients in August,

7:31

he recommended they take cold baths,

7:33

sit in cool air, and eat light meals.

7:35

but he also administered moderate

7:37

purges and bleedings. When

7:39

those treatments failed though, he began

7:41

to experiment. He administered wine,

7:44

brandy, and tinctures, and infusions of

7:46

medicinal tree bark containing quinine,

7:48

a substance used to treat malaria and

7:50

reduce fevers. He wrapped his patience

7:52

in blanket, soaked in warm vinegar,

7:54

and he even rubbed mercury ointment on their

7:56

skin near their livers in hopes of

7:58

purging bile from their

7:59

bodies. but Russia's

8:01

patience continued to die.

8:03

He became desperate writing,

8:05

having alone more witness to the anguish

8:07

of my soul in this awful situation.

8:10

But Roche was convinced there had to be a

8:12

cure for yellow fever. And he

8:14

believed that if any doctor had the skills

8:16

and experience to find it, it was him.

8:18

so he spent his limited spare time in his

8:20

library pouring over books and

8:22

searching for answers. Finally,

8:24

he came upon a manuscript about an epidemic

8:26

of yellow fever that had plagued Virginia

8:29

fifty years earlier. The author,

8:31

a doctor named John Mitchell, argued

8:33

that once a patient's stomach and intestines filled

8:35

with blood, they needed to be emptied

8:37

at once to prevent the blood from turning

8:40

putrid, which would stop the healing

8:42

process. Mitch will urge doctors to

8:44

therefore be aggressive declaring

8:46

any ill time scrupulousness about

8:48

the weakness of the body could be fatal.

8:50

Rush suddenly knew what he had

8:52

to do. He later wrote doctor

8:54

Mitchell in a moment dissipated my

8:56

ignorance and fears. Roche decided that

8:58

his previous methods have been far too

9:00

gentle. He needed to be as

9:02

aggressive as the fever itself. so

9:05

he began using the strongest purge he

9:07

knew. He had his patients swallow

9:09

one third of an ounce of mercury and

9:11

one third of an ounce of a dried

9:13

toxic root jalap. known to have a

9:15

laxative effect. Doctor Rush was

9:17

poisoning his patients to induce

9:19

vomiting and diarrhea emptying

9:21

their stomach and bowels. For

9:23

each of his patients, Russ repeated

9:25

the purge three times every day.

9:28

He also stepped up his bleeding

9:30

procedures, often draining so much blood that

9:32

his patients passed out. But

9:34

Roche was thrilled with the results. On

9:36

September fifth, he wrote to his wife,

9:38

Julia, I now saved twenty nine out of thirty

9:40

patients on the first day of treatment.

9:43

But what rush did not realize was that

9:45

many of these patients likely did not

9:47

have yellow fever and only

9:49

suffered from other less deadly ailments.

9:51

But he assumed everyone he

9:53

treated had yellow fever because the disease

9:55

was so rampant, calling the fever a

9:57

monarchical disorder. So for

9:59

better or worse, he continued to

10:01

push his aggressive treatments on as many

10:03

patients as he could. But there

10:05

were far too many of them in Philadelphia for

10:07

him alone. While rush experimented,

10:09

other doctors grew overwhelmed with a

10:11

growing number of fever victims. City

10:14

officials had set up a makeshift hospital at

10:16

Bush Hill A mansion

10:18

located roughly two miles outside the

10:20

city, specifically to care for fever

10:22

patients. They assigned four physicians to

10:24

staff the hospital but doctors

10:26

visited infrequently, and there were few

10:28

nurses, carters, or gravediggers, to

10:30

provide essential services. City

10:33

leaders knew more help was urgently

10:35

needed. and Rush had an idea

10:37

about where to turn. In seventeen

10:39

ninety three, Philadelphia was home to

10:41

some three thousand black residents

10:43

making up five percent of the population. Though

10:46

slavery was widespread in America at the

10:48

time, both in the north and south,

10:50

the majority of the city's black residents

10:52

were free. Pennsylvania had

10:54

passed a law for gradual abolition

10:56

in seventeen eighty, and many

10:58

formerly enslaved people flocked to

11:00

Philadelphia to exercise their newfound

11:02

freedoms. RUSH was a fierce

11:04

critic of slavery and a close ally

11:06

of the free African society, a group

11:08

that provided financial aid to the city's

11:10

black community. the first organization of its

11:12

kind in the United States. But

11:14

by early September, Russia had

11:16

noticed that few black residents had

11:18

fallen ill. Assuming they were

11:20

immune, he wrote to the free

11:22

African society and asked its

11:24

members to care for the sick and attend to

11:26

the dead. He argued that God had granted them the

11:28

gift of resistance to the fever, and it

11:30

was their duty to use it.

11:32

But Russia's assumption was wrong and

11:34

would have tragic consequences. In

11:37

truth, only a handful of black people were

11:39

immune to the fever because they carried antibodies

11:41

from having been exposed to yellow

11:43

fever in Africa or the Caribbean. The

11:45

overwhelming majority were as much at risk as

11:47

any other resident. The disease just

11:49

simply hadn't reached them yet.

