Chapter Eight: this Unmerciful Enemy Summary and Analysis

Saturday, October 12. Conditions were worsening. Even Dr. Rush understood that Philadelphia was on the verge of total collapse. The week of October 7th saw another 283 deaths from the plague. The Reverend J. Henry C. Helmuth paid daily door-to-door visits to the sick and dying. On one block alone, he counted forty dead. The Reverend Helmuth would respond to the shrieks and calls of the dying. He was convinced that Philadelphia had brought on the plague. God had punished the city for a "merry, sinful summer" (p. 80).

No matter what precautions people took, the infection spread. One man lost his wife and three children and a grandchild. He married again, and lost his second wife to the disease. The man succumbed himself a short while later. Crime was up and rioting broke out. Medications...