Morning journal and courier., 1881-08-19
Typhoid Fever at Rugby,
More Than Five Per Cent. of the PouuIa- tion Attacked-Two Fatal Cases.
 From the Cincinnati Commercial1

From the Cincinnati Commercial1 It will be matter of deep regret to many I friends of the English colony at Rugby to ! learn that an epidemic of typhoid fever has ! made it's appearance there, and has already carried off two victims one of whom. MT. Dayken, was most active member of the so called board of aid The successive occur renee of ten or twelve cases of prostration with nervouS symptoms and diarrhoea in the short space of two weeks soon excited the suspicion of Dr. Kemp the physician on duty at the grounds, that he had something to deal with more serious than mere prostration by heat, which the disease was first generally considered to be, and at the suggestion of the board, with the approval of the physi- clan, counsel was summoned from Cincinnati to aid him in the treatment of the cases, and in the discovery and removal of the cause
 as has been already stated in our col
 umns Dr. Whitaker, and afterward Dr. Un-
 derhill on receipt of telegraphic dispatches,
 repaired to Rugby, and, together with Dr.
 Kemp, at once proceeded to study the symp
 toms of the disease. It was soon agreed
 upon that all the cases were suffering from
 common malady differing from each other
 only in degree. On the arrival of the Gin
 cinnati physicians Saturday night last there
 were but six cases confined to bed, and of
 these two were already comatose and i7e d7'-
 ttcatlo mortis Both of these cases died in
 the course of the night and opportunity was thus offered of confirming the suspicious
 that had been entertained by the physicians in the post-mortem examination that was
 made at once It had become pretty clearly
 evident so soon as 8 sufficient number of cases had accumulated, that all the patients
 were suffering from blood poisoning, and the symptoms pointed strongly to typhoid fever.
 After week of nsaLdise, the disease set in
 with sharp pain in the back of the head and neck, pain in the back, fever of gradual in-
 ,111- constipation, diarrh9a, which continued throughout. More or less mental hebetude, apathy, muttering delirium characterized all the cases, and with this array of syn1p- toms continuing into the second week, the physicians speedily arrived at the conclusion that they had to deal with typhoid fever. The post-mortem examination confirmed this opinion, as the lesions peculiar to the disease were found in the intestinal walls.
 The next step, of course, was to discover the possible source of infection. It was soon ascertained that the only source common to all the cases was the drinking water. Three of the cases were at this time lying in the hotel itself, and three others in small build ing at a distance of two or three blocks which has been erected as an annex to tho hotel, but had now been very wisely appro- | priated by Dr. Kemp as a hospital. But | nearly all the colonists in any proximity to | the hotel and many of those far removed | from it are in the habit of taking one all l their meals there. The excessive heat which 1 the use of large quantities of water, and in l this way, it is believed, the disease was | spread. Rugby is rather unfortunate in the | matter of drinking water. Most of the water is drawn from a kind of shallow artesian | well, bored through the rock in close prox- imity to the hotel, but as this well | does not furnish constant supply, water is | dror O aiStarT1 hnf fxuaIva nr | teen feet from the well. This cistern was dug as well, but as no water was reached it was walled up cemented and filled with rain-water from the roof. The long drought of five weeks soon emptied this res srvoir, and 1t became necessary to haul water from the streams. the White Oak and Clear Fork, tributaries to the Cumberland, some half mile away. But in the meantime the ,istern had become very foul Decomposing animal and vegetable matter was found in it in such quantities as to sicken the workmen engaged in cleaning it. and it is believed that of the dejections from the first case of the disease. Whether the subsequent cases were contracted by drinking the water from the cistern or from the well, which, re- moved from it but few feet, might easily receive it's poison by percolation through it's walls, is question not yet settled, but 1n- junction was at once put upon the water LIOu OOtA ClStcEA dAu WcL, nAu Ao ID AOPoN that the further advance of the disease is ehscked
 There are, at the present time, about 20 cases, pretty heavy percentage in popula- jon of not quite 400 in all. Among the vic inns is the young lady, daughter of MT. Hastings Hughes, in whom the attack as yet 1t least is mild The oldest child of Mir. Richard Mitchell, of this city, was brought here on the first appearance of illness and is 1t present seriously sick. Mrs. T. D. Lin. eoln and family arrived home yesterday. 1 Her loss from Rugby is very keenly felt, as her min1strations to the sick were as constant 1 IS competent.
 It was decided that the funerals of Mir. Dayken and MT. Chatter should take place on Sunday, and as these were the first deaths at Rugby, the occasion was melancholy in the extreme. It was 8 very simple service, the 1 two cofiins resting upon chairs in the hall 1 of the hotel, their old comrades stand ing about with uncovered heads, while one read in solemn silence the service of the lead, then the placing of the coffin in the wagon, and the quiet following, two by two, with hardly spoken word, of into the woods, where the graves were dug and the bodies laid to rest
 On the return of the Cincinnati physicians nurses were sent up, for previous attempt to secure the aid of some of the Sisters of Charity had proved intellectual, with hospital outfit and Dr. French, one of the recent 1n- ,ernes at the hospital, left last night to re- port for duty to Dr. Kemp.