Tag Archives: Indianapolis

Smallpox Epidemic, Part XI

FROM VARIOUS POINTS
Come Stories Concerning The
Smallpox Situation

Reports from the State University Ex-
Aggerated, It is Said-Colored
Family’s Troubles.

A dispatch from Bloomington in reference to the smallpox situation there says that two cases of the disease have developed. It is asserted that rumors sent out on Wednesday night concerning the situation were greatly exaggerated. The dispatch says the disease has been traced to a student by the name of Goshorn, who went to Bloomington from Clay City and returned home sick several days ago. The houses where the disease exists have been quarantined, also those who may have come in contact with the sick before the nature of the disease was disclosed. It is said that President Swain, of the university, and the city officials have taken all precautions and there is no excitement either in the university or city and no cause for alarm.

Information came from Bedford last night to the effect that Dr. J. T. Freeland, secretary of the City Board of Health, was summoned yesterday to Maul Ridge, near Springville, eight miles northwest of Bedford, by the report that a man named Chaney was suffering from a disease believed to be smallpox. The case was at first diagnosed by a Fayetteville physician as chicken-pox. Dr. Freeland turned the matter over to the secretary of the County Board of Health for investigation. The patient is of opinion that he has smallpox.

News from Danville, Hendricks county, says that a case of suspected smallpox near Brownsburg was pronounced chicken-pox by Dr. Hoadley, health officer. The neighbors became aroused and insisted on the State Health officials investigating. This was done yesterday and Dr. Hoadley’s opinion upheld.

COLORED FAMILY RUN OUT.

A dispatch received from Jeffersonville last night says: “George Mason, a colored man, with his wife and five small children passed through here on their way to Kentucky, has been run out of Washington county for the alleged reason that they were supposed to come from a smallpox neighborhood in Ohio county, Kentucky. Mason says it was reported in the neighborhood that his family had the smallpox and he was ordered to leave. This he refused to do, and the next night a bundle of switches was left at his door with a note, again ordering him to go. On the door was drawn a skull and crossbones. The next night Mason watched, and thinking that he saw some one approaching the house, he fired. The intruder then disappeared. The following night his house was set on fire and burned to the ground. The occupants managed to escape with a part of their furniture. When in Jeffersonville, Mason said that no member of his family had ever suffered from smallpox. His family was in a pitable condition. Negroes are not liked in Washington county and there are not more than half a dozen in its entire confines. Until a few years ago a negro was not permitted to stay in the county more than a few hours.”

“From Various Points,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 26 January 1900, p. 8, col. 3; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).

Smallpox Epidemic, Part X

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SMALLPOX SITUATION.
Rumors of a Case at Alliance Investi-
gated.

Dr. J. N. Hurty, secretary of the State Board of Health, received word yesterday morning of three deaths which have occurred from smallpox. Two of the deaths occurred in Washington county and one in Posey county. Another patient, smitten with the disease, is reported dying in Owen county.

Dr. Hurty said yesterday he had received a report of a new case of smallpox in Worthington, Owen county, and he was inclined to believe that an investigation would show that it was not the only case there.

The health officer of Clay City reported yesterday that all the cases which had been quarantined were doing well, and that the quarantine regulations were being generally observed.

Dr. Ridpath, secretary of the County Board of Health, was sent to Alliance, a small town six miles northwest of this city, yesterday to investigate a supposed case of smallpox, but on his return last night reported that the patient was attacked with a case of blood poisoning.

A telegram received by the State Board of Health yesterday from Bloomington states that there were five cases of smallpox among the students of the Indiana University. Dr. Hurty will make an effort to get official returns from that city.

Veterans Will Be Vaccinated.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
MARION, Ind., Jan 24. – As a precautionary measure against smallpox it has been decided to begin a general vaccination at the Soldier’s Home. Surgeon A. D. Kimball, assisted by Dr. Scott, began on the colored members in barrack No. 1, which has several new acquisitions lately. The home authorities will prepare for any emergency, and, if necessary, will establish a rigid quarantine.

