, 1878-02-09
THE SMALL POX.

| current upon the streets physicians who have
! never seen the cases have boldly asserted that
there was not and lad not been case of the
disease IN the country. Great injustice has
been done the attending physicians, DIR. Bla-
lock and myself, and now that the excitement
has subsidized, l respectfully ask the privilege
through the columns of the STATESMAN OF
, givinv to the public plain statement of the
fac RELATING to ''the sensation"
About the middle of last December, two
families named Harmon and Wolf, arrived from
the east. Alr. Harmon had preceded his fam
! lily and had been for some months in the EN-
! ploy of Mr.. Joe Harbert. on Mill creek. II
| was late in the evening when the families pr
/ rived in town. Theyproceeded to the St. Louis
hotel, but were refused admittance Is some OF
the children We're sick with measles A con-
veyauce was obtained and they were taken TO
! Mr.. Harberts residence where they remained
4 day or two, until an old log house, a few hun
dred yards south of Mr.. Harbert's house, was
put in repair sufficiently to be occupied. While
at Mr.. Harberts residence, the children of Mr..
Harbert were carefully excluded from the
rooms occupied by the unfortunate strangers
After removing to their new quarters, one
after another took sick until six children and
! Mrs. Harmon Were confined to their beds, and
soon after one OF Mr.. Harmon's children died.
! Mr.. Wolf daughter was rapidly getting worse,
and now for the first time the services of a
! physician were obtained. / first saw the cases
December 25th -Four of them were measles,
the fifth child had the ordinary measles erIIp-
tion over portions of its body, but had unmis-
taxable pdpuIes all over the face neck and wrists.
The next day or two these began to fill with
water-that is, they became vesicles. On Sat
urday following, DIR. Blalock accompanied me
to the house. The child was dead. 1t was a
case of continent small pGr. The parents stated,
the first case that died, had exactly the appear
! ance of this one. From the day first saw the
case, L warned those in the immediate vicinity
of danger, expressed my dread Of what the case
would prove to be, and soon Is possible, /
vaccinated all in the neighborhOod At the saIce
time hoping to avoid panic We advised the
utmost seclusion of the infected persons, and so
far as possible, secrecy.
| Now Of all the persons exposed to the disease
at the time | vaccinated them, all except the
unfortunate Mrs. Harbert, had been vaccinated
! before. This kind hearted woman had minis
! tered to the wants of the sick, had dressed the
corpse Of the child that died first; in fact had
been exposed to the disease week before was
called. The period of incubation of small pox,
that is, the time from exposure to the breaking
| out Of the disease, is from two to three weeks
| About this period had elapsed when Mrs Har-
| bert was taken sick. | sent every one away
| from the house except the attendants. The
poor lady rapidly got worse and died in forty
, eight hours from the time she was taken ill.
| She died of rarioia acknowledged small pox IN
| its worst form.
To return to the other families. Four of the
children were unmiStakable cases Of measles
and nothing else They all recovered and were
apparently well, when suddenly three OF them
were taken sick again, with small pox, mllder
form however than the first cases, and these re-
covered The fourth case did not take the dis
ease even when inoculated. These cases had
vaccinated, and how far this modified the dis
ease, leave others to determine.
Several weeks had elapsed when the commun-
ity in the neighborhood, chatting under the re-
strictions placed upon their actions by the city
authorities, demanded of the board OF health
an investigation OF the reported eases, and
Doctors Goodwin, Boyd and McCurdy were
appointed t. examine into the matter and re-
port to the board. This they did, stating that
there was not a case of small pox IN the eoun,
try, nor had there been that Mrs. Harbert mad
died of other causes, and i''edgcd tleir hOhOr on
their statements Whether in making such
report these gentlemen We're acJuated by selfish
motives or were totally ignorant of the disease,
| leave the public 10 judge 1t you'd be DUN
cult to convince me that any person claiming
to b. physician, however iinpertectly informed
on the subject, could make such mistake.
Even admitting the possibility OF error IN the
copyalescent cases they examined, the slightest
tint of modesty in a mans composition would
certainly deter any respectable epr;tctitionerirohi
,isiiyiHr his hOaOr As to the cause "t death IN 4
doubtful case. dead and buried three weeks be
fore with nothing but hersiv evidence to com
ba5 the actual observation Of two attending
physicians.
To further sul,stantiate the foregoing state
ments. submit the following from my friend
DIR. \. G.; Blalock, who saw the second fatal
case with me:
WAJLA WAIIA, ". T., Feb. :, 1873.
This is to certify, that on the 18th day OF
December last. bv request Of and III company
with DR. J. +. Bingham, | visited two emf
.rant families living in the same house on MN
creek, 4 miles above this city. On arriving at
tn. house we found the child dead and as pre-
csutionary measure placed in a wagon box
some distance from the house We carefully
examined the body and found it covered all
over with well marked characteristic small pox
pustules, not few but a great many we Went
| to the house and learned that some days pre-
| vious child had died in the same family with
the same kind of eruption with all the charac-
| teristic premonitory symptoms OF small poX
! Had there been any doubt in my mind as to
| the two fatal cases being small pox, 1t would
| have been removed by three subsequent cases
in the same families which are now living
| monuments of the disease, 1t having lett ITS
,,eculiar characteristic mark or pits all over
their bodies. thus showing clearly to asy i,'te'it-
| aegt, unBiaad mind that they have had small
box. Also the case of the lamented hrs liar
bert, who was in daily attendance on til Sc cases.
| Her case, frCm the history OF 1t, IL oid not see
her during her Illness was clearly that OF small
pox, but She died before the erupsiIe stage ar
rived. N VI. bLAL''h-
| On last Tuesday, at my request, Ut. George
| NJ. Sternberg, Surgeon U. $. A, and Post Sur
gaon At Fort Walia Wala, in company with
| Dr r + Burch, of this city, paid visit to
the same cases. seen by Doctors Goodwin,
| Royd and McCmdy, and the conclusions they
| arrived at are fully contained in the following
FoR1 WAILA WALLA, ". T.,
February 9th, 1878. !
DIR + f. BIS6HaM-Dear SIR: In accord
ance with YOUR request, we have visited the
em;.rrant family at Nj Harbert's place, reported
tn have suffered from small pox. Wetnd that
three children in this family have recently had
small pox, As is amply proved by the numerous
small pox scars upon their faces and bodies and
by the history given by the mother OF theIl
cases. Very truly yours,
| GEO. NJ. STEREBERG, Surg. L. ). A.
B.F BURcH, NJ. ID.
And if further evidence is required to satisfy
the minds of any of my readers, give an ex-
tract from letter to Dr. Burch, from Spokane
Falls. dated january, 9th, and written by
Mrs. S. G. Havermale:
"There is great excitement here. A team
ster from Walla Walla brought load OF gov,
ernment freight last Monday. He was sick
when he got here, and the next day it was dis
covered he had the small pox. They put up a
tent below Posts and moved him there to-day.
We have not learned his name. They say he
IS very sick. Some soldiers who have had the
small pox are taking care of him, and the post
surgeon is attending him. He saHs he 'ees e1oos
ed to those emigrants IN Halia Hattd, but though
| 4 ..u,,yy M, tai If