Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1892-09-09
WHO THREW BRICKS?.
A Telegram, Supposedly From Bis
marck, in the Minneapolis
Tribune
Announces to the World That There
Exists q Case of Cholera in
This City.
The Statement Is q Wicked Canard.
and the Citizens Are Justly
Indignant.
A Wicked Canard.

Indignant.
A Wicked Canard.
The Minneapolis Tribune, in it's issue
of Tuesday, publishes another of it's
patent-applied for, guaranteed all trash
and a yard wide kilograms from Bis
marck. Through fear lest the item
might escape the notice of the residents
of this city, and they thus be in blissful
ignorance of the existence of the dreaded
scourge, the item appears at the top of a
column on the first page, and over it, in
huge, black, suggestively crape-like
letters appears the announcement
"Cholera at Bismarck" Then follows
several sub-heads, in which it is said
that the fact has been kept secret for
fear Of alarm, and that the disease is
supposed to have been brought here by
immigrants, and next comes the follow
ing article:
1t has leaked out here that the attend
ing physician (Dr. Porter) would regard
It ne could trace any possibility of infec-
ton, as a genuine case of Asiatic cholera
has occurred in Bismarck, and that the
patient Is not yet out of danger. The
sufferer is a prominent citizen and it is
understood that his symptoms are de-
clared by DR.. Porter, who is one of the
most eminent physicians of the state, and
formerly surgeon in Clusters command. to
be precisely like those Of Asiatic cholera.
The matter has been kept from the pub
lie to prevent alarm and the facts are Sc
cured only by an accidental revelation.
There is some fear that the disease has
been brought here by immigrants arriving
from over the border and that in some way
the gentleman attacked has been expos ed
without knowing it.
When the above article was
read yesterday there was, first, general
surprise, then anxious questioning, and
when it was discovered that it was a
canard there was universal indignation.
Almost without exception the citizens
are very, very warm, and they are not
at all backward in expressing their feel
ings.
The facts in the case are these: Henry
Suite was taken i'll Sunday with an ag-
gravated attack of cholera morbus. It
was not Aeiatic cholera, although the
symptoms may have resembled those of
that disease, and Doctor Porter, the at
tending physician, did not express any
doubt as to its being a case of cholera
morbus. He so diagnosed the illness,
and there was no attempt made to keep
it quiet. Doctor Porter, when asked
about the article yesterday designated it
a lie, and he emphasized the Gle" with
an adjective, which is very, very express
sive, indeed.
Just where the author of the telegram
procured his startlingly original informa-
ton is a question. In his opinion it
was a brilliant bit of news, and without
stopping to obtain any authorization of
the report, he rushed into print with
the information he had obtained. It was
q matter of no moment to him
whether there was any truth in the
report. No, in his wild and feverish
desire to be first in promulgating such a
startling bit of information, he found no
time to inquire al to it's truth; he did
not think of the anxiety it might cause
persons who live without the state and
who have relatives in Bismarck. None
of these considerations bothered him in
the least. Cholera, cholera morbus,
chicken pox and a bad cold were evil
IDENTIFY on equal terms in his category Of
diseases, and as c cholera he proclaimed
the illness to the world.
The sender Of the telegram is deserv-
ing Of an ovation. It would be utterly
wrong to allow an W vigilant news
paper correspondent to prowl around
these dark and starless nights, all the
time discovering fresh cases of cholera,
without some evidence by the citizens
of an appreciation of his efforts. Cholera
might be hiding it's insidious self in a
rose bush or a pie plant, right next door
to us, and were it not for the correspond
emit who a detect it's foul presence a
mile away we might never be aware OF
it, until it had entered our households
and played havoc with the occupants.
It is not every city which
possesses such a valuable adj
dition to its health department as
does Bismarck in the sender of the
above message, and he should be en-
ployed by Health. Officer Jenkins to
stand at the port of New York, and with
ears straight forward, nose pushed out
into the air, and one foot upllfted, in the
manner Of a pointer, use his unusual
powers of discernment in discovering
cases of cholera on board steamships as
they leave the port of Hamburg.
Bismarckers may expect, in the next
week or so, to read in eastern j%urnals OF
"people dying by hundreds in Bismarck,
of cholera" And now that we have
cholera in our midst, would it not be
we'll to send out q few kilograms an
nouncing the arrival OF smallpox, yellow
fever, diphtharia and other diseases
mi - A-@ - " L- - 1850 E