“Smallpox Situation,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 25 January 1900, p. 4, col. 7; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).

Smallpox Epidemic, Part IX

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STATE BOARD INDORSED.
Resolutions Adopted by the Marion
County Medical Society.

The Marion County Medical Society held its regular monthly meeting last night and there was some discussion of the smallpox situation in the State. Dr. Cline offered the following resolution, which was adopted, to be presented to Dr. J. N. Hurty and the members of the State Board of Health:

“Resolved, That the Marion County Medical Society extends to Dr. J. N. Hurty and the State Board of Health its hearty approval of their efforts to prevent the spread of the prevailing epidemic of smallpox throughout the State.”

Dr. Loren Hyde read an interesting paper on “Anesthetics: Chloroform or Ether. Which is Preferable?” This subject opened a lively discussion and it seemed to be the voice of the surgeons present that in certain cases chloroform was the proper anesthetic while in other cases either should be used.

New Cases in Clay County.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
BRAZIL, Ind., Jan. 23 – Five cases of smallpox are reported from Ashboro and vicinity to-day, and some new cases have developed in Clay City, notwithstanding the quarantine. The secretary of the City Board of Health, Dr. Glasgo, has given orders for everyone to be vaccinated at once to prevent the spread of the disease to this city. Seven hundred tubes of virus have been purchased by physicians here.

Dr. Modesitt Is Doing His Duty.

To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal:
The imputation of some newspaper correspondents that the health officer here, Dr. Modesitt, is disregarding the quarantine order, needs to be refuted. I think I reflect the opinion of 99 per cent, of the citizens when I say the charge is untrue. The doctor has five assistants of sterling character, and, together, they are doing their best to prevent the spread of the disease (co-called smallpox.) Every house where it exists, or where it is supposed to exist, is promptly quarantined, and every suspected case kept in. Every person known to come from infected neighborhood is closely scrutinized and questioned, and if suspected is given order to go in and stay in till further orders. Dr. Modesitt is to[o] well known in this county for any of the citizens to believe he would neglect so important a trust. No safer man could be found for the position.
M. MARKLE
Clay City, Ind., Jan 23.

“State Board Indorsed,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 24 January 1900, p. 8, col. 4; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).

Smallpox Epidemic, Part VIII

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HEALTH BOARD MEETS
And Takes Measures To Fight
The Spread Of Smallpox

Dr. Hurty’s Action Is Indorsed by the
Board-New Cases in Different
Parts of the State.

The State Board of Health was in session all day yesterday discussing the smallpox situation. Dr. Hurty, secretary of the board, gave the other members of the board an account of the action taken by himself in behalf of the board, dating from the time of the first outbreak in Clay City. The board indorsed everything done by Dr. Hurty and then called upon Governor Mount to ask his approval of the immediate purchase of vaccine virus, to be paid for out of the state contagious disease fund, which in case of need is to be distributed to the local health boards of the various counties in which the disease is raging.

The Governor gave his consent and urged the board to do everything within its power to prevent the further spread of smallpox. The board also passed a number of general orders which will endow Dr. Hurty, in case of need, with the right to command the assistance of the county health boards. Heretofore he could only implore the people to protect themselves, as it required a general order of the State Board before action could be compelled of the county boards.

Seven new cases of smallpox have been reported from Clay City since yesterday morning, but considering the many cases it is to be expected. A rigid quarantine is being maintained and every road leading into the town is guarded to keep people from either entering or leaving. The feeling of indignation against Dr. Hurty seems to have subsided, as the president of the Clay County Medical Society, Dr. Felix Thornton, made a special call on the State Board of Health yesterday for the purpose of expressing his approval of the work done by the State Board of Health in Clay county.

Dr. C. E. Ferguson, who was sent by Governor Mount to investigate a suspected case of smallpox at Morton, a small town in Putnam county, yesterday, returned last night and said he visited the home of Thos. Nelson in company with Dr. G. W. Bence, secretary of the County Board of Health, where they discovered that Frank Nelson, aged eighteen years, had smallpox. The local officers immediately established a quarantine, and every available physician has been kept busy with patients who want to be vaccinated.

