On Tuesday (2/26/08), listeners who were tuned to National Public Radio’s Morning Editon heard the bell toll at Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis. For insight into the yellow fever epidemics of the 19th century, NPR turned to Memphian Molly Caldwell Crosby, author of “The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic that Shaped Our History.”

At Elmwood, every time a yellow fever victim was buried, the cemetery keeper's young daughter, Grace would ring the bell. In a recounting of the terrible 1878 outbreaks of the disease in Memphis, Crosby remarks "We are standing over 1,400 bodies right here. This was a large mass grave. The gravediggers were burying over 50 people a day."

Listen to this fascinating program at the NPR Web site http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19241319. You can also read an excerpt from Crosby's book there.

The Commercial Appeal's Fredric Koeppel reviewed Crosby's book, "The American Plague" when it came out in 2006. He begins: “Imagine a city turned into a charnel house. Streets are silent and empty except for stacks of coffins waiting for the dead to be carried from their dwellings, if anyone is alive to carry them.”

For his complete review: Read the rest of this entry »