11:51

The free African society was led by

11:53

Richard Allen and absalom Jones,

11:56

two men who were born enslaved, but later

11:58

gained their freedom. They had

11:59

gone on

11:59

to become community leaders, both

12:02

founding black churches in the

12:03

city. Philadelphia's free black

12:06

residents still face discrimination and limited

12:08

opportunities. Most were

12:10

relegated to low paying work as laborers

12:12

or servants. Racism and violence

12:14

remained a threat. And earlier that

12:16

year, Congress had passed a new

12:18

fugitive slave act, empowering slave

12:20

owners to apprehend escape slaves.

12:22

This law made both enslaved

12:25

and free black people vulnerable to

12:27

capture. In short, black Filipians

12:29

had plenty of reasons to be suspicious

12:31

of the local white community. but

12:33

now their white neighbors were asking for

12:35

help. On September

12:37

fifth, the free African society's

12:39

elders gathered to consider Russia's

12:41

request. But before answering the

12:43

doctor's call, they decided to go out

12:45

and visit homes around the city to

12:47

see the fever for themselves.

12:53

Imagine is September fifth seventeen

12:55

ninety three in Philadelphia. You're

12:57

an elder in the free African society.

12:59

and you're spending the afternoon visiting the

13:01

sick. Richard Allen has sent you

13:03

and your fellow elders to take stock of

13:05

the yellow fever crisis and see what

13:07

your society can do to help. You're

13:09

willing to consider doctor Benjamin Russia's

13:11

plea for assistance, but you have reservations

13:13

about putting yourself in danger to help

13:15

the white residents of Philadelphia. especially

13:18

after spending half your life in bondage.

13:20

As you walk by a modest

13:22

brick home, the sound of a pitiful

13:25

moan stops you. knock

13:28

on the door and wait. When

13:30

no one comes to answer, you decide to

13:32

let yourself in. You

13:35

walk down a narrow hallway and turn

13:37

right. entering a small and stuffy

13:39

bedroom. You lift a rag to your nose

13:41

as you spot an ash and faced white

13:43

woman lying on the bed. Your

13:45

stomach drops as you realize she's

13:47

dead. Two scared young girls or

13:49

huddled together in the corner. Oh, girls.

13:51

It's alright. I'm here

13:53

down. your

13:54

gaze falls on a man, sprawled

13:56

out on the floor beside the bed. He's

13:59

half covered in

13:59

black, bloody vomit. you

14:02

rushed

14:02

to his side and tried to help him sit

14:04

up. Come on,

14:05

mister. Let's get you up. You

14:07

reach for

14:08

a picture on the bedside table. poor

14:10

the man a glass of water. Here,

14:13

drink. What's your name? The

14:15

man sips from the glass and gives you a

14:17

grateful nod.

14:18

Henry,

14:18

good to meet you, Henry. and I'm

14:21

very sorry for your loss. The

14:23

man weekly shakes his head and

14:25

his lips barely parted as he tries

14:27

to speak.

14:27

Her yellow eyes She

14:29

wasn't herself at the end. You

14:31

know, I tried to find a doctor, a

14:34

nurse, anyone who could help,

14:36

but

14:36

there was no one. I

14:38

couldn't find anyone. I I

14:40

fail.

14:41

Henry lowers his head and you

14:43

pat his shoulder. You didn't fail

14:45

anyone, sir. It's just not fair what's

14:47

happening in the city. Mister, I'm

14:49

terrified. Who's gonna

14:51

take care of my girls? I can't

14:53

even afford a coffin for my wife. No.

14:55

No. No. Don't you worry about that or a coffin

14:58

for you? You just focus on

15:00

getting better. I'm gonna go get

15:02

help. I'll find you a nurse. arranged for

15:04

burial. You are not

15:05

alone. You shake

15:07

your head at the scene in front of you, and

15:09

the city's

15:09

failure to fight the fever. You've

15:11

heard stories but nothing has

15:14

prepared you for the tragedy in this room.

15:16

Looking at the terrified girls in the

15:18

corner, you vowed to dedicate yourself to

15:20

helping your neighbors. no matter their

15:22

race.

15:27

On

15:27

September fifth, Elders in the Free

15:29

African Society visited more than twenty

15:31

six families. They were shocked by

15:33

the horrors they witnessed. Leaders

15:36

Richard Allen and Epsilon Jones later

15:38

wrote about what they encountered declaring

15:40

many whose friends and relations had left

15:42

them, died unseen and

15:44

unassisted. We found them in

15:46

various situations. Some laying

15:48

on the floor as bloody as if they had

15:50

been dipped in it. The

15:52

Elders decided they would help doctor Rush in

15:54

his efforts. They later declared

15:56

it was our duty to do all the good we could

15:58

to our suffering fellow mortals. The

16:00

next day, Alan and Jones went

16:02

to mayor Matthew Clarkson, to ask

16:04

what the black community could do to help.

16:06

Soon hundreds of black volunteers

16:09

were nursing patients carrying

16:11

coffins and digging graves. Some

16:13

patrolled the streets and found shelter

16:15

for homeless children. Others

16:17

clean sick rooms, wash clothing

16:19

and linens, and went out to purchase

16:21

food and medicine. Rush even taught

16:23

black nurses how to bleed his

16:25

patients. The volunteers accepted

16:27

one or two dollars from those who could afford

16:29

to pay them for a full day of care.

