The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-01-25
THE SMALLPOX IN THE CITY
Five New Cases at the Jail and Two
Outside, Yesterday.
Personal Experiences with the Disease-The
Dispensary Not Responsible for
the Trouble.

Yesterday FIVE more prisoners were sent from
the county Jail to the pest-house with the small
pox. Their names are George Williams, Henry
Bolinger Elisha Eads, Martin Cannon, and John
Merrick all minor offenders. Several other
prisoners are complaining, but the authorities
are inclined to the opinion that the disease has
about run its course there, but proof of this is
as yet vague and unsatisfactory On Wednesday
night, John Davis, POI West Fourth street, who
was discharged from custody on the 18th inst.
was taken down, and Immediately removed to
the pest-house, while his residence was disin-
fected, and his family-fve persons in all-vac-
cinated This case is considered somewhat dan
gerous, insomuch as there is public school
building Immediately opposite Daviss house.
Yesterday Ben Fisher, son of Joseph L. Fisher,
night Waterman at the Jail, was taken sick, and
the attending physician DR.. Wishard, says he
has mid case of varioloid. He is confined to
ms home, at the corner of Noble and Huron
streets, and is isolated from the remainder
of the family and the neighbors It is supposed
thai b, oSntraetcd,slo disease while working in
his fathers place one day last week. Last
night it was reported that colored man named
Landers, living on East st. Clair street, was suf-
been formally reported to the authorities
One important fact in connection with the ep-
idemic has thus far been overlooked. From the
time William johnson, who was first affected in
the jail, was taken sick until his disease was
finally decided to be smallpox, twenty three
prisoners who were in the apartment with him.
were discharged from custody and scattered
about the city. Two of these, McDerby, who
has several aliases, and Davis, have since been
taken down, and two others, John Richardson
and Pat Murphy, are now in the station-house
having been rearrested.
Ed Walsh, the Chicago railroad man who was
robbed by two sirens the other night, has been a
nursein the smallpox ward of the hospital in
that city and wants a similar position here. He
will probably be accommodated.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH SMALLPOX.
EYES," said Captain Rexford, U. S. A., ordi-
nance storekeeper at the Arsenal who was
wounded three or four times during the war, and
is now on light duty for the remainder of his
life. Eyes, I've had the smallpox. Had it in
Detroit several years ago." 0.2 90 ~
''What is it like?n asked an interested listener
b ''Ihe only actual pain, said the Captain, is
in the beginning. AT first | had pain in the
head, and every bone in my body ached l was
1eYer1SI Too linen small Jumps, ike SnOb, came
under the skin in the palms of the hands. Then
a doctor came and told me what it was. The
shot marks grew into sores on the face and lips
and inside the hands. The discharge from the
sores smells, and smells worse to yourself than
to anybody else You can't sit down without sit
ting down on twenty of the pustules, and you
can't lie down without lying down on at least two
hundred of them. Then they itch intolerably
1t was altogether disagreeable. Everything l
ate seemed to smell like the exhalations of the
disease. l could not sleep because of the intol-
cradle itching. There is little fever after the
eruption comes. The only relief 1 had was that
the places that first broke out got well first. If
they had all been going at once the disease
would have worn me out After [ was well
was well all over, and had ravenous appetite.
1t was case of genuine continent smallpox, but
l was well over it in ten days. One day, immedi-
ately after my recovery, got into street-car to
ride down town. My fellow-p passengers looked
at me, and after three four had pulled the
bell and got out, the remainder followed with a
rush, leaving me with the car to myself. Com
| ing from warm room had brought out red spots
wherever the pustules had been"
Perhaps you don't know the terror that small
pox inspires in the country and in small towns, "
said another listener. Several years ago we
thought we had the smallpox in the village in
| which lived-four young fellows who had been
! knocking about the world a little They were
! given small house, about three-quarters of a
mile from the village, furnished with an the
provisions they might need, and a gallon jug
| of whisky. Whisky out in the rural districts is
| considered sovereign remedy for smallpox. In
few days one of the men brought the jug to
! the outskirts of the village and demanded more
of the remedy-and be quick about tiff it
| wasn't brought he would come in and get it filed
| himself. The jug was filed and placed where the
| sufferer indicated. Persons passing this pest
| house on their way to and from the village told
| wild tales of the orgies that were going on,
which the villagers attributed to the suffeIings
| of the inmates but when the second Jug of
whisky was empty the patients announced them
selves cured"
Smallpox is called contagious" said Captain
Rexford, but my wife nursed me through it
and never took it. 1 don't think a person in per-
feet health will take it, at least not very read
iy / think the theory that it is dirt disease
was knocked out ON the Pacific coast. A few
years ago, when it prevailed in San Francisco,
everybody predicted that Chinatown would suf
fer. If my memory is correct, Chinatown did
not furnish case, while the aristocratic quarter
of Mob Hill furnished number of cases"
I'm 1854, y said Rev. Myron W. Reed IT was
in Chicago. / had friend there who was wait
ing for something to turn up, and we were in the
habit of walking about the place to kill time.
One day we were walking near the lake. There
was dreary waste of white sand with little
cemetery in the middle foreground, and one soil
| tary house with fence around it near by. A
man shouldering the door jamb, and as we
didn't think it likely garden spot, went up
to him and asked what place it was THE pest
house he answered briefly Brief as the
answer was it was enough, and neither of us
| felt quite well for at least a week afterward.'
| There was a rush for the doctors, yesterday,
and it is calculated that between six hundred
and seven hundred persons were vaccinated.
| There is no scarcity of virus, as the druggists
had time to prepare for the demand. and ordered
! fresh supplies from neighboring cities
A Gard from DIR. Carver.