Dr. A. W. Brayton, who was sent to Miami county to investigate some reported cases of smallpox, returned last night with the report that the disease there was nothing more than chicken-pox.

TOWNSHIP QUARANTINED
Rigid Measures to Control Smallpox
in Washington County.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
SALEM, Ind., Jan. 22-The whole of Gilson township in Washington county is quarantined. A wire is stretched across each road and guards patrol the highways. There are still a few new cases of the so-called smallpox, but they are very mild, and there are no serious cases. There is one case at the home of Willard Nichols, four miles northeast of Salem, thoroughly quarantined and guarded. The Friends’ school, which is the county high school, one mile nearer town that the Nichols place, has been closed. People are being vaccinated, though there seems to be no great excitement or fear.

Two Cases in Sullivan County.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
SULLIVAN, Ind., Jan. 22-Two cases of smallpox have appeared in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Otis Bledsoe, who live eight miles northeast of this city, are afflicted with well-developed cases of the disease, which was contracted in Clay county where Mr. and Mrs. Bledsoe visited some time ago. A strong quarantine has been established.

“Health Board Meets,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 23 January 1900, p. 8, col. 4; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).

Smallpox Epidemic, Part VII

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VERY FEW NEW CASES
The Smallpox Situation In Dif-
ferent Parts Of The State

Dr. Hurty Says the Disease Is Yet in a
Mild Form-Cases in the City
-At Clay City.

Dr. J. N. Hurty, of the State Board of Health, in speaking of the smallpox conditions last night said that a number of new cases had been reported to him from Putnam, Clay and Miami counties and that in his opinion the conditions were becoming serious. “You might as well say,” said he, “it is going to be everywhere. Might as well locate it everywhere in the State, for that is what it is coming to.” He said all precautions necessary were being taken to prevent the spread of the disease, but the people, and especially those living in Clay county, think on account of the present mild form of the disease there is but little danger and that they are at liberty to carry the disease wherever they see fit to go, with no regard for the quarantine. A large majority of the cases reported have been traced to Clay City. One case at Peru and another from Putnam county reported yesterday were in families members of which had recently come from Clay City.

“The death rate,” said Dr. Hurty, “will be greatly increased this year. Possibly not from deaths by smallpox, which is now of a mild form, but from the after effects, just the same as with the grip. You know people used, seven or eight years ago, to laugh at the grip and the papers were full of cartons on the subject. But during the last few years they have learned that the grip in no joke. In fact, it has been shown to be more fatal than a number of other diseases more dreaded. It will be the same with smallpox. I think, though, the people will understand this after awhile and we will get it stopped.”

Dr. Hurty said he had been advised yesterday that a doctor in Vanderburg county had been fined there a day or two ago for not reporting a case of smallpox to the Board of Health.

In Indianapolis there have been no new cases reported. A. C. Burnham and wife, of 330 North Beville avenue, were removed yesterday from their home to the contagious pavilion at the City Hospital, where they will be cared for better than at home. The house was closed and will be disinfected to-day. It will then be disinfected two or three times and the quarantine raised, thus relieving the city of the expense of keeping up the quarantine. Burnham and his wife have the disease in a very mild form and as it was found soon after breaking out it is thought few exposures resulted and there will be no new cases develop from this source.

City Sanitarian Clark said the matter of building a pesthouse would be presented to the city authorities this morning, with rough plans of the building, which will, as now considered, accommodate thirty to fifty patients and it is thought the necessary permission to use the grounds will be given. The contagion pavilion at the hospital, which is not connected in any way with other wards at the hospital, will accommodate at least twenty patients.

Drs. Hurty, Clark, Ridpath and Ferguson, who were called upon to investigate a case in the home of a man named Leffingwell, on Linwood avenue, near Michigan street, reported yesterday that the afflicted child had chickenpox instead of smallpox.