16:31

But because the majority of patients were poor,

16:34

most black nurses cared for the sick for

16:36

no money at all. But

16:38

soon, a controversy erupted. All

16:40

across the city, demand for labor

16:42

exceeded the available supply. White

16:45

residents began to bid against each other for the

16:47

services of black nurses driving

16:49

up prices. Like other

16:51

workers, these black nurses accepted

16:53

higher fees when offered as much

16:55

as four or five dollars a day.

16:57

And at a time when the average income was less

16:59

than two hundred dollars a year, such

17:01

fees were hard to turn down,

17:03

especially after so many nurses had been volunteering

17:06

for little or no pay. But false

17:08

rumors quickly spread that the black nurses

17:10

themselves were demanding to be paid

17:12

exorbitant amounts for services.

17:15

Mayer Clarkson was forced to step in and issue

17:17

a statement declaring his support for the

17:19

black nurses hoping to quell the outrage.

17:22

The black community had stepped up when hundreds

17:24

of white nurses, business leaders, and civil

17:26

servants had fled the city. But

17:28

by mid September, Scores of black

17:31

volunteers also began to come down with the

17:33

fever. Rush wrote, if the

17:35

disorder should continue to spread

17:37

among them, then will the measure of our suffering be

17:39

full? It had become clear that no one was

17:41

safe from the deadly disease. The

17:43

free African

17:43

societies were continued though,

17:45

but as more and more black volunteers

17:48

became sick, their efforts were not enough

17:50

to fill the growing manpower shortage.

17:52

four weeks, Philadelphia's had endured

17:55

unimaginable misery, but the

17:57

worst news was yet to come. Soon,

17:59

the departure of

17:59

Philadelphia's top leader and most

18:02

prominent resident could cause

18:04

morale to sink to new deaths and spark

18:06

an unprecedented political

18:08

crisis.

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21:43

On

21:45

the

21:46

morning of

21:48

September tenth seventeen

21:51

ninety three, George and

21:51

Martha Washington climbed into a carriage in

21:54

Philadelphia and headed south from Mount

21:56

Vernon, their plantation in Virginia.

21:58

In

21:59

total, twenty

21:59

thousand Filipians left the city during

22:02

the epidemic, roughly forty

22:04

percent of the total population.

22:06

but no residence departure disturbed locals

22:08

more than the disappearance of the president.

22:11

Washington was the popular leader of the young

22:13

nation and the hero of American

22:15

independence. And in the early days of the epidemic,

22:17

his presence in Philadelphia

22:19

buoyed spirits. But now his

22:21

sudden departure laid bare the gravity

22:23

of the crisis. Washington wanted to

22:25

send Martha and their grandchildren to Mount

22:28

Vernon without him believing that he had a

22:30

duty to stay in Philadelphia. but

22:32

Martha put her foot down refusing to leave her husband

22:35

behind. Washington relented,

22:37

feeling he could not continue to put his

22:39

family at risk. He also knew

22:41

there was little point in staying with the federal

22:44

government shutting down around him as key

22:46

officials abandoned the city. His

22:48

personal secretary had already

22:50

left, And Washington's most important

22:52

ally in the cabinet, treasury

22:54

secretary Alexander Hamilton, had

22:56

fled after coming down with the fever

22:59

himself. On his way out of Philadelphia, Washington

23:01

met with secretary of state, Thomas

23:03

Jefferson, who announced he was also planning

23:05

to head for his own Virginia plantation.

