Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-12
NOT A SINGLE DEATH
From Grip Reported Yesterday in
the City of Pittsburg.
SOME CASES In NEARBY TOWNS.
Peculiar Points About the Travels Of the
Grip Epidemic.
SPOTTED FEVER STILL has VICTIMS

Yesterday there was not single deatn re-
ported from grip in the city of Pittsburg.
That is the best showing made since the
disease became epidemic here. OF the II
permits asked for up to o'clock the cause
of death in three cases was given as pneu-
monia, and one of those cases was reported
three months. From spotted fever up to 3 P.
M. not a death had been sent in. A number of
new cases were reported to the Bureau of
Health, but there was nothing in them to
show that they were serious.
The practical disappearance of the grip is
a source of qualification all round. 1t
seems still to have a slight hold in ALLIE
gheny, but even over there the number of
new cases reported are comparatively few
and far between. Just why it should be
more prevalent at this time in Allegheny
than on this side of the river is something
that no one seems able to solve. 1t is not
thought that the theory of the flood effects
will hold good now, while it might have
had good deal to do with the sickness
about the time the epidemic was so severe.
The weather has not been particularly con-
ducive to dry cellars, but most of those In
the low lying streets are about as dry as
usual for this time of the year.
Still Prevalent in Nearby Towns.
While it can be safely said that the grip
has practically left Pittsburg, for some un-
accountable reason it is still raging to
greater or less extent in some of the outlying
towns. McKeesport has not yet got rid of
it, nor has BraddocK. At Ellsworth there
is one family of which every member is sick.
The household was SO helpless that relatives
in Pittsburg were sent for, and new servant
had also to be engaged. While the disease
was so violent here there were but few cases
reported in these smaller towns. After
feeding upon all those in Pittsburg who
were susceptible to it, the grip seems to have
sought new victims in the country
Whether the grip is to be a regular yearly
visitant is question the physicians give up
as beyond their ken. According to the
laws that are supposed to govern epidemics
Pittsburgers will now have a rest for few
years. Its history, dating back for many
hundreds of years, though the names given
it has varied with each successive recur-
renee, shows that it runs its course within
two or three years. Last year it came to
America from France, but the latter coun-
try has pra ctically escaped it this year.
How the Epidemic Has Progressed.
In fact, there has been no sign of dis
ease in any part of Europe that could be
called the grip, or anything approaching it.
Last winter and spring the disease so we'll
defined in France, its main seat being Paris,
started in this country first in New York,
and from thence it spread to other Eastern
cities. Running its course there, it gradu-
ally came West, going as far as Chicago.
In the Western part of the country its raw
ages were light in comparison with the
Eastern cities. So slight was it in fact
hereabouts that people were inclined to
laugh at it. 1t was said to have been more
of disease of the Imagination. That it was
not a purely imaginative disease Pitts
burgers now know to their sorrow.
The epidemic this year reversed the order
of its coming, which is another point that
puzzles the doctors. Its first noticeable
effects were felt in Chicago, and the point
in the minds of many is whether the germs
of the disease were not lying dormant in
that city from last year until the weather
conditions were favorable when the epi-
Thence, as is known, 1t travelled gradually
east the next point it attacked with equal
fatality being Pittsburg. 1t was believed
when the disease was so bad here that it
would not reach the Eastern cities. Indeed
it was only a week ago, or so, that the New
Yorkers were congratulating themselves
that they were clear of the epidemic, only
few fatal cases having been reported. Now
the grip has got a deadly hold on the
metropolis and the death rate is something
astounding.
The Course of Disease.
Said well-known physician yesterday:
"The grip in its travels in this country dur
ing the past two years reminds one some
what of the two cholera visitatlons. those of
1882 and 1854 In the latter year the cholera
was very severe here, while in 1919 it was
bad, very bad in other sections of the coun-
try further west. When it did strike Pitts
burg it came to us from the West In 1882,
ON the contrary, it travelled here directly |
from the East. Of course that is neither
here nor there, but it serves to show that
there appears to be certain regularity or
system in the way great epidemlcs travel"
The officials at the Bureau of Health were
not at all pleased yesterday when reports |
were printed 10 the effect that they were
alarmed at the death rate. Superintendent !
Baker said that he saw no reason for alarm
at all, The death rate was heavy, and that |
for the month of April might exceed that of
March, but the month is young yet, and |
there was every probability of much fine
weather before the balmy breezes of May
reached us.
Regarding spotted fever, or cerebro- spinal |
meningitis, he said there were new cases be-
ing reported daily, but he did not see any
thing particularly alarming in that. The
disease was not contagious. That it seems
to be confined mostly to certain districts
shows that the surrounding conditions must |
be favorable. Quite number of cases are
reported along Penn avenue, from Eighth
to Thirtieth streets.
Falling Off of the Death Rate.
There were II deaths reported Yesterday |
at the Bureau Of Health up to 5 o'clock. |
The total for the previous day was 80. Of |
course II does not represent the total of |
deaths yesterday, as burial permits |
may not be taken out for |
all until to-day or tomorrow. Joseph |
Higison, aged years, died of spotted fever |
at 1923 Bigham street. Bessie Brown, aged |
Kirkpatrick streets, alter an illness of five |
days. Mary McSwoner, 10 years of age, of |
and Smallman, died of |
chronic pneumonia after being sick three |
months, and Robert L. Mopnia, aged 10 |
months, died Of catarrhal pneumonia. There |
was one death from whooping cough, thatof |
Walter Johnston, aged years, of 5195 |
Dolphin street. ...~.
The Mother Superior of st. Andrews |
Convent Allegheny, was improved yester- |
day.
A. C. Douthett, of the Porter s. Douthett |
Company, who has been confined to his |
room for two weeks by the grip, is able to be |