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).