23:07

The treasury department and custom service

23:10

were closing their doors. Congress

23:12

had been in recess when the first yellow fever

23:15

cases appeared and lawmakers continued

23:17

to stay away from the capital. In

23:19

effect, the federal government had ceased

23:21

to function. But before

23:23

Washington left, he secretary of war

23:25

Henry NOx in charge of what little

23:27

remained of the government. He ordered

23:29

NOx to send him weekly reports about

23:31

the epidemic. But just days

23:33

later, NOx fled the city

23:35

too. He would spend the next two weeks

23:37

quarantined in New Jersey with no

23:39

one left to run the government Washington

23:41

had unwittingly set a constitutional crisis

23:43

in motion. Still, the

23:45

shutdown had little impact on the lives

23:47

of ordinary people. In the early

23:49

days of the republic, the federal government did not

23:52

play a major role in the health and welfare of

23:54

American citizens. Philadelphia's

23:56

looked to their doctors and local officials

23:58

to manage suspended the disease, not

23:59

the president or congress. By

24:02

the time

24:02

Washington left the capital, Alexander

24:05

Hamilton and his wife, Eliza, had

24:07

spent five days recovering from yellow fever at their

24:09

summer home, just a few miles outside of

24:12

Philadelphia. Hamilton was treated

24:14

by his childhood friend from the

24:16

Caribbean Island Saint Roy, doctor

24:18

Edward Stevens. Stevens

24:20

was a proponent of the French

24:22

cure favoring gentler methods over

24:24

bleeding and purging. Steven administered

24:26

doses of aged Maduro y and

24:28

quinine. He ordered the Hamilton's

24:30

to take hold baths before drinking

24:32

glasses of brandy topped with

24:34

burned cinnamon. At night, he sedated

24:36

them with a tincture of lauderum. And

24:38

five days after first contracting

24:40

the fever, Alexandra and Eliza

24:42

had fully recovered. hamilton was so

24:45

impressed by Steven's cure that he was

24:47

determined to promote it far and

24:49

wide. On September eleventh seventeen

24:51

ninety three, hamilton published an

24:53

open letter to the College of Physicians,

24:55

praising Stevens, and recommending his

24:57

methods. He declared, I

24:59

trust that I am now completely out

25:01

of danger. This I am to attribute

25:03

under god to the skill and care of

25:05

my friend doctor Stevens. His

25:07

mode of treating the disorder varies

25:09

essentially from that which has been generally

25:11

practiced and reduces it to an illness of little more than ordinary

25:14

hazard. Hamilton's letter was a

25:16

veiled attack on doctor Benjamin

25:18

Rush whose aggressive method of treatment

25:20

had become standard practice. But

25:22

by weighing in, Hamilton politicized

25:24

the clash in medical opinions.

25:27

Hamilton was one of the leaders of the federalist

25:29

party. But Benjamin Rush was from

25:31

the rival Democratic Republican Party,

25:33

or as they call themselves,

25:36

Republicans. Rush was also a close

25:38

friend of Hamilton's chief enemy,

25:40

Thomas Jefferson. So as time

25:42

went on, most federalist doctors

25:44

followed Stephen's milder methods,

25:46

and most doctors followed Russia's regiment

25:48

of purges and bleedings. Politics

25:51

also infiltrated debates about the

25:53

causes of the epidemic. Republicans

25:55

blame the fever on local factors, the

25:58

poor sanitation and foul air that

25:59

had plagued Philadelphia all summer.

26:02

Such

26:03

an explanation fit the Republican agenda

26:05

of keeping America a rural republic

26:07

made up of small family

26:09

farms. To Republicans, the fever was evidence of

26:12

the dangers of the big city.

26:14

Federalists for their part blame the

26:16

epidemic on ships that arrived from foreign

26:19

ports, Many of these federalists opposed

26:21

immigration and feared the influence of radical

26:23

French politics on American democracy.

26:25

They scapegoated foreigners and used

26:27

the epidemic as an skews

26:29

to block French immigration and trade with French

26:32

colonies. Amid this partisan

26:34

ranker conspiracy theories

26:36

ran rampant. federalists

26:38

accused Republicans of knowing that the fever

26:40

came from French controlled Caribbean islands,

26:42

but plotting a cover up to protect

26:44

their financial ties to the French. They

26:47

claim that Republicans put forth their

26:49

theory of a local cause as part of

26:51

a plan to discredit Philadelphia and

26:53

other major cities. order to move the

26:55

capital to a more rural area. Some

26:57

federalists even spread rumors that

26:59

Republicans had contaminated city wells

27:01

with the disease. But Hamilton's

27:04

letter had other consequences too.

27:06

More people were seeking out Steven's

27:09

gentler treatment. Yet Benjamin Rush

27:11

was insistent that only his

27:13

cure was the right one. He had no

27:14

real evidence to back his claims but

27:17

he viewed any form of doubt or

27:19

criticism as a personal attack, and he

27:21

would

27:21

stop at nothing to persuade his patients

27:23

and defeat his

27:25

critics. Imagine

27:29

it's mid September seventeen ninety

27:31

three in Philadelphia. You were

27:33

a delivery man before the epidemic

27:36

started. but you lost your job when business dried up.

27:38

And now, you've had a fever for the

27:40

past two days. You're lying in

27:42

bed and a pool of sweat.

27:44

fighting off the urge to vomit. And

27:46

how are you

27:47

doing young men? Any better

27:50

since yesterday? You roll over to see

27:52

doctor Benjamin Rush walk into the

27:54

room. You try to sit

27:55

up only to be hit by a wave

27:57

of nausea. You fall back

27:59

in bed. No

28:00

doctor. I'm feeling worse.

28:03

Well,

28:03

no need to fret. I will have you better in no

28:06

time. Rush reaches down into his leather

28:08

doctor's bag to pull out a

28:10

lancet. You flinch at the sight of the small, sharp knife.

28:12

No, not again. You drained

28:14

me dry yesterday. I nearly fainted. Well,

28:16

it will be all worth it once you start to improve

28:18

and I won't it. You weekly point

28:21

to a newspaper on a wooden chair beside

28:23

your bed, gesturing at an article

28:25

at the bottom of the page. No.

28:27

There's there's there's another way. Look

28:29

look here. Can't you give me the cure

28:31

secretary Hamilton Gott?

28:33

Russia's gaze

28:34

narrows.

28:35

Absolutely not. why.

28:37

Cold bath

28:38

and wine sound far preferable to

28:40

bleeding and purging. Hamilton recovered

28:43

completely. Rush Snatches the

28:45

newspaper, takes one look and throws it

28:47

on the floor. Secretary Hamilton

28:49

doesn't know what he's talking about.

