Union troops took the town. After
the War the "Avalanche" was started up again, and had a stormy time of
it, because it criticized a Carpet-bag judge who had come to Memphis. In
1889 the "Avalanche" was consolidated with the "Appeal," another famous
ante-bellum journal, surviving to-day in the "Commercial-Appeal," a
strong newspaper, edited by one of the ablest journalists in the South,
Mr. C.P.J. Mooney.

When Memphis was captured the "Appeal" would have been suppressed, as
the "Avalanche" was, had it been there. But when it became evident that
Memphis would fall, Mr. S.C. Toof (later a well-known book publisher)
who was then connected with the "Appeal," packed up the press and other
equipment and shipped them to Grenada, Mississippi, where Mr. B.F. Dill,
editor of the paper, continued to bring it out. When Grenada was
threatened, a few months later, Mr. Dill moved with his newspaper
equipment to Birmingham, where for a second time he resumed publication.
His next move was to Atlanta. There, when he could not get news-print,
he used wallpaper, or any sort of paper he could lay his hands on. When
Sherman took Atlanta the "Appeal" moved again, this time to Columbus,
Georgia, where, at last, it was captured, and its press destroyed.
Wherever it went it remained the "Memphis Daily Appeal," with
correspondents in all southern armies. No wonder a paper with such
vitality as that, has survived and become great!

Poor Memphis! After the War she had Reconstruction to contend with;
after Reconstruction, financial difficulties; after that, pestilence. In
1873, when the population of the city was about 40,000, and there had
been a long period of hard times, yellow fever broke out. The condition
of the city was exceedingly unsanitary, and after the pestilence had
passed, was allowed to remain so, though at that time the origin of
yellow fever was, of course, not known, and it was assumed that the
disease resulted from lack of proper sanitation.

In 1878 there was another yellow fever epidemic. The first case
developed August 2, but the news was suppressed until the middle of the
month, by which time a number of cases had come down. The day after the
news became known 22 new cases were reported. Terror spread through the
town. Hordes of people tried to flee at once. Families left their houses
with the doors wide open and silver standing on the sideboards. People
flocked to the trains; when they could not get seats they stood in t