Evening journal., 1893-02-01
AGAINST THE QUARANTINE STATION.
smyrna People Organized to Fight the
Proposed Move OF the Pennsylvania
State Authorities.

tine station on Bombay Hook Island has
not begun in earnest but the FIRST guns
are being fred It only remains to be
seen whose batteries will be silenced.
Senator Williams will present the fol
lowing memorial TO the Senate:
''To the Honorable, the Senate and
the House Of Representatives of the
State of Delaware in General Assembly
met:
'ln obedience to the last of the two
resolutions annexed the following ex
tract from the minutes of the Board Of
Health of the town of Smyrna is hereby
laid before your honorable BODY.
Whereas, 1t is matter Of public
notoriety that an effort is about TO be
made to secure the legislative sanction
of this state for the location of Laz-
arctic at Bombay Hook.
Resolved That this board cannot dis
regard the duty, especially incumbent
upon them Of pointing out the serious
menace to the safety of this entire COM
munity, and of all the neighboring com
munities, involved in such a proposition.
AS Is well known the proximity Of any
single case Of contagious disease Is dan
gerous, TO greater or lesser extent, a.
any time, and with the most careful
/ A
/ are to be placed almost in our midst. not
occasionally, but constantly, the danger
becomes imminent Especially is this
true, when the form proposed. viz. an
establishment under the jurisdiction and
management Of another state-it is clear
that the incentives to strict vigilance
against desertion will be weakened to
such and extent as TO be absolutely un-
reliable upon a frontier of eight miles
this difficulty is magniied into the most
serious Importance.
Bombay Hook is absolutely destitute
Of any sufficient natural barrier against
passage into the adjoining country. The
creek is very sluggish and narrow-ia
easily fordablo above the northern stop
ping-is readily passable anywhere by
the use or aid Of a plank or log, or by
swimming few feet-is crossed
by solid earth causeway con.
stituting two legally established public
roads, one Of which is in constant use
is backed by marsh, frozen solid i'm
winter aud readily crossed at any period
Of the year by sportsmen. The location
supplies positively nothing that can be
deemed a natural obstacle TO constant es
cape along its entire frontier by persons
diseased or wearing Infected clothing
From such deserters the danger is two
fold First-that they will reach the
homes Of unsuspecting and hospitabL
farmers, infect their families and through
them convey every contagion to adjacen
towns
"second-That they will readily fnl
their way to some Of the many railroad
stations within easy walking distance, AM
T not only endanger passengers upon tn
trains, but, stopping anywhere north O
2 SOUTH scatter infection in the centres O
population Ia a direct line BOmba
/ Hooks frontier Is distant from Leipsi
and Little Creek only FIVE miles fror
SMYRNA Landing six miles; from Smyrn
r seven miles; from Clayton Ches void
q Brenford and Blackbird eight and one
: half miles; from Fieldsboro and Dove
] nine miles; from Townsend and Odess
{ ten miles, and from MiddletOwn thirteen
miles
1T is to ba remembered that all tn
towns are intimately connected by an
d ceasing intercounection, and that Tia
. iushore boundary Of Bombay Hook
d skirted by public roads branching i
e every direction 20 the nearest towns; an
e that these roads are thickly lined b
farmhouses forming direct and threateI
ing lines of communication to all thes
populous centres All our towns hav,
d therefore, a common interest against thi
IS invasion of disease-Wi Wilmington an
e New Castle not excepted because Oh
inland danger TO them viii be create
Is than that from navigation has ever bee
e found 10 be Against the latter liitl
t local care can eifectualy guard, bu
2, against the former they will have n
d remedy whatever A few instances fires
l. in memory, remind us that this DANCE
from deserters is not ohemencaL
. Last summer. in spite Of the resource
= and vigilance Of New York, very man
y are said 10 have entered that city surrel
O titiously from the quarantine grounds
IS Recently q smallpox patient, escapin
from the hospital, a few miles ava.
entered the city of Elizabeth, n. j
spreading CONSERVATION and disease; an
te still later, exactly the same accidel
~ occurred at our own hospital at FAR
% hurst
le From our own almshouses escapes a.
e, frequent, and what may be expects
I'd from tue management Of another sta
" with no extraordinary inducement f
le the unremittng care and vigilance d
"a manded by such a risk The safety
~ our people will be still further imperilll
ie by unavoidable communication thronl
Ks the medium Of the employees and messe
ar gers Of the Lazaretto, aud by the pa
~ sage Of convalescents-with imperfect
he disinfected effects, and all the 9th
" numerous occasions for contact insep'
IL able from such an establishment-whi
or have sometimes induced boards of heal
of adjacent towns TO attempt to esti
lish a quarantine against the quaranti
officers.
y Overwhelming necessity for such
y, sacrifice of the comfort and safety
OIL Delawareans might induce q genero
"a, people to subject themselves to such
eu nuisance. but no such necessity exis
ee The other two states interested, ca
up mercially and otherwise, infinitely m,
10 than Delaware possess plenty
ng available territory quite as eas
ao guarded, and with the ship chan
" much nearer the shore The authorit
of Philadelphia were only checked
their arrangements for protection al
Pennsylvauia's own soil, by the hope
o shifting the Lazaretto upon Delawa
uS and, that prospect being lost, wor
s5l s5S undoubtedly at once proceed with th
AAN r..