28:51

The man thinks himself an expert in everything, but

28:53

did he go to medical school? Does he have

28:55

three decades of experience? No, he does

28:57

not. But but it seemed

28:59

to have worked It's an

29:02

alternative. An alternative. Now my

29:04

treatments are proven, effective.

29:06

They've cured scores of patients. Hamilton's

29:08

doctor is a federalist quack

29:10

and he attacks me because I'm a friend of Jefferson's. Doctor,

29:12

I don't care about politics. I

29:14

just wanna get better. Doctor

29:17

Steven's treatment might work and

29:19

I want a gentler cure. Rush stares

29:21

at you with his piercing blue

29:24

eyes. His

29:24

hands clenched into fists, then

29:26

you better get yourself a new doctor.

29:29

Because if you won't accept my treatments, I

29:31

refuse to have your death on

29:33

my hands. As rush

29:35

leaves, you turn back over in bed,

29:37

wincing for the pain

29:38

in your stomach. You

29:39

hope you are right to question You're

29:42

desperate to recover from the fever, but

29:44

now it seems you've cast aside the only

29:46

doctor who's been helping you.

29:51

Rush grew frustrated as more and more

29:54

Filipians turned to the French

29:56

cure. He blamed his political

29:58

rivals for the trend,

29:59

later writing, colonel Hamilton's letter has cost our city

30:02

several hundred inhabitants. Certain

30:04

that he

30:04

was right and his critics wrong, he

30:07

doubled down on his methods.

30:09

Roche had become so confident in his cure

30:11

that he would tell his patients nonchalantly

30:13

that they have nothing but yellow fever,

30:15

a disease not to be feared and simply

30:18

cured. He was working tirelessly

30:20

visiting dozens of patients a day,

30:22

and his workload was mounting. He

30:24

was only sleeping three to four hours a

30:26

night, and often woke up to find his bed linen

30:28

soaked with sweat. Late on September

30:31

twelfth, he nearly collapsed from

30:33

exhaustion. At last, doctor Benjamin

30:35

Rush had fallen victim to yellow fever

30:38

himself. He

30:38

wrote, my

30:39

body became highly impregnated

30:41

with the contagion. My eyes were

30:44

yellow, and sometimes a yelliness was

30:46

perceptible in my face. But

30:48

Roche continued to work despite

30:50

his illness. He later reflected when it was

30:52

evening, I wished for morning. And when it

30:54

was morning, the prospect of the

30:56

labors of the day caused me to wish for the

30:58

return of evening. Rush

31:00

was battling two enemies, his

31:02

own fever, and other doctors who

31:04

doubted his methods. He believed that

31:06

the epidemic would end only if

31:08

other doctors would simply follow his advice. But

31:11

as more of his colleagues published their

31:13

own writings in support of the French

31:15

cure, he felt increasingly isolated.

31:18

Russia believed that his fellow physicians were plotting

31:20

against him and his critics could be

31:22

fierce. One colleague described Russia's

31:24

mercury purge as murderous.

31:27

These attacks felt personal to rush.

31:29

On September thirteenth, he wrote to his

31:31

wife, besides combating the yellow

31:34

fever, I have been obliged to contend

31:36

with the prejudice's fears and falsehoods of

31:38

several of my brethren, all of which

31:40

retard the progress of truth and

31:42

daily costs are sitting many lives. All

31:44

the while, his own condition continued to

31:47

worsen. On the night of September fourteenth,

31:49

two days after definitively having

31:51

caught the disease Rush

31:53

was returning home after bleeding a

31:55

patient when he suddenly felt

31:57

feverish. He saw more patients the next

31:59

morning, but in the afternoon,

32:01

he suffered a seizure. Rush decided to

32:03

use his own cure, ordering his

32:05

assistance to administer a moderate

32:07

mercury purge and drain his

32:09

blood. It was a milder version

32:11

of the aggressive treatment he prescribed his

32:13

own patients. And within a few days,

32:15

Roche was seeing patients once His

32:18

fever

32:18

and cough lingered, and he had trouble

32:20

climbing stairs. But he took

32:21

his moderate recovery as further

32:24

evidence that his cure worked.

32:26

He wrote to his wife, I have proved upon

32:28

my own body that the yellow fever when treated

32:30

in the new way is no more than a

32:33

common cold. So when news

32:35

of Russia's recovery spread,

32:37

Filipians flocked to his house for

32:39

treatment. He enlisted the help of

32:41

five assistants to meet the

32:43

growing demand. he and his team saw as many as one hundred

32:45

fifty patients every day. They

32:47

bled so aggressively that they started

32:49

running out

32:49

of bowls to hold the blood. They

32:51

had no other

32:52

choice but to bleed patients outside,

32:54

letting the blood flow into the ground.

32:56

But Russia's

32:57

fellow doctors continued to question

32:59

bleeding and purging. Still to

33:01

many residents, Rush was a hero,

33:03

a doctor who had stayed and fought

33:05

tirelessly when so many others had

33:08

fled. Letters of praise poured

33:10

in. and when word spread that rush had

33:12

so little time that he infrequently

33:14

ate, patients began to offer him milk

33:16

and bread when he visited them. A

33:18

local judge wrote, Russia has become the darling

33:20

of the common people.

