Chapter Three: Church Bells Tolling Summary and Analysis

Sunday, August 25. An exodus from the city had begun on fears of the spreading illness. The scavengers cleaned up the streets but it took longer than expected because many of these men had fled the city. Every toll of the church bells sent more people scrambling to get out of Philadelphia. Historians estimate that as many as 20,000 people of the city's 51,000 population left town during the plague. It was mainly the poor who didn't have money or options who stayed behind.

One wealthy person who stayed behind was Mayor Matthew Clarkson. The mayor was sixty years old and had nine children he was still raising. His position was mainly honorary and included no real power to enact laws. The yellow fever had taken his wife and youngest child. But Clarkson felt duty-bound to...