Date: February, 2002 Byline: Michael Angelo The Death of "Yellow
Jack" Michael Angelo is the University Archivist, Thomas
Jefferson University. Click the link above to see the original
article, with photographs. "It is too distressing and affecting
a scene, for a person young in life to bear." So wrote 23-year-
old law clerk, Isaac Heston, of the epidemic yellow fever, which
ravaged his hometown of Philadelphia. He himself died ten days
after penning this in 1793. By the time the flu abated, Heston
was one of almost 5,000 citizens, one-out-of-ten, to die. Yellow
fever (an acute infectious disease characterized by jaundice,
fever, vomiting and hemorrhaging) was always a reoccurring
element in American history. Its most virulent visit began,
according to Heston. "...in late July, 1793, in the alleys and
dim, crowded houses along Water Street, near the docks. Panic
ensued and those that could afford to leave the city sought
refuge in outlying communities. Many lawyers remained busily
drafting wills an settling le