33:25

But as doctors scrambled

33:26

to treat the sick and dying,

33:28

Mayor Clarkson was trying to lead a city on

33:30

the verge of falling apart.

33:33

TAverns, coffee houses, and markets were deserted.

33:36

Most newspapers had suspended

33:38

operations. Burials took

33:40

place all day and night. They were

33:42

done quickly and quietly with no

33:44

mourners or services. And

33:46

increasingly, there was little chance of

33:48

escape Stage coaches stopped leaving

33:50

the city. Filipians who tried

33:52

to flee face fear and hostility in

33:54

the surrounding areas, Armed bands

33:57

patrolled the roads blocking travelers coming

33:59

from Philadelphia. So

34:01

Clarksons knew it was time for him to take

34:03

more radical measures. soon

34:05

he and other ordinary citizens would

34:07

join together, doing whatever it took to

34:09

save their city from collapse.

34:11

A

34:17

mysterious death happened in April

34:20

twenty twenty two in Lynchburg,

34:22

Virginia. Johnny Cashman's mother who

34:24

lived far away in Maine hadn't heard

34:26

from her son in a few days and started

34:28

to worry. who wasn't like him. She asked the police to go to his

34:30

house for a welfare check where they found

34:32

Johnny on his back with pools of

34:34

blood around

34:36

His death was quickly ruled a medical issue and the case

34:38

was closed. But the family was suspicious

34:40

and demanded an autopsy. They

34:42

were denied, being told to trust the system,

34:45

But when Johnny's ex girlfriend entered his apartment a few

34:48

days after he was cremated, it

34:50

was obvious his death was not a

34:52

medical issue. There was blood

34:54

everywhere. The bathroom looked like a

34:56

murder scene. The generation y

34:58

podcast has spent the past ten

35:00

years breaking down cases like

35:02

Johnny Cashman's. to diving deep into the details and combing through all the

35:04

evidence to find out what really

35:06

happened. To hear the story of Johnny

35:08

Cashman and other incredible cases

35:10

like it, listen to the

35:12

generation y podcast on Amazon

35:14

Music or wherever you get

35:16

your podcasts.

35:18

On the

35:20

morning of Saturday,

35:22

September fourteenth seventeen ninety

35:24

three, Mayor Matthew Clarkson

35:27

walked up the steps to city hall, weaving through

35:29

crowds of vendors, walking medicine, and

35:32

coffins. He was on his way to a meeting that he

35:34

knew might be his last chance to save

35:36

the city.

35:38

For Clarksons, the disease was now more than a matter of public policy. He

35:40

had recently learned that his youngest

35:42

son had died from the fever. Clarkson

35:46

felt like the epidemic was invading

35:48

every aspect of his life. But he

35:50

had no choice but to leave his grief

35:52

at home. he was shouldering

35:54

the burden of a city wide

35:56

disaster. The president and

35:57

the governor were gone. The

35:59

committees that

35:59

normally ran Philadelphia had

36:02

stopped meeting. Most of the

36:04

local courts had closed their

36:06

doors. Only three members of the guardians

36:08

of the poor, the group responsible for

36:10

caring for the underprivileged remained in

36:12

the city. Conditions at Philadelphia's makeshift hospital at Bush

36:14

Hill were dismal. And though black

36:16

volunteers had continued to nurse the

36:18

sick and cart away

36:20

the dead, the work had

36:22

become overwhelming. Clarkson

36:24

knew he could not manage the crisis alone.

36:26

He needed help to run the city,

36:28

so he published an advertisement calling for

36:31

volunteers. That Saturday, some two dozen

36:33

private citizens responded. joining

36:36

Clarksons at City Hall to discuss the crisis.

36:38

The man spoke of the horrors they

36:40

had witnessed around the city and they knew

36:42

what must be done. elected officials had

36:45

abandoned their offices. It was clear that Filipians would

36:47

have to govern Philadelphia

36:50

themselves. So the volunteers

36:52

decided to take the drastic step of forming

36:54

an extra legal group.

36:56

This unauthorized authority would

36:58

be known simply as the committee. The

37:00

committee issued a resolution describing their goal, declaring themselves

37:03

as a committee to transact the whole

37:05

of the business relative to mitigating

37:07

the sufferings of those flicked

37:09

with disorder prevalent in this city.

37:12

Members of the committee had gathered to help

37:14

the sick and give relief to the

37:16

poor, but they soon found themselves

37:18

running Philadelphia. From that day

37:20

on, the committee met daily in city

37:22

hall. It was the sole

37:24

organization managing the crisis. Out

37:26

of necessity, these private

37:28

citizens had, in fact, seized

37:30

control of the local

37:32

government. Mayor Clarkson was chosen as

37:34

president of the committee. The members

37:36

authorized themselves to spend money and give

37:38

orders to fight the fever.

37:40

Their work began at once.

