Tag Archives: Clay City

Smallpox Epidemic, Part XXXI

CRIMINAL INDIFFERENCE.
Attitude of the Clay City People to
the Smallpox Epidemic.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
CLAY CITY, Ind., Feb. 16. – New cases of smallpox are of almost daily occurrence in this vicinity, owing largely to indifference to the disease. This indifference is partly accounted for in the fact that only one death has occurred and in the additional fact that some professional men and many of the nonprofessional stoutly maintain that it is not smallpox and not dangerous. Several family, released after about two weeks’ quarantine, have been quarantined a second time owing to other members of the family having contracted the disease. Cases have existed in some families for days before being reported to the health officer, the father of one of these families going to and from his home and attending to business down town as usual.
One young man, sent home on the 15^th of January, all broken out with the disease, was at work in his shop, as usual, on the 27^th.
Last Saturday a man thickly broken out stood in the postoffice lobby, along with fifty or more persons.
The persons quarantined at G. J. Kaysor’s continue to drink from a dipper chained to a pump at the sidewalk for the accommodation of the public.
A young man named Drummond was running about the streets last week, thickly broken out, and had to be forced to go home and the house carded.
There are many other cases like those mentioned.
W. T. Damer, quarantined for twenty-one days, and sick throughout the period, was released on the 14^th inst. He was literally covered with the eruptions. For many days Mr. Damer could not stand. Many cases like his could be cited.
It is reported that between twenty-five and thirty houses in the township, outside of Clay City, are carded, and somewhat fewer in town, which shows a large decrease for the town. The township schools, including Middlebury, a mile away, reopened on the 12^th inst. There were three new cases in Middlebury the first of the week, but the disease is being rapidly checked there.

“Criminal Indifference,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 17 February 1900, p. 2, col. 3; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).

Smallpox Epidemic, Part XXVIII

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CLAY CITY SCHOOLS
Will Probably Open Again Monday –
Calls for Virus.

The Clay City schools, which have been closed for weeks on account of the smallpox epidemic which has been raging in that city, will probably be opened next Monday. The State Board of Health has forwarded instructions to that effect, with the proviso that no child shall be admitted unless vaccinated, and further that none shall be admitted from infected families.

The Portland Board of Health has asked the State Board of Health for vaccine virus and will order the vaccination of school children.

Smallpox Patient Released.

The Board of Public Health Thursday ordered the removal of N. C. Burnham from the pesthouse to his home, No. 330 North Beville avenue. He was the smallpox patient confined at the City Hospital contagious disease pavilion and was declared to be cured of the disease. His wife, who was with him and helped to nurse him, was also allowed to go home with her husband.

“Clay City Schools,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 10 February 1900, p. 8, col. 3; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).

Smallpox Epidemic, Part XXVII

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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 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 XV

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STILL CAUSE FOR ALARM

Dr. Hurty Continues Apprehen-
Sive of Smallpox Spreading.

New Cases Reported from Clay City,
Where the Authorities Have Be-
come Aroused Over Situation.

Dr. Hurty said yesterday that his smallpox mail was just as heavy as ever and he was still very apprehensive of the disease spreading. E. B. Laughlin, he member of the State Board of Health who went to Campbellsburg Saturday to investigate reported cases of chicken pox, supposed by the State board to be smallpox, sent word to Dr. Hurty yesterday that the disease was really chicken pox, and chiefly attacked the children.

Four more new cases of smallpox were reported from Clay City, but the health officer says they are not to be attributed to any negligence on the part of the authorities, as everyone in Clay City is working hard to abate the plague, there being absolutely no opposition to the orders given by the health board. There were also four new cases reported from Jackson and Benton counties, two cases from each county. Dr. Beckes, of Vincennes, write Dr. Hurty that in Illinois, directly across the Wabash river from Know county, there is an awful epidemic of smallpox raging, and that the Know county health board is quarantining against it.

CLAY CITY EPIDEMIC.

Everything Possible Is Being Done to
Stamp It Out.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
CLAY CITY, Ind., Jan 29. – Now that Clay county is aroused to her needs in connection with the smallpox situation, no effort is being spared to stamp out the disease. Hundreds of persons have been vaccinated, and the quarantine is rigidly enforced. A place of detention has been secured for those refusing to submit to quarantine and this has operated to deter violations of the rules. Fourteen deputies patrol the streets, and care for persons under quarantine, besides guarding the approaches to the town. At Middleberg, a mile away, there are twelve or fifteen cases, and all through the neighboring country the disease is widespread, but everything possible is being done to stamp it out.

