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Some desperate measures where taken when the Black Plague hit
London in 1665, here are some things they did:
At
the time it was a rumor that pets carried and spread the plague.
Lord Mayor ordered that all dogs and cats were
to be killed. About
40,000 dogs and about 200,000 cats were murdered just because of a
rumor. (A good
lesson: don't spread rumors!) Not only did people lose
their pets but also the rats had less natural enemies!
People
would have to have a certificate of health to leave or enter the
city.
Doctors or anyone in contact with the victims
of the plague would be
asked to carry a colored staff around the city.
If someone had the plague and the government
know it, the entire
family was held inside their home, until 40 days after the victim died or
he/she recovered.
Guards would watch the home to make sure that no
one left the home and the family was fed (sometimes the family had to
bribe the guard to get them food). One trick that families used to
escape was to lower a noose around the guards
neck and hang him.
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The Heroic little Village of Eyam
The plague broke out in the village of Eyam from a shipment of clothes
from
London. The villagers decided that the only way to save the
villages around theirs would be to stay put and let
the plague run
through their own village. In the end only 33 of the 292 villagers lived
but they saved the many
towns around them and the towns around
those and so on. Even today we honor the villagers and the 259 who
gave
their lives to save possible thousands in the holiday named
"Plague Sunday Service" which is held in Eyam on the last
Sunday of
August.
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