37:42

The committee decided to borrow fifteen hundred

37:44

dollars from the Bank of North

37:46

America. They would use this money to buy

37:48

medicine, supplies, and coffins, as

37:50

well as higher doctors, nurses,

37:52

and gravediggers. There was no

37:54

official

37:54

institution acquiring the loan.

37:56

The committee members would

37:57

borrow the money as individuals,

37:59

making themselves personally responsible

38:01

for the debts they took

38:03

on. This was no small thing, given that

38:05

the majority of the committee members were

38:07

not wealthy, but middle class

38:09

workers and artisans. The committee

38:12

also voted to advance money to poor

38:14

families afflicted by the fever.

38:16

The members created subcommittees to

38:18

divide their tasks taking on

38:20

assignments that matched their skills. A

38:22

coachmaker took on the job of

38:24

procuring carriages, wagons,

38:26

and hers'. A cabinet maker handled the citywide coffin

38:28

shortage. But by far, the

38:30

biggest problem to address was Bush

38:32

Hill, the hospital Philadelphia had come

38:34

to fear.

38:36

It had such a high mortality rate that many prefer to

38:38

suffer in the streets than go to

38:40

a hospital they believe would guarantee their

38:44

deaths. At Bush Hill, patients crowded every corner of the mansion,

38:46

and dead people lay in rooms

38:48

on buried. Doctors visited infrequently.

38:53

And despite the efforts of black volunteers,

38:55

there were not enough nurses to

38:57

provide adequate care. A local

38:59

printer described the bleak conditions

39:01

writing, a sick, the dying and

39:03

the dead were indiscriminately mingled together, not the

39:06

smallest appearance of order or

39:08

regularity existed, It

39:10

was in fact a great human slaughterhouse. Given

39:13

these conditions, the committee decided to

39:15

take charge of the hospital. Two

39:17

volunteers came forward. They

39:19

knew the stories and they understood the dangers

39:22

ahead, but they were nevertheless

39:24

prepared to do the

39:26

seemingly impossible.

39:30

Imagine it's Sunday, September

39:32

fifteenth seventeen ninety three, and you're

39:34

on the rolling hills of an

39:36

estate just outside Philadelphia.

39:38

You're a successful merchant, part of

39:40

the committee fighting the yellow fever epidemic.

39:42

You're walking up the steps to

39:45

Bush Hill, stately mansion recently turned into a

39:47

hospital for fever victims. You've heard

39:49

the rumors that the hospital

39:51

is in shambles. and you're

39:53

here to see

39:55

conditions for yourself. You

39:58

open the mansion's heavy oak

39:59

front door and walk into the

40:02

entryway, pulling your collar up to your

40:04

nose in an attempt to block the

40:06

foul stench that greet

40:08

you. Hello?

40:08

Standing in

40:09

the entryway, you take in the scene in front of

40:12

you. There are some half a dozen patients

40:14

spread out on the stairs and in the

40:16

corridor, but there are

40:18

no nurses. Shaking your head, you walk through a door to your

40:20

left. You step

40:22

inside what looks to be a parlor.

40:26

The chairs have been pushed aside though to make room for bed where

40:28

two men sleep side by side. You

40:30

tap the younger of the two

40:32

on the shoulder. Young man wake up.

40:36

up. The man blinks a

40:38

few times trying to get his

40:40

bearings. He stretches his arms above his

40:42

head and sits

40:44

up yawning. What

40:44

is your name young man? Charles Caldwell, sir. How

40:46

long have you been sick? Caldwell

40:48

gives you a

40:49

blank stare. sick? No.

40:51

No. I'm not a patient. I I'm a

40:54

doctor. I must have fallen

40:56

asleep. I try to catch rest

40:58

whenever I can. You shake

41:00

your

41:00

head and point at the older man beside

41:02

him in bed. And is this one

41:04

of your patients? How is he? Caldwell

41:06

turns over in bed to look at the man.

41:08

pushed his hand on the man's arm, and then

41:11

recoil

41:11

in shock. Oh god. He's ice cold.

41:13

You you fell asleep, beside

41:15

a dead patient, site a dead patient

41:18

He wasn't dead when I lay down. When did you finish your

41:20

training? Well, technically, I'm I'm

41:22

a second year medical student still. I'm

41:26

studying under the best though, doctor Benjamin Rush. I see.

41:28

What about the doctors the mayor

41:31

appointed? Oh, they they never

41:34

show up. One got sick and can't blame him for staying

41:36

away. So you are the only

41:37

one running this place? Caldwell

41:40

nod sheepishly and

41:42

straightens up. how

41:42

many patients are there? Well, I couldn't tell you, maybe a hundred

41:44

between all the deaths and the

41:46

new folks

41:47

being carted in every hour, it's

41:49

impossible to say. I

41:52

make the rounds myself and tend to as many as I can.

41:54

You cross your arms and front you

41:56

to your chest staring at the dead

41:58

man on the bed. Well,

42:00

clearly, there are not enough beds for everyone. We'll

42:02

have to hire a carpenter. But first,

42:04

this place needs to be cleaned, top

42:08

to bottom. and the patient should be separated by how sick they

42:10

are, will hire nurses as

42:12

soon as possible. Caldwell

42:14

looks at

42:14

you skeptically with what

42:16

money, sir, You

42:18

leave that to me. In the meantime, I'd like you to show

42:20

me the rest of the hospital. Caldwell

42:23

straightens his

42:23

shoulders and not. Well, of course, sir, right

42:26

this way.