Smallpox at Clay City.
Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
CLAY CITY, Ind., Jan. 21. – Health Officer Dr. Modesitt has had considerable difficulty in trying to keep smallpox suspects off the street, but with the aid of deputies he is getting them pretty well under control. The doctor is working day and night to secure the enforcement of the order and the people, with a few exceptions, are aiding him in the attempt to confine the disease to places where it now exists.

A few new cases are being reported, but mostly in localities where it already existed. The older cases are all reported better and but few are confined to their beds. No deaths have occurred. All outgoing mails are being disinfected. Every precaution is being taken to prevent the persons who have the disease and those from houses where it exists from going to the postoffice.

Five cases just east of here, in Owen county, were reported to Dr. Modesitt this morning and he reported them to the Spencer Health Board. A few cases have been reported here from Centerville, Jasonville and from the country west of here four miles. As far as heard from they are all mild cases.

Refuse to Get Excited.
Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind., Jan 21. – Terre Haute physicians and public at large refuse to be excited over the reports made by the Indianapolis doctors of the spread of smallpox in this part of the State. The physicians say there have been cases of chickenpox here and that one case, now isolated, may be smallpox, but they believe that it is not true, as asserted, that all of the cases at Clay City could have been smallpox. It is possible that the appearance of smallpox and chickenpox is a coincidence. Reports have been received from many places near here of chickenpox, and in some instances it has been so prevalent that schools were closed for lack of attendance.

Smallpox in De Kalb County.
Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
BUTLER, Ind., Jan 21. – A great many cases of smallpox have developed twelve miles south of this city. Members of the Tracy, Bishop and Furnace families are down with the disease. Hicksville, O., physicians have had charge of the cases and failed to report them to the Indiana authorities. Much excitement is manifest.

“A Few New Cases,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 22 January 1900, p. 8, col. 4; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).

Smallpox Epidemic, Part VI

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SMALLPOX SITUATION

Mild Case Discovered on Be-
Avenue, This City

Dr. Hurty Speaks of the State Board’s
Dilemma-New Cases in Vigo
County.

A case of well-defined smallpox has been discovered at 330 Beville avenue. The person attacked is A. C. Burnham, a former resident of Clay City, who visited that town a short time ago, and is believed to have contracted the disease while there. Yesterday morning his face was broken out with an eruption which Dr. J. F. Robertson, the family physician, at once diagnosed as smallpox. Dr. Robertson immediately reported the case to the Board of Health, and Dr. C. E. Ferguson was sent to investigate. He pronounced the disease to be a genuine case of smallpox, but said it was of very mild form. The house has been quarantined, and as no outsiders have been exposed to the disease, no apprehension is felt that it will become epidemic.

Dr. Fergusson said yesterday that if Mr. Burnham’s condition became serious, he would be removed to the pavilion for contagious diseases in the City Hospital as there is no pesthouse for such cases in the city.

The probable need of a pesthouse has awakened the City Board of Health to immediate action, and a joint meeting of the Board of Public Works and the Board of Health has been arranged for to-morrow night, at which time plans will be discussed for the erection of a pesthouse on the City Hospital grounds.

Dr. Hurty, secretary of the State Board of Health, received a letter from Dr. Mayfield, health officer of Washington county, late last evening, in which he stated that he had just returned from a two day’s trip through the northern part of Washington county, the same territory in which Dr. Robertson, of this city, diagnosed the supposed cases of chicken-pox, as smallpox. Dr. Mayfield confirms Dr. Robertson’s diagnosis, and says that he insisted on vaccination, but the people were to [sic] incensed because he had diagnosed the disease as smallpox that they indignantly refused to permit him to vaccinate them. He added, that as the people would not protect themselves he was compelled to establish a quarantine, which he would maintain for a period of two weeks, or until the period of incubation had passed.

