Category Archives: Clay County

Smallpox Epidemic, Part XXVII

NOT SO MANY CASES
Rigor of Quarantine Checks Smallpox
at Clay City.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
CLAY CITY, Ind., Feb. 9. – There has been a perceptible decrease in the number of smallpox cards within the last week, due to the great stringency of the quarantine. Owing to the mildness of the disease a few persons fail to give Health Officer Modesitt the support due him. At one place where quarantine exists the persons quarantined drink from a dipper chained to a pump on the sidewalk, and many other persons drink from the same dipper. A few who have not had the disease deliberately go into quarantined places for milk and butter. The Griffith family was quarantined on account of a boy fourteen years old. The quarantine was lifted at the end of fourteen days, and a few days later it was accidentally discovered that the boy’s father and mother were sick, and again the house was carded. To-day the boy was running about the streets in the south part of town. He was reported to the health officer, who will take steps that will prevent a repetition of the act and perhaps deter others from doing the same thing.

A young man named Drummond was on the streets Tuesday broken out with the disease and several persons chased him away. On the following day the house was carded. It is reported that the quarantine will be made more rigid from this time on. The disease has been in about 150 families, and it is estimated that it will average three cases to a family.

Soldiers’ Home Quarantined.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
DANVILLE, Ill., Feb. 9. – On account of a well-developed case of varioloid in the Danville National Soldiers’ Home that institution was put under rigorous quarantine at 6 o’clock this evening.

“Not So Many Cases,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 10 February 1900, p. 5, col. 5; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).

Smallpox Epidemic, Part XXVI

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BETTER CONDITIONS
Prevail at Clay City Now in Regard
to Smallpox

The State Board of Health received a letter from Dr. Modesitt, health officer of Clay City, in which he states that the local Board of Health is gradually conquering the epidemic, and he thinks it will only be a short time until the disease will be thoroughly eradicated from the town. As evidence of the good work that has been done by a close observance of the quarantine laws, Dr. Modesitt states that, on Jan. 25, there were sixty-five houses which were quarantined in Clay City, and one hundred patients, whereas, on Feb. 8, there were but forty houses quarantined, with seventy-one cases.

Four Cases at Albany

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
PORTLAND, Ind., Feb. 8. – At a conference of the City Council, School Board and county and city health officers, held in the Council room to-day, measures were taken to have a rigid quarantine in effect against the town of Albany, where four cases of smallpox are said to exist. The School Board was also directed to have all pupils vaccinated. Two persons – Mrs. Guy Gilbert and Miss Clara Smith – have come in from Albany, both being placed in quarantine until all danger of contagion is past. Officers have been posted to watch the trains and roads.

“Better Conditions,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 8 February 1900, p. 8, col. 4; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).

Smallpox Epidemic, Part XXV

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ONE CASE AT ALBANY

Is Reported to the State Board –
Cases in Jackson County.

One new case of smallpox was reported to the State Board of Health yesterday from Albany, Delaware county. Many men who are employed at Albany live in the town of Redkey, four miles away, and the Board of Health of that place has forbidden them to go to Albany.

Dr. Cummings, health officer of Jackson county, reports twenty-five cases of smallpox in that county, and says that every case, except one, came from Washington county. He says that in consequence of this every road leading from Washington county has been blocked with quarantine officers.

“One Case At Albany,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 8 February 1900, p. 8, col. 1; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).

Smallpox Epidemic, Part XXIV

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SMALLPOX ECHOES

Come to the Health Board from Va-
rious Parts of the State.

Dr. W. H. Cole, secretary of the Green county board of health, in a communication to the State Board of Health, said that the Green County Council had appropriated sufficient money to enable the board of health to take all precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the disease. He says that there are no new cases reported since Feb. 2.

Dr. Newlin, the health officer of Madison county, reports that there are eight cases of smallpox which have been quarantined in the county. One new case in Madison county as developed yesterday.

Dr. Gautz, health officer of Saline City, Clay county, says in his report to the State board that there is only one new case in the town, but the disease is raging in epidemic form in the country immediately surrounding the town. He says he has no hope of exterminating the epidemic, except through vaccination, and unless the people comply with the wishes of the board of health in this respect the disease will probably linger until next June.

Three new cases of smallpox are reported from Albany, Delaware county, and the people in Jay county, which immediately adjoins Delaware, are taking prompt action in enforcing the quarantine law.