42:28

You give the young medical student a curtain on back and

42:30

follow him out with the parlor. From

42:32

what you've seen so far, the conditions

42:34

here are even worse than you expected,

42:37

you must do everything in your power to clean

42:39

up this hospital and save

42:41

your neighbors

42:43

from the grave. On

42:47

September fifteenth, two committee members, Stephen Girard

42:49

and Peter Helm visited Bush Hill.

42:51

They were both shocked by

42:53

the conditions they discovered.

42:55

Only second

42:56

year medical student named Charles

42:58

Caldwell was there full time working

43:00

without pay. Caldwell eagerly

43:02

agreed to move into Bush Hill

43:05

after the family he lived with fled the

43:07

city leaving him homeless. But he

43:09

was overwhelmed by the task. And having

43:11

seen the conditions themselves

43:13

Gerard and Helm volunteered to take charge at the

43:16

hospital named Charles Caldwell was there full

43:18

time working

43:20

without pay. Caldwell eagerly agreed to move into Bush

43:22

Hill after the family he lived with fled the

43:24

city leaving him homeless.

43:26

But he was overwhelmed by

43:28

the task. And having seen

43:30

the conditions themselves, Gerard

43:32

and Helm volunteered to take charge at the

43:34

hospital at once. Helm was a

43:37

devoutly religious man a barrel maker known for his kindness and

43:39

strong work ethic. Gerard was a

43:42

wealthy French born merchant

43:44

and importer, Though blind

43:46

in one eye, Gerard was a master

43:48

organizer who approached challenges with

43:50

calm determination. He had the money to

43:52

flee the city, but unlike most members of his

43:55

class, he stayed behind and

43:57

continued to work. The first thing

43:59

the pair

43:59

of committee

43:59

members did was have the mansion

44:02

thoroughly cleaned. then they procedures

44:04

for admitting patients and carting

44:06

away the dead. Then they place patients

44:08

into separate rooms depending on

44:11

how sick they were. They soon found a

44:13

carpenter to build beds and set up an area

44:15

for constructing coffins. They arranged housing for

44:17

the staff and repaired the

44:19

mansion's water pumps. Then

44:21

they address the staffing shortage, hiring

44:24

nurses in attendance to triage the

44:26

sick and carry out the dead.

44:28

Crucially, Helman Gerard also

44:30

hired a full time position,

44:32

doctor

44:32

Jean Daves. Daves was

44:34

a Frenchman who had extensive experience

44:36

treating yellow fever in the Caribbean.

44:39

He had contracted the disease twice

44:41

himself, and he rejected the idea that

44:43

yellow fever was contagious. He

44:45

also rejected Benjamin Russia's

44:48

aggressive treatments preferring to administer wine and quinine to his

44:50

patients as well as nourishing foods like

44:52

creamed rice and

44:54

chicken broth. Gerard,

44:56

Helm, and Davaz soon brought order and efficiency to

44:58

Bush Hill. One local doctor

45:00

described the hospital's improved reputation

45:04

declaring No

45:04

sooner was a person affected with a headache, he became anxious to

45:07

be removed to Bush Hill.

45:09

Besides transforming Bush

45:12

Hill, The committee also lent money to scores of poor families

45:14

and cared for two hundred orphans, but

45:16

the committee could not halt the fever

45:20

spread. Daily deaths were climbing, burial

45:22

grounds were filling up.

45:24

Philadelphia was a city cut off

45:26

and isolated, fighting for

45:28

its very survival. And as long

45:30

as the epidemic persisted in the nation's

45:32

capital, the young government of the

45:34

United States remained paralyzed.

45:36

On the next

45:38

episode of American History Tellers,

45:40

as the death toll climbs, doctor

45:42

Benjamin Rush continues to fight with

45:45

his colleagues The epidemic leads to soaring crime

45:47

and a crippling eviction crisis and

45:49

alone and out of touch at Mount

45:51

Vernon, president Washington tried to

45:53

avert a constitutional

45:56

crisis. Hey, Prime members.

45:58

You

45:58

can

45:59

listen to

46:02

American ad free on Amazon Music. Download the

46:04

Amazon Music app today, or you

46:06

can listen ad free with wonder plus

46:08

and Apple

46:10

podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short

46:12

survey at wundery dot com slash

46:16

survey. American

46:18

history tellers is hosted, edited, and produced

46:20

by me Lindsey Graham for airship, audio

46:22

editing by Molly Bock, sound

46:24

design by Derek Behrens, music by Lindsey

46:27

Graham. This episode is written by Ellie Stanton, edited by

46:29

Doreen Marina produced by Alita

46:31

Rosanski, our managing producers

46:33

of Catonja Thick and Matt

46:35

Gant. Our senior producer is Andy Herman, executive producers are Jenny

46:38

Lauber Beckman and Marshall Louie

46:40

for wondering.