Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-02
A SMALLPOX SC0URGE.
The Dread Disease Assuming an
Alarming Aspect.
THREE CASES IN ONE LOCALITY
Denny's Court District Prolific With the
Fatal Germs.
BAD SEWERAGE IN CROWDED SPOTS

The third smallpox case was yesterday
removed from the neighborhood of Dennv's
court about Thirtieth street and Penn ave-
nue., and the locality is so densely popu-
lated that an epidemic there would prove
most terribly disastrous.
Mrs. Sarah Harper Skeldon, of 1927 Null
berry allev, was the latest victim to the
dread scourge
The present year is about the time the
smallpox plague is expected and since the
last one in 81, the department of health
and prominent physicians have been doing
their utmost to discover some means of COM
batting the disease with varying degrees of
success, and the announcement was recently
made that they are better able to meet the
plague than ever before.
AS with all other epidemics there are GER
tain pecu}iarities with smallpox regarding
its time of arrival and the probable length
of time it prevails. Whether or not this is
a mere psychological belief does not
obtain, but the truth of the matter is
that the medical fraternity is largely aided
by these peculiarities in combating the
plague. In the history of this part of the
country smallpox is prevalent once in every
ten years or thereabouts, and as this is about
the time of the year it begins and about the
period of the decade that it arrives the
grave chancestare that Pittsburg will be
afflicted with a smallpox epidemic
Chances for the Disease TO Spread.
In view of this fact a DISPATCH man
yesterday visited the Denny court locality
and found that it would take but few
germs in the air to spread the disease with
terrible results. The neighborhood
bounded by Penn avenue, Twentv-ninth
and Thirtietb streets and Mulberry alley is
densely populated, there being some 200
families of membership ranging from four
to ten persons. The children are in
majority of the cases between
the ages of 6 months and years
and the parents are nearly all
young people Grocery stores, saloons and
other such places where dirt and refuse
abound are conducted in the low, foul-aired
buildings and the courts to the tenements in
the rear are so narrow and close that the
little ones have to traverse the entire length
Of the block to have any freedom of action.
These courts are all adjoining, and the
mothers and children pass in and out with
much frequency. The house at No. 1927,
where the last case was taken from, con-
tains two families, as do all of the other
houses on Mulberry alley, as well as the
living rooms over the stores on Penn ave-
nue..
Children passed in and out OF No. 1927
Yesterday with their mothers Watching
them play and with an utter disregard of the
contagion-lad atmosphere. A mother
nursed her baby upon the very doorsteps
leading into the house, and when addressed
by THE DISPATCH man said she was not
afraid of the smallpox, as the patient had
been taken away. The people living there
abouts are of the working class and do not
attach significance to the possibility of the
disease spreading.
Came Out to Sec Real Smallpox Case.
A millworker when seen laughed de-
risively at the suggestion Of the disease be-
coming epidemic, and said the street was
lined with people at the time Mrs. SHELDON
was removed, who were curious to see "a
genuine case of smallpox" The sanitary
conditions Of the neighborhood are bad and
j. Falkenhagen, an intelligent grocer at No
1925 Penn avenue, said the unhealthy as
pect was doubtless due to poor sewerage.
"The sewer which carries off the water
from the hills, as well as the refuse of the
neighborhood, has not been cleaned out for
the last seven years that 1 am sure of, re-
marked the grocer SIN rainy weather, such
as we have just been having" he con-
tinued, ''the cellars are overhown, and we
have not had dry cellar for months.
have made no complaint, as 1 thought the
sanitary inspectors could see as well as we
could"
A trip was then made through the houses
in the neighborhood, and while the houses
and yards were passably clean, the
cellars were damp, moist and
very unhealthy. At the mouth of
the sewer at the foot of Thirtieth
street the opening was scarcely eight inches
in extent. The slime and filth of years has
accumulated at the mouth and runs back for
some distance and the water with difficulty
reaches the rivers. The odors that emanate
from this foul opening are nauseous aud un-
healthy and the need of the cleaner is most