The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-12-29
New York Herald, yesterday

COMBAT THE NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. THUS
FAR TAKEN.
New York Herald, yesterday.l
The prevalence and continued spread oil
contagious diseases in this city has been
source OF solicitude TO the Board Of Health
Diphtberia and smallpox, two OF the most
subtle aud malignant types. bave within 0
few months stricken down their victims by
the hundred. Diphtheria causes the great.
est havoc among the juvenile population,
while smallpox spreads the greatest ravage>
iamong adults.
In this connection it NAV be OF interest Ia
mention few cases in point where the fatal
effects OF diphtheria and smallpox bave
been felt with more than ordinary severity,
together with an account OF the sanitary
condition OF The premises. The tenement
No. 234 west Twenty-eigbth street is inbab.
tied by twenty families. Two fatal cases OF
dipbtbera have occurred in the premises
within the past month. Both were children
OF one family, one being four years and six
months and the other six years OF age.
The place was inspected on the 10Th instant
by nt.Santary-Inspecto Lockwood,
who found that there was no plumbing
in the rooms; that the main waste-pipe
emptied into the street-sewer and was
two inches in diameter, and made OF iron.
| The main waste-ppe throughout the house
and cellar was found to be not properly
calked, thus allowing an escape Of sewer
| gas into the house. The soil In the cellar
was damp, and the joints Of the main pipe
were imperiectly calked. In view OF these
facts, aut-Sanilary.IDspector Lock-
wood, in his report TO the Board OF Health,
said that in his opinion the contamination
Of the atmosphere OF the bouse was due to
| the escape OF se@er-gas from the defective
joints in the waste-pipes, and from offensive
odors and gases emanatipg from the vault
| In the rear yard. These atmospheric con-
ditions, he declared, predisposed toward
the contraction OF the disease Of dipbtheria,
elf they were not the direct cause"
| The premises No. 436 east Seventy-6fth
street were reported upon the 18th instant
| by Assistant. .Saniiary.Inspector DR.. Nor
row. He found that diphtberia had re-
Gently carried off one child two years old.
| II is a one. story frame building; was found
| to be well ventilated; tbere was no drain
age Of any kind; small vault in the yard
was without sewer connection. The family
were living directly over stable, only a
boarded floor intervening. The rear yard
was found TO be in very filthy
condition. There the family kept poul-
| try, for whose accommodation gar
bage and hOuse-slops were dumped~in-
discriminatory, forming in several places
mounds OF this decaying substance partially
frozen over. The children were dirty and
unwashed, while the general appearance OF
the domcle was that Of "neglect and un-
cleanness." "Possibly," said DR.. Morrow
in his report, these unsanitary conditions
may have been the exciting cause OF the
disease, although The other child has not
| suffered from either of these conditions, nor
from the direct exposure OF this case, which
is said to have been diphtheria."
At No. 221S First avenue DR.. Morrow
found that two children OF one family had
been prostrated from diphtheria, and an
other had died. He had inspected the place
on the 18th Instant. The family, consisting
OF five persons, had lived there since the
beginning OF last month. An infant twenty
two months old and child seven years old
were taken sick, but recovered, while
third, after suffering for four days from
commissions, died. 1t appears that short
time previously, in the same street, three
houses southwark, there had been two
fatal cases OF dipbtberia; but there had
been, so far us known, no connection be-
tween the children or The families. That
there must have been some infective cause"
argued DIR. Morrow, ais evident from the
fact that sister five years old was taken
| sick the day after the first case (the 10Th and
S0th OF Noyember), and both have been
similarly affected through the progress OF
the disease, both being convalescent now.
y The good sanitary conditions OF the
house as regards plumbing, drainage, and
not being in any way crowded, and having
free ventilation from front to rear through
| the rooms, would seem TO indicate that
| both children had been exposed to some
| specific poison simultaneously. Was It,"
| be inquired, "from The cases occurring In
| the house three doors away Qf that was
diphtheria), aud did the child who died Of
commissions have diphtheria and commune
| cate the same 10 those two at the same time?
are interesting questions. Or, did these
two get it away from home, at school, or
elsewhere DR.. Morrow goes on to re-
mark that the yard common to nine houses
In a row is said TO be always very damp,
being five or six feet below the level OF the
street in front, and concluding that :" 1t Is
very damp now"
THREE OF ONE FAMILY.
Observation-Disclosures DR.. Russell
found that three persons, aged respectively
three and half years, eight years, and sew.
enteen years, members OF one family, were
prostrated from diph IBERIA at No. 52S Sixth
street, The first proved fatal and the other
two recovered. The family, consisting OF
seven, lived on the fifth floor for six months.
Twenty-Five families dwell In the tenement.
In the case OF the little girl who died she is
said to have taken cold from exposure TO
the weather and being without proper or
sufficient clothing. the sinks In the balls
are trapped, the cellar is clean and dry, and
the sewer is under the ground. The vault
requires cleaning. No cause could be sus'
pected for The prevalence Of The disease.
Seven cases OF smallpox have been re-
ported to the Board OF Health as having oc.
currcdsin "The Barracks" Nos. 7 and .
Mulberry street. The premises, as already
stated in the Herald, are IN an extremely
filthy and unhealthy condition, and, as .
con pseauence, "detrimentai TO health ana
dangerous TO life."
Two smallpox patients have recently been
removed from the hye.story tenement NO.
SO Oak street TO the SMALLPOX Hospital.
Bealth- Officer Patrick Leahy mnde an in-
specfion Of the premises on the 10th instant,
and found that tie agent Is John r. Jora'e-
mon, who resides 1T No. 90 Lexington ave-
nue. The Wretched condition Of the place
wse rctIceable on every side. The waste