Two Smallpox Cases at Albany

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
MUNCIE, Ind., Feb. 6. – Two cases of smallpox have been reported from Albany, in the families of Elijah Morton and Daniel Doughty, where a child in each family has the disease. The cases are thoroughly isolated, and there is no cause for alarm.

“Smallpox Echoes,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 7 February 1900, p. 8, col. 5-6; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).

Smallpox Epidemic, Part XXIII

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BOARD IS HELPLESS

Nothing to Prevent Spread of Disease
in Washington County.

Dr. Mayfield, of Washington county, yesterday reported to the State Board of Health that the County Council of that county had refused to vote an appropriation to pay the expenses of suppressing the smallpox epidemic in the county. As a consequence the hands of the Washington county board of health are completely tied and nothing is being done to prevent the spread of the disease. Gibson township, includes the town of Lesterfield, is thoroughly infected with the disease, and owing to the action of the County Council the guards have been withdrawn, engendering a great danger to the State. It is possible that the County Council will be mandated and compelled to enforce the health laws, in which case the county would be put to an additional expense.

The State Board of Health has served orders on the board of health at Clay City which contain specific directions for the procedure of the board in eradicating the disease. One new case of smallpox was reported to the State Board of Health yesterday from Laporte county and one case from Allen County.

“Board is Helpless,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 6 February 1900, p. 8, col. 4; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).

Smallpox Epidemic, Part XXII

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SPREAD OF THE PEST.

Rigorous Measure Taken Against
Smallpox in Clay County.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
BRAZIL, Ind., Feb. 5. – Dr. Hurty, secretary of the State Board of Health, was here to-day and served the notice issued by the State Board of Health on the County Commissioners to at once take action to stop the spread of smallpox in Clay county. In compliance the commissioners appointed the deputies to meet and act with the local health boards. Several new cases have developed and County Commissioner David Keller is confined to his bed with the malady. Auditor Stigler issued a call for the County Council to meet and appropriate funds to cover the expenses attendant on this action.

“Spread of the Pest,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 6 February 1900, p. 5, col. 4; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).

Smallpox Epidemic, Part XXI

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DEATH FROM SMALLPOX.

One More Fatality Reported from Clay City.

Another death resulting from smallpox was reported to the State Board of Health yesterday from Clay City. The patient was an infant, and contracted the disease from its mother.

Dr. Richards, health officer of Owen county, reported two new cases of smallpox from that county, one of which was of the confluent form and very serious. He said that 90 per cent, of the population had been vaccinated, and he expected the disease would soon subside.

Dr. Ferguson, who, at the solicitation of the State Board of Health, went to Campbellsburg to investigate the suspected cases of smallpox there, returned yesterday morning and said he found several cases of chickenpox and three well-developed cases of smallpox.

“Death From Smallpox,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 4 February 1900, p. 6, col. 4; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).

Smallpox Epidemic, Part XX

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REPORT FROM CLAY CITY
“Special Deputy” Discouraged
Over Smallpox Situation.

Dr. Wolfe Making Stump Speeches –
Dr. A. W. Brayton’s Visit to
Terre Haute

Secretary Hurty, of the State Board of Health, yesterday received a rather discouraging report from his special deputy, who he sent to Clay City to investigate the smallpox situation there. As a result of the report from the deputy, Secretary Hurty says he will go to Brazil, Clay county, to-day.

The report says that while the disease is probably under control at Clay City, Dr. Wolfe, who diagnosed the disease as chicken pox in the first place, is making stump-speeches on the street, declaring that the malady is still an infection of chicken pox. The report says that Dr. Wolfe is joined in giving these “lectures” by William E. Smith. There has been one death at Clay City. This was little Effie Smith, who died on the fifth day after falling ill. Dr. Hurty’s deputy says that in Lewis township, Clay county, there is a great deal of the disease and seeming nothing is being done to prevent its spread. In commenting on the situation the special deputy says: “I fear there will be many fatalities here yet.”

Dr. A. W. Brayton says he was not called to Terre Haute to diagnose smallpox as was sated in an evening paper. He had no seen a case of smallpox since he was at Clay City, on Jan. 19. His object was to arrange with the City Health Board of Terre Haute in regard to some matters of quarantine.

