The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-07-14

The board of health held the first
meeting of July yesterday afternoon at
its rooms in the municipal building.
DR.. Bently, the president called the
meeting to order and the session which
followed was nothing il not interest
ing
Dr. W. +. Allen, health officer Of the
board, when called upon for his report
arose with sly twinkle IN his gray
eyes. Dr. Aliens report is always
looked forward to with pleasurable an
ticipations for the side splitting humor
that prevades them. His report of yes
terday is herewith given:
To the board of heath, Scranton, Pa.
GENrLEMEN-During the month of June
forty special complaints were made to the
board of health, and all have been attend
ed to satisfactorily, excepting the one mat
ter OF chickens. These Oipeds have been Il
source of much trouble to the people of
some parts Of the city and likewise to the
board OF health. They are complained Of
for various reasons. the principal ones
being the Objectionable aroma from their
environment, so to speak; the insects,
commonly known as nee which are so
| numerous and friendly in their immediate
vicinity, and last but not least, the music
Of their voices, which they SEND up hour
ly to heaven from early eve till dewy
morn, making sleep impossible and life a
burden. If they only sung in tune 1t would
not be so bad, but they do not. Among
the hundreds Of these vocalists in the
neighborhood of Mulberry street, no two,
! am Informed, are ever ON the same
pitch, from the quavering high soprano to
the tenors Of rat her limited experience
aud the croaking old rooster who tunes up
later in the morning. This certainly is
terrible, but what can be done about it?
| have considered the matter carefully and
have about given up. l will leave the SOL
ution Of the difficulty to the board.
wYEoFF PAVEMENT CONDEMNED
The most disgusting, and think dan
gerous nuisance now existing is the Wy
kotf pavement, so called on Penn avenue
and Spruce street. The odOr from these
rotten old blocks that have been saturated
with everything oily from the time they
were put down is certainly dangerous as
well as dsagreeable There can be no
species of germ left out, and in my opinion
the atmosphere of the whole neighborhood
is unsafe. would suggest that councils
Oe importuned to pass an ordinance re-
quiring at least the removal of the rotten
wood and filth.
Scranton street and Ninth street, below
Robinson street, are suffering greatly from
the want Of sewers. The cutters at times
receive the contents of water closets on
the side hill, and unless there were an off
Ger on every lot, it would be impossible to
stop it. This, | think, should be urged
upon councils. Connors court, Decker's
court and Fig street remain in the same
condition.
The report was accepted and placed
on file Secretary Briggs report
showed the mortality Of the month of
June to have been l13; marriages, 22l;
births, % The total deaths in the city
for tha first half Of the current year
are ,iS
Seventy cases of contagious diseases
were reported, IA follows: Measles,
50; scarlet fever,f diphtheria, 6; oue
case each of typhoid, scarlet fever, and
whooping cough.
The report of Superintendent II. W,
Lotus of the garbage crematory set
forth that during the month of June
| the amount of stuff burned is as fol-
lows. Barrels and cans !. j4r; dogs.
| 10: cats, T; hogs, l. Thirty.two tons of
coal were used for the month.
The report of Food Inspector Richard
Thomas was of the same stereotypel
form as the past monthly effusious of
that argus eyed official have been. 1t
contained the important announce
ment that lie has made 532 official
visits and so forth.
WHAT DID DUGGAN DO To HIM?
At this juncture james Duggan, of
the North End, chimed in James is a
sCavenger by profession and looks like
a dominic. Whether he ever kissed the
blarney stone or not is not quite clear,
but his language would indicate that
by some hook or crook he WAS endowed
with the gift of the CAB" He made a
very vociferous charge against Food
Inspector Thomas. alleging that Mr..
Thomas had gone so far as to instruct
heads Of families in the North End not
TO give any garbage to DuggaD or. in
fact, to any OF the collectors of offal.
He al1o said that Mr.. Thomas was der
elct in attending to cases of contagious
diseases. insomuch as that he was lazy
i n placarding the houses where these
diseases were, often neglecting to post
notices until the patients were recov-
cred. Duggan said that DR., Ross, OF
Park Place, reported dozen cases OF
measles and Mr., Thomas did not plac-
ard the houses until the children were
well.
Secretary Briggs lifted the charge
from the shoulder of Mr. Thomas with
the statement that during the past two
months there were only four cases of
measles reported by DR.. Ross and that
in each case the receipts of Mr.. Thomas
were in his possession showing that pla
cards had been taken ont
Colonel L. II. Ripple made motion
that in order to Justify Mr.. Thomas,
the sanitary officer b, instructed
to visit the houses Of the people whose
family was afflicted with meas
les as reported by DIR. Ross
and learn from them if Mr.. Thomas
attended strictly to his duty. Duggar
supplemented his attack on Mr..
Thomas with the charge that man
named John Morris, hotel-keeper oI
Providence, who rents house owned
by Mr.. Thomas. paying therefor 800 I
month. refused to surrender any gar
page, and Duggan alleged that Mr.
Thomas was the cause of it, saying
that he was In the habit of goinl
among his friends and urging them tc
burn their garbage or throw it in the
manure pile, and not pay monthly
fee to garbage collectors for carting i
away.
Mr. Thomas stood up to contradict
Duggan. and after spasm Of giggling
he managed to get off the following
sentences: my yard Is perfectly clear
and invite any person to come ant
examine my little garden, and il hi
can find handful of garbage l viii
make him present of cigar, good
ciRar We do NOT hnva mnch rarhnRe