The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-10-17
TOWNSEND TALKS BACK,
And Gives His Reasons for His Sugges-
lions About Quarantine Matters.

: NetCS. notice in your issue or saturday
: card from Inspector General Sheldon in re
q | gard to the admission of the two refugee
from Camp Perry, and as l am referred t.
in an uncomplimentary manner, | ask spac
to set myself right before my friends ant
4 the public generally.
7 1t will be observed that, instead of de
Tending or explaining his very slack quaran
| tine inspection service, Mr. Sheldon evade'
l the issue which it seems | have forced upor
him, and jump; on me with both feet" Sc
to speak, for allowing the men to come int
: the city. The trouble about that is-as
explained to Mr. ) heldoa Thursday even
lng-that it Is impossible for me to spare
the time from my other business duties tc
"play detective on the numerous trains
coming into Savannah, and assist his quar-
antine officials in preventing suspects from
coming to the city.
The interview between the inspector gen
eral and myself. as may readily be mag
ned, was spicy and peppery. | took occa-
sion TO remind HIM then of a communication
written bv me TO the MORNING NEWS,
which appeared in your columns on Sept
u under the caption of "Quarantine in
Georgia, and which many of your readers
| will doubtless remember. In that article |
| made some pertinent suggestions to the Sa-
| vannah quarantine authorities. | advised
| the withdrawal Of the Savannah inspectors
at Waycross and JeSup, and sIg ested an
| increased vigilance at SouthoYer junction
You will pardon me for reproducing the
TO lowing exact words, taken from
that article The two inspectors
mentionei do not ques ion or ex-
anime any one on the ira VINO tells them
he or she is not going t, Savannah. There
is the points. For, of course, any refugee
| from infected poiIts has more sense now
than to attempt TO get into Savannah on
through ticket. The small stations are Sc
! lccted rs heir Observation-Disclosures Way
cross and Savannah-and from there they
seem conclusive that the quarantine Mt tde
city limits must be made effective, or Sa-
vannah is III great danger
| had no possible motive in making those
| suggestions. or in giving out the above
arning. except he good of Savanna,
which Mr.. Sheldon to the contrary not
with >tanding) | always have at heart. The
| Inspector general adini.te to me that he
read the article in question, or rather, II
| portion of II. But, he sad. Eve didn't
wish any suggestions from you as to hor' to
cOnduct the Savannah quarantine" Evil
IDENTIFY not, as the sequel of wednesday
slowed and while it is rough o. me not to
be allowed to assist in conducting the
| Savannah quarantine" if the 80 900 pep
pe' who were so ruthlessly Exposed to pes
thence" as much by a disregard of my
warning of Sept. % as by my '',ilence" al
| the quarantine station last Wednesday
can stand 1t. most assure lily can. The
| question which presents itself is this: How
many dangerous persons have slipped
through the lines without certificates when
no one has been around to call attention to
their mUduS operdRdi of running the quar-
antine!
1t is true that one of the refugees admitted
to me on the way down from Mcintosh
| that he was talking Tayl0r's creek as a
| blind; that he had left Jack ,onville five
weeks before that; and tlat he had been
| trying TO get into Savannah ever since he
had left Camp Perry. | d not invite his
confidence. but after he had bestowed it
| upon me, it occurred to me that | could use
| it to better advantage to Sava nah an by
turning him over to the quarantine officer
| at Southover. TIE next time Il reasoned
a genuine yellow fever subject might be
admitted in precisely the same way
| will explain that after questioning the
young man closely | beca ne satistied that
| nothing of danger was u be Apr ehendel
from him. Furthermore las | stated t.
| Mr.. Sheldonl | was not certain that per-
sons. regularly discharged from Camp
| Perry, were denied en- rance to the CITY,
those kind of refugees beiAg supposed to be
free of the infection.
To show tat did not act so very unfeel-
ingly in exposing S4vannah's 5000 people
1
| the next seat in front Of the aforesaid ref
ugee all the way to the city, and could not
| discover any of the festive microbes play
| z around upon him, though | looked for
| th-m. | even loaued him my pocket knife
with which he cut and peeled joint of
| sugar lne, and ate 1t as we trav ell along,
As yet | have not thought it nee sSary
ei her to have my knife fumigated, or to
carry around chunk of safP ida in my
pocket
| confess / was surprised when the in
spector let the man pass without requiring
| him TO show health certificate or establish
| his identity in some satisfactory wav. But
Mr.. Sheldon explained all that when he
told me that it was impossible to require
| country eo'le-from small stations-to
carry certificates when they come to Sa-
vannah." I'VE have to go by what the
| conduc ors tell u.s." he says. | leave your
| citizens to pass Judgment on that kind of
| quarantine, as it needs no comment from
me. Inspector-General Sheldon may be an
authority on guano, but as a quarantine
| expert he is away ''off."
A few words as to my citizenship in Sa-
vannah, . and my obtaining health GER
tificate under false preteuses,n as insinuated
| by Mr.. Sheldon. In the first place this
waapish official is an error when he SAYS
| that told him that | was mot a citizen of
Savannah and not interested in protecting
/ the CITY" | ulu TELL MIN, however,
that didn't lice there, and | was not sup
posed TO be as actively interested as him
self in these matters" The facts are that
| while l do not reside in Savan-
nah, l travel for a concern having
large interests there, and my daily
reports and transactions all pass through
the Savannah office, and | am in the city
quite often. | have distinct legal and
moral right to claim a business residence
i'll Savannah, and so Mayor Lester seemed
10 think when | obtained my health certih-
cate from him on Sept. Z, and which certifi-
cate Mr.. Sheldon now seeks to vitiate.
invariably register from Savannah |
am member and an officer of Post D of
the Travellers Protective Association of
your city, and | am an active uniformed
| member of the Guards battalion, and for
several years have never failed TO be in
ranks on the annual parade of the corps.
| understand Mr.. Sheldon has issued
orders to his inspectors TO stop mo the next
time | come to Savannah and not to let me
into the city. With all due respect for his
official "ukase,n | will say that the oppor-
tunlty will soon present itself, and it will
be unfortunate if your city has to pay dam
ages 10 crafty Inspector General Sheldons
personal spite against myself. Carrying
papers regularly issued ard properly
stamped. and not having visited any in
fected point it would be financially un-
healthy" for the inspector to embarrass me
in my personal movements. | know what
I n II