Dr. Brayton says there had been but three or four cases in Terre Haute and that the Health Board, Drs. Willian, Rice and Gerstmeyer, are perfectly familiar with smallpox and chicken pox, and have recognized every case on sight. The first case is recovering in the detention house. A Normal student, well broken out, has been quarantined in his mother’s house and is doing well. Dr. Willian has one suspicious case under quarantine. Allison Peck, who left the city while fully broken out Wednesday night, went at once to his home in Canton, Ill., two hundred miles from Terre Haute. His case was at once recognized and he was promptly quarantined by the Canton Health Board, and this board conferred with Dr. Willian by telephone.

Dr. Brayton says there is little to fear from smallpox in Terre Haute as the people are vaccinating, and the Health Board is active, kind and considerate, and has the esteem and confidence of the people. There is little danger from smallpox, the doctor says, in college towns, as the influence of all the higher schools, both professors and the student body, is in favor of vaccination. He does not expect a wide spread of the disease in the State as the physicians through reading, study of cases, and continued agitation, are quickly recognizing even the mild smallpox, and the people are aiding them more and more, and abiding by their decisions. Dr. Brayton says there has been very general approval of the decision of the Supreme Court, giving boards the right to vaccinate in times of epidemic.

The school authorities of Terre Haute are considering the subject. Probably nine-tenths of the students in the higher schools and colleges are now vaccinated. The boarding house room where Allison Peck lived for four days has been purified and the house will go on as before, as Peck did not mix with the boarders.

FIRST DEATH FROM SMALLPOX
Effie Smith, a Thirteen-Year-Old Clay
City Girl, the Victim.

CLAY CITY, Ind., Feb. 2. – Effie Smith, the thirteen-year-old daughter of Frank Smith, is death’s first victim of smallpox at this place. The premonitory symptoms began last Sunday. The eruption appeared and the fever subsided Tuesday, but the secondary fever made its appearance Thursday, and speedily developed unusual virulence. The victim died shortly after 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Severe hemorrhages were a feature of the later course of the disease. Dr. Fred and Dr. Vandivier, who attended the case, have reported other recent instances of hemorrhages in connection with smallpox, but no deaths have occurred.

“Report From Clay City,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 3 February 1900, p. 8, col. 6; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).

Smallpox Epidemic, Part XIX

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ALL CASES NOT REPORTED

State Health Board Report
Give Interesting Statistics.

Claims More Cases of Smallpox Exist
Than Have Been Reported-High
Death Rate in Central Part.

The State Board of Health has prepared the following report of deaths, contagious diseases, births and marriages for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 1899:

“For the purposes of this report and in order to make comparisons between geographical sections the State is divided into three sections – namely, northern, central and southern. The northern division is bounded on the south by Warren, Tippecanoe, Clinton, Tipton, Madison, Delaware and Randolph counties. These counties comprise the northern tier of the central section. The central section is bounded on the south by Sullivan, Greene, Lawrence, Jackson, Jennings, Ripley and Dearborn counties, and these comprise the northern tier of the southern section. The population of these sections is as follows: Northern, 892,448; central, 1,022,694; southern, 729,838. The total number of deaths for the several sections for the quarter was: Northern, 2,422; central, 3,367; southern, 2,336. The total number of births reported was: Northern, 2,533; central, 4,166; southern, 2,754. Total number of contagious and infectious diseases reported was: Northern, 1,129; central, 1,892; southern, 1,144. The annual rates, calculated on the above quarterly figures, are as follows: Deaths – Northern, 12.8; central, 15.6; southern, 14, per 1,000 of population. Births – The annual rates per 1,000 were as follows: Northern, 13.3; central 16.2; southern, 15. Contagious diseases – The annual rates per 1,000 were as follows: Northern, 50.4; central, 74; southern, 62.

“Of the total number of contagious diseases during the quarter in the whole State there were: Of diphtheria, 1,202, with 347 deaths; scarlet fever, 1,503, with 46 deaths; measles, 181, with 2 deaths; smallpox, 132, no deaths; cerebro-spinal meningitis, 133, with 120 deaths; whooping cough 55, with 28 deaths; typhoid fever, 1,076, with 646 deaths. Total births reported in the whole State, 9,453. Of this number 4,984 were males and 4,469 were females. Of this total 181 were colored, of which 93 were males and 88 females. Still births were 219, plural births 99, illegitimate 154. The total marriages were 7,061. From these figures it appears that the central section of the State for this quarter had the highest death, birth and contagious-disease rate, and in this regard the southern section stands second and the northern third. The number of cases of smallpox reported is far below the truth, because so many cases were mistaken for chicken-pox. There was one death from smallpox in Posey county, but it was not reported, and was discovered by accident, after all reports were tabulated.”

