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 CHAPTER XV

PLAGUE DAYS

The early part of 1904 was marked by unusual rain. Johannesburg was simply drenched. For seventeen days together the clouds hung low, and the rain soaked the city. Then the plague appeared. At first, and for some time, the municipal authorities were unable to diagnose the disease, and the needful precautions were neglected. Mr. Gandhi, confident, from his experience in India, that these scattered cases were actually cases of pneumonic plague, and that, under the insanitary conditions of the old location, a condition which, he says, was due to the neglect of the municipality, a severe outbreak might be expected, reported his convictions, and urged them with but little success, until the disaster reached proportions which challenged immediate action. Mr. Madanjit, the publisher of "Indian Opinion", was, at that time, staying in Johannesburg, and on the 8th March, Mr. Gandhi received a note from him, written in the Indian location, full of alarming news. It seemed that Indians were brought in from the mines in numbers, dying