The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-10-06
THE FEVER AT FERNANDINA.
What DR.. Starbuck Has to Say About
It's Beginning and Progress.

l
space In your valuable journal to correct
the Misrepresentation of the Times Union
and your Jacksonville correspondent and
others in regard to the recent outbreak of
yellow fever in Fernandina. Our board of
health and physicians have been accused Of
| deception or ignorance in not declaring that
| yellow fever existed here earlier. A simple
statement of the facts will satisfy all fair
| minded men that this charge is unjust.
| Yellow fever was declared in Jackson
| Vile on Aug. 9. On Aug. 10 our board of
| health met and put on an absolute quaran-
tine against Jacksonville and evey place
south and east of the Fernandina and Cedar
| Keys railroad. This quarantine was strictly
maintained up to few days ago. Up to
| Aug. q there was very little sickness of
any kind, much less than there usually is at
this season. On the morning of Aug. % a
| Mrs. Buck, a lady over 60 years old, died
| after an illness of about week with re-
mittent fever. Just before her death she
vomited about tablespoonful Of dark
brown substance, and this was the first
suspicious symptom of yellow fever
| that had occurred in the city. The two
| physicians attending her placed guard
around the house and reported the case 60
the board or health. An autopsy was held
about six hours after death, which revealed
the fact that she had fatty degeneration of
the kidneys, softening Of the spleen, erosion
| or the mucous membrane OF the stomach,
very much enlarged and highly contested
| liver almost black in color, and an mpac-
| ton of the gaul duct with sixteen gaul stones
averaging a half inch in diameter, She
had been for years a chronic dyspeptic
| and had had before several attacks similar
to the one which preceded her death. There
were present at the autopsy four regular
physicians, Drs. Palmer, Horsey, Pope and
Starbuck, and one homeopathic physician,
DIR. Frazier, who stated, when called on for
his opinion, that he had never seen any
yellow fever The other four physicians
have all passed through one or ore cpl
denies. They decided that death was not
caused by yellow fever-to which DR..
Frazier did not at that time dissent The
next day he called on the president of the
board of health and said he had consulted his
authorities, and that no believed that death
was caused by yellow fever He then went
home and went to bed, and has not been out
of his house since. On Sept. 10 Dr. Fra zer
reported this case to the surgeon general as
yellow fever, and places the post mortem
on Aug. Ia, eight days before the woman
died. In his report he also stated that the
fever spread from then and that deaths
were quite frequent" The fact is that from
the time of Mrs. Bucks death
TO the time DR.. Frazier made
his report there was but one death from
fever, and that one from brain fever, and
was lady who had not entirely recovered
from sickness caused by childbirth. One
case that he states he has no doubt died of
yellow fever, died from debauch of more
than a months duration. The victim fell
to the floor dead, and was found with the
neck of a whisky bottle in his mouth. Very
suspicious circumstances these.
So much for DR.. Fraizer's report. Nov
Al - l. A.. r
visers. DIR. Frazier in his report says that
a yellow fever nurse who was here in 1887
confirms his statement in regard to the
fever. This yellow fever nurse is well
known to every one here. His record as q
yellow fever nurse is not to be envied. He
is bet or known as a spiritualist who is
training medium to see deep enough into
the earth to find Capt. Kidd's treasures. He
and his wife live alone upon Tiger island
and dig for the gold, but some two mont! S
| ago they seem to have made their home with
| DIR. Frazier, who is also a spirituaiist. This
man says that Mrs Frazier is a good
| medium, and that she sees things that others
cannot see, aud that she has foretold the
death two weeks before they died. of some
of those who have died. Now, as DR.. Frai-
ger has been confined to his home ever since
the death Of Mrs. Buck, he must have OBJ
tanned his knowledge of the existence of
y
either from the ''gold seeker" or from the
spirits, and inasmuch as he stated at the
autopsy of Mrs. Buck that he had never
seen any yellow fever, the new light he re-
ceived from his authorities must have been
from the same source. OF course, DR.. Ham
ilton could not have known how unreliable
his information was.
About Aug. 80 quito a number of persons
were taken sick with fever that had the
appearance and symptoms of dengue. Very
few were confined to the house over three
days. These cases continued to appear for
about week, but in that time no ono was
seriously sick. On the night of Sept. IA
Mr.. Sessar developed grave and suspicious
symptoms, and died on the morning of Sept
| 16. Previous to his death he vomited a
| dark substance. An autopsy was held
| about eight hours after his death. There
were present Drs Horsey, Pope and Star
| buck. We found enlarged and highly con-
gested liver and spleen, and about
| tablespoonful of the so-called black
vomit In the stomach. Twenty-four
hours before his death his nose was bleed
| ing at times, aud he was observed to fire. =
| quently clear his throat and swallow, and
| as he lay on his back it is but reasonable to
| suppose that the "back vomit" was blood
| that he had swallowed. We did not feel
| justified in pronouncing this case of yell
| low fever, although the attending physician
| (who was in attendance up to the day be-
| fore death, and who was unfortunately not
present at the autopsy had said he believed
the case to be yellow fever.
From this time the so-called dengue spread
rapidly, the symptoms in some few cases be-
coming more grave and several deaths oc-
| Cured but in only one of these was there
symptoms suspicious enough to call for an
autopsy, and In this case the autopsy failed
to show the slightest reason to suppose that
death was caused by yellow fever. On the
morning of Sept. "a, Mr.. Hood, who had
shown symptoms Of yellow fever, died. An
| autopsy was held, and the characteristic
| LESSONS of yellow fever were found, and one
hour later the wires were carrying the an
nouncement far and wide that we had yell
| low fever in Fernandina.
| This is brief ! istory Of tho appearance
OF yellow fever in Fernandina, and your
correspondents letter Of Sept. 25 is untiue
| in every particular, except that the parties
named therein did die. At the time the
board of health issued their denial of the
existence OF yellow fever here, there was
no evidence to prove that it did exist, and
nobody was outvoted six to one, or by any
other majority. 1t required a grest
deal stronger evidence than we had up to
| Sept. "a, for the physicians to announce
| yellow fever in Savannah and Brunswick
| in 1876, Fernandina in 1877, Key West and
Tampa in 1887, and Jacksonville in 1885.
Your correspondent to tho contrary, not