Dr. Hurty also received a letter from Dr. Talbott, health officer of Vigo county, who says he has found several new cases in Terre Haute, and in none of these cases has a doctor been called. A rigid quarantine is being enforced and he particularly calls attention to the service that is being afforded the local Board of Health by the officers of the Evansville & Indianapolis Railroad Company, who have given orders that all coaches passing through the city of Terre Haute must be disinfected, and has instructed the conductors not to carry any passengers suspected of having the disease. A communication to the Indiana State Board of Health from the State Board of Health of Illinois says that it finds itself in practically the same position as the State Board of Health of Indiana. Dr. Johnson, a member of the Illinois board and a resident of Champaigne, Ill., was sent by his board to investigate an eruptive disease which was raging in the southern part of Illinois, and narrowly escaped being mobbed because he diagnosed the disease as smallpox.

In speaking of the dilemma of the State Board of Health, last night, Dr. Hurty said he could not understand how the citizens of this country could be so foolish. Said he: “In ignorant and superstitious Spain when the people were attacked with the dreadful scourge of cholera, they mistreated those who brought them succor, but who would have thought that almost the same conditions would prevail under similar circumstances in the advanced state of civilization supposed to prevail in this country? Nevertheless, it is true, and if the authorities did not pursue a determined course in this matter, there is no telling where it would end. There has been a great deal of comment on the fact that this disease is of a mild form, but these very people who laugh and sneer because some one is not dying every day, would be the very first to change their tune if they knew that there was not a single case of the mild form of smallpox, but what is attended with various disorders afterwards, that in many instances result in the death of the person attacked. They may die of brain trouble, kidney trouble, lung trouble or liver trouble-it doesn’t may any difference: the fact still remains that their death, if it should result fatally, lies at the door of the mild attack of smallpox.” Dr. Hurty said he predicted that the death rate for this year and next in the State of Indiana would be higher than ever before.

Diphtheria in Randolph County.

The troubles of the State Board of Health are coming thick and fast. Dr. Hurty received word yesterday that diphtheria was raging at Ridgeville, a small town in Randolph county, and that the local Board of Health was having the same trouble with the citizens of that town as has been experienced with the smallpox situation in Clay and other counties. Several days ago the citizens of the town sent to Richmond for Dr. Wiese, a specialist in diseases of this sort, and when he diagnosed it as diphtheria they became very indignant and refused to accept the diagnosis and refused to accept the diagnosis as being correct. As a consequence no quarantine has been established and the disease is very likely to spread.

“Smallpox Situation,” The Indianapolis Journal (Indianapolis, Indiana), 21 January 1900, p. 8, col. 4-5; digital image, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ : accessed 6 December 2014).

Chief Postal Inspector

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Letter transcription:

William B. Schwartz, Indianapolis, Indiana.
RLS-RHS
Post Office Department
Office of the Chief Inspector
Washington
Case 15887-E
August 23, 1910

Mr. R. W. McClaughry,
Warden, United States Penitentiary,
Leavenworth, Kansas.

Sir:

Receipt is acknowledged of your letter dated August 15, 1910, with inclosures, alleging use of the mails for fraudulent purposes by William B. Schwartz, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Your letter and the papers accompanying it will be referred to a post office inspector for investigation, and such action will be taken as the facts warrant.

Respectfully,

R. S. Sharp

Chief Inspector

Source:

Letter from Chief Post Office Inspector, Robert S. Sharp, to Warden, R. W. McClaughry, 23 August 1910, William B. Schwartz, Prisoner no. 5476; Inmate Case Files, U. S. Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas, 1895-1931, Record Group 129; National Archives at Kansas City, Missouri.

Indianapolis 1915

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Source:

“U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989,” digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 May 2014), Indianapolis (1915), Wm B. Schwartz.

Indianapolis, 1914

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The address is different, and the intial B. has been dropped from the name in the 1914 directory, but I believe it is the same W. B. Schwartz. How many William Schwartz, lawyer, can there be in Indianapolis in 1914?

Source:

“U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989,” digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 May 2014), Indianapolis (1914), Wm Schwartz.

Indianapolis 1913

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By the end of 1913, Roberta married Ralph H. Edwards. William continued to work as a lawyer.

Source:

“U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989,” digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 May 2014), Indianapolis (1913), Wm B. Schwartz and Roberta V. Schwartz.