In late January and early February 1918 Miner was suddenly faced with an epidemic of influenza, but an influenza unlike any he had ever seen before. Soon dozens of his patients -the strongest, the healthiest, the most robust people in the county -were being struck down as suddenly as if they had been shot. Then one patient pro-gressed to pneumonia. Then another. And they began to die. The epidemic got worse. Then, as abruptly as it came, it disappeared. Men and women returned to work. Children returned to school. And the war regained its hold on people's thoughts.