January’s Death Rate.

The records of the City Board of Health show eight more deaths during January than during December, the total for the month being 224. The death rate was heavier during the first of the month than during the latter portion. The largest increase came from pneumonia, twenty-three being recorded during January as against eighteen for December.

BROKE THE QUARANTINE.
Smallpox Suspect Left Terre Haute for Canton, Ill.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind., Feb. 1. –The City Board of Health learned to-day that a smallpox suspect named Peck, whose conditional quarantine was continued for a few hours at the request of his physician, has slipped away from town. This afternoon the Board of Health was asked over the long distance telephone by Canton, Ill., authorities as to the nature of Peck’s disease, saying that he had arrived at his home in that town. There are two other suspects who had been in contact with Peck, and Richard McCloskey, the normal student who has a mild case, was a boarder at the same boarding house.

The city school board will meet to-morrow, and now that the Supreme Court has upheld compulsory vaccination of the pupils of the public schools, an order for vaccination will be issued.

Fifteen Instead of 2,500 Cases.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
LINTON, Ind., Feb. 1. – Citizens of Linton and vicinity are greatly wrought up over the report in the Indianapolis Press that 2,500 cases of smallpox existed in Greene county. The report is without foundation, and so far no cases have been reported except in Stockton township, where Linton is situated, and in the vicinity of Jasonville. In Linton there are only three cases, instead of ten, as reported, and these are quarantined with the strictest care. In Wright township, where there is the greatest number of cases, sentries are stationed on each road leading to town to prevent people from the infected parts coming to Linton. A strict quarantine is being enforced by the health officers, and so far no new cases have developed. The postmaster of Linton has never written anything in regard to the disease spreading, and great injustice has been done him and the town by those false reports. The local health officers are doing all they can to prevent the disease from spreading, and so far have it under perfect control. It appears that the number of cases reported includes cases from neighboring counties, but, as to 2,500 cases in Greene county, no such number exists. Not over fifteen are reported in the county.

“All Cases Not Reported,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 2 February 1900, p. 8, col. 5; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).

Smallpox Epidemic, Part XVIII

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HIGHER COURT DECISIONS.

Important Ruling on Question of Vaccination

The Supreme Court, in a decision affirming the judgment in the case of Frank D. Blue against Fannie D. Beach and Orville E. Conner, given yesterday, held that the children of parents who refuse to have them vaccinated may be excluded from the public schools during an epidemic of smallpox. In the fall of 1893, during the smallpox scare at Terre Haute, the local Board of Health and the school authorities ordered that no person should attend the public schools unless vaccinated. Blue, who had refused to have his boy vaccinated brought suit to restrain the teacher and principal from excluding his boy from school. The case dragged along in the Circuit Court for nearly three years and a decision was finally rendered in favor of the defendants. Bloom appealed to the Supreme Court in 1896 and the decision was not handed down until yesterday.

“Higher Court Decisions,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 2 February 1900, p. 6, col. 4; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).

THE COURT RECORD

SUPREME COURT

18004. Blue vs. Beach. Vigo C.C. Affirmed. Jordan, J. – 1. The preservation of the public health is one of the duties devolving upon the State. 2. The State boards of health are created as an instrumentality to secure and promote the public health, and are invested with power to adopt ordinances, by-laws, rules and regulations necessary to carry out the object of their creation and organization, and the powers conferred upon them receive from the courts a liberal construction. 3. Boards of health adopt rules or by-laws by virtue of legislative authority, and such rules or by-laws within their respective jurisdictions have the force and effect of a law of the Legislature. 4. Whatever laws or regulations are necessary to protect the public health and secure public comfort is a legislative question, and appropriate measures intended and calculated to accomplish these ends are not subject to judicial review. 5. The powers granted to boards of health by statute to adopt rules, by-laws and regulations reasonably adapted to carry out the purpose or object for which they are created is not an improper delegation of legislative authority within the meaning of the Constitution. 6. In order to prevent the spread of smallpox in case of an emergency on account of danger of the disease spreading, the board of health of a city may prevent any unvaccinated child from attending the public school, or close the school temporarily during the emergency.

“The Court Record,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 2 Feburary 1900, p. 6, col. 5; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).