No Smallpox in Daviess County.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
WASHINGTON, Ind., Jan. 29. – The report that there is smallpox in Daviess county is absolutely without foundation. County Health Officer McConn says there is no smallpox and no sign or immediate danger of any.

Why Not Test the Case?

To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal:
At the present time there is a wide-spread opposition to vaccination, all over this country. A large majority of intelligent physicians believe that the ills of vaccination are not as bad as the smallpox itself. A large number of people seem to believe the reverse. Now, suppose we stop trying to compel persons to be vaccinated, and let smallpox have a chance for a year or two? “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.” In the eighteenth century smallpox in France carried off annually 30,000, and in Prussia, 26,000. What if it did? Well, the people in those countries introduced vaccination and stopped completely the spread of that dread disease. They believe in the efficacy of vaccination now. Let us try the disease, pure, simple and unfettered, and see how we come out. A good many people will die, of course, but then we have lots of people this year. It may paralyze business for a time, but we can recover that by patience. When it is tried there will be fewer of the persons living who did not believe in vaccination, and those who survive will not be so handsome after the experiment.
G. W. H. KEMPER, M.D.
Muncie, Ind., Jan. 29.

“Still Cause For Alarm,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 30 January 1900, p. 8, col. 5; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).

Smallpox Epidemic, Part XIII

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REGARDED AS SERIOUS
Dr. Hurty Says The Smallpox Re-
Ports Are Alarming.

In Many Parts of the State People Re-
fuse to Submit to Vaccination –
Specific Cases.

Dr. Hurty, secretary of the State Board of Health, said yesterday that he would not be surprised if smallpox became epidemic throughout the entire State. He said the people seemed absolutely indifferent to the disease, and not only did they refuse to be vaccinated, but in many cases they threatened with violence the very officer who was trying to throw a safeguard around them. Reports of smallpox and chicken-pox, which in many cases turns out to be smallpox, are being sent in to the State Board from so many different parts of the State that two stenographers are constantly employed in answering the correspondence. So much mail arrives in the morning that it becomes impossible for Dr. Hurty to wade through it before the arrival of the mail in the evening.

Reports were received yesterday that smallpox had again invaded Porter county, this time at Chesterton. In speaking of the report yesterday, Dr. Hurty said wherever else smallpox might appear in Porter county, he was quite sure that it would never be heard of again in Valparaiso, because the people of that city had strictly observed the rules of quarantine established by the State Board. He said it was one of the few places where there was a general inclination to submit to vaccination. To bear out his statement that the people in the infected districts would not submit to vaccination, Dr. Hurty read a letter received yesterday from the health officer of Washington county, who reported that 90 per cent of the people in that county refused to be vaccinated, and when he insisted the people would threaten him in such a menacing manner that he was compelled to leave them. He said the situation in Washington county was very serious, and believed the people would only awaken to their danger when the death which has already occurred was followed by others. He said that certain physicians who have been antagonistic to the State Board ever since the disease was first diagnosed as smallpox, were advising against vaccination and declaring the disease was not smallpox.

AT CAMPBELLSBURG

Word was also received yesterday by the State Board of many cases of chicken-pox, which is supposed by Dr. Hurty to be smallpox, in Campbellsburg. The disease in this place is prevalent among the adults. Dr. E. D. Laughlin, a member of the State Board, who lives at Orleans, a short distance from Campbellsburg, will visit Campbellsburg to-day for the purpose of diagnosing the disease.

Another severe case of the disease is reported from Brownstown. The special officer of the State Board of Health employed in Clay City reported yesterday that a case of hemorrhagic smallpox had appeared in the family of a Mr. Shannon, who lived in Clay City. Dr. Hurty said the disease in this form was almost certain death.

President Swain, of the State University, and the members of the State Board of Health deeply regret a dispatch in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, credited to an Indianapolis correspondent, which stated that the university would be closed on account of the prevalence of the disease among the pupils. Dr. Hurty said yesterday that he could not imagine how such a statement could have ever been made, as there never was any intention either on the part of the authorities of the university or of the State Board to close the university.

Many appeals are being made to the State Board for vaccine matter for the poor in the districts infected with smallpox, but as the law provides that the county shall be required to pay its own expenses for the enforcement of health laws, the State Board is unable to comply with the request.

Smallpox Near Princeton.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
PRINCETON, Ind., Jan. 27. – Four cases of smallpox, in the worst form have developed near Haubstadt, south of here. One case is within a hundred feet of a schoolhouse, where the children have been attending school up to this time. The county health officer is making a full investigation and will establish quarantine. The community is terrified, as the nature of the disease was not suspected.

“Regarded As Serious,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 28 January 1900, p. 8, col. 2; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).