The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-04-02
a ! Death nsirfs STRICKEN FAMILY MY.
Strange Progress and Remarkable Fa<a1ity
of Scarlet Fever.


of Scarlet Fever.
New York Mercury.I
One Of the most sudden and terrible attic.
lions that have ever besAllen a family &C.
CURED this week to Adam Schmidt, barber,
residing at No. 203 East Thirty-sixth street,
and doing business on the first floor of his
residence. Four of his children were car
red off with q most malignant type of
scarlet fever without the usual premonitory
symptoms accompanying such cases. On
last Sunday they were all apparently in the
enjoyment of perfect health. On Monday
taie s " wfsR ns isng1o sa She ' so Sas
fell into a comatose condition. accom-
panied by a raging fever. DIR. Wettengel,
the family physician, was sent for, and pro-
nounced it a most malignant case of scarlet
fever. Frank. the only son, who attended
was kept away from school that day, and
toward night he also suddenly became
STRICKEN WITH A RAGING FEVER,
and soon fell into comatose state also.
Three hours afterward little Lizzie, three
years old, while playing, apparently IN
perfect state of health, was Frustrated as If
by bolt, and soon she lay unconscious, but
burning in raging fever, upon her bed.
One hour later the nextyounger child, Kate,
two years OF age, succumbed just as sudden
ly, and became unconscious while burning
up with disease. DIR. Wettengel told Mer-
curry reporter yesterday what occurred then.
He said: Sin all my experience, which has
been extensive, and from all can learn
from authorities there
HAVE NEVER OCCURRED CASES SIMILAR
to these except when a plague was raging. 1t
is part of the diagnosis of scarlet fever, no
matter how malignant 1t may prove to be, to
find premonitory symptoms which extend
from four to seven days before the disease
becomes pronounced and reaches the crisis
or dangerous point. In these cases of all
these children the crisis came at once. AS
soon as they were affected l found them to
be deadly poisoned and in a condition be-
yond human help. From whatever cause
the germs of disease were communicated to
them, whether from others or from favor
able condition of atmosphere, it is certain
that they were poisoned thoroughly, beyond
the hope of medical assistance. There is a
mystery about the case which 1 can not I'M
ravel. The contagion could not have been
communicated from school children through
the boy Frank, as inquiry has established
the fact that, of 2 600 scholars in the school
he attended, no scholar has, or has had, the
disease. Besides, the boy was not first taken
down, but caught the disease from his
sister.
SCARLET FEVER IS NOT RAGING
in the neighborhood. There are no cases in
the vicinity that have heard of, and have
made inquiry in every direction. / called
IN a well-known physician to consult with
me, and he was as much nonplussed as l.
Mr.. Schmidt lives In house by himself,
and, SO far as l have been able to ascertain,
the house is clearly and free from unpleasant
oder. How the children were poisoned is
beyond my ability to tell, yet the seeds of
of the disease were thoroughly inoculated in
their system. 1t has been heretofore estab-
llshed that the contagion is communicated
from certain impure conditions OF the at
mosphere 0r from rerS0us in whom the
seeds have terminated. Both these condi-
tions seem wanting in their cases. The in
oculation Is made plain by the fact that
three of the children died in one day. and
the fourth on the following day. 1 am
anxious to learn the report OF the health
inspectors, as that may throw some light on
the subject. 1t is case which should be
brought to the attention of the whole medi-
cal profession, as its sudden and mysterious
violence seems to have no precedent as well
as no intelligent explanation"
THE AFFLICTED PARENTS STORY.
Mr. Schmidt, when called upon, seemed
to be completely unnamed by his misfor-
tune, and was unable to throw any light
upon the cause of the fatality. He said he
took his children out for a walk. as usual,
last Sunday, when they all appeared to be
in perfect health. He went to no place
where any sickness prevailed, and they all
enjoyed themselves. He corroborated the
den prostration of the little ones, showed
the reporter through his house, which is a
two story brick edifice, clean in every part,
and devoid of any unwholesome odors, and
declared he was at a loss to understand how
they caught the disease. He never permit
ted his children to PLAY with others In the
street, and to his knowledge not a case of
scarlet fever existed in the vicinity. He
said the officers OF the health board had
visited the place and failed TO discover any
thing wrong, although, as a matter OF pre-
caution, they thoroughly
DIsIyrEcrED THE PREMISES.
He said the calamity and reports had
affected his business and no one would visit
his place to get shaved. He usually did a
good business on Saturday, bat now his shop
was deserted. He thought it was bad enough
to lose his four children, on whom he had
dotted, without gaining the unpleasant repu-
tation that he had pest-house. There had
never been a cleaner house than his own
and he and his wife prided themselves upon
| the
TENDER CARE OF THEIR CHILDREN,
and efforts to keep everything neat and tidy
The appearance of things within and around
the place certainly verified Mr.. Schmidts
| statement, and to the eye no fault could be
found with the sanitary regulations.
TIE SCHOOL,.
The reporter also visited the public schoo
where the little boy had attended as I
scholar in the primary department. The
janitress stated that no one of the little fel
lows associates had been sick, and she veri
fed strongly the physicians statement as Il
| the health of the scholars in all the depart
| ments. The mother has thus far escaped the
contagion, and an infant few months ole
has not yet been Frustrated. 1t is seldom
| that child less than one year of age con
tracts the disease, no matter how much 1t i
subjected to the germs of the contagion.
The Calling Gun.
Hartford Times.l
| TT annearS th,g the Calling gun has dom