Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-22
SOME ALARM FELT.

ChickenpOx Case Found Mt the Jail.
Officer Woodward gave a clear bill Of
health concerning the District JAIL At
that time the bill was necessary because
the warden wanted to send off to the peni-
Tertiary a batch of prisoners who were
then under sentence. Although the bill
of health was given only last week there
was a suspicious case at the Jail today,
when James w. Cotton, sentenced on De-
cember for selling tickets in violation
of the lottery law, to four months i'm
prisonment, was taken sick. Yesterday he
was feeling unwell, and this morning he
was really sick.
When DR.. Shute. the Jail physician. was
called to see the patient he concluded that
the prisoner was suffering from an attack
Of chicken pox.
This is contagious disease, and the pa
tient was soon removed to the top floor.
where he was isolated as far as possible
from the other prisoners.
Today when the guard on duty went to
the door and saw two OF CottOn'S friends
there he had to tell them that they could
not see the prisoner, and 1t was only after
they insisted on knowing the reason that
they were told what was really the mat
ter with him.
The case has not been reported to Health
Officer Woodward as suspected smallpox
case for the reason that the diagnosis of
the jail physician was that the prisoner
was suffering an attack of chickenpox.
The Jail clerk. when questioned by Star
reporter this afternoon, said that Cotton
has the chickenpox and not the smallpox.
That, he said, Is what the Jail physician re-
ported.
DR.. Shute could not be found by Star
reporter this afternoon. He was not at the
jofI he in 10 off
DR.. O'Malley, the physician in charge of
the contagious disease branch of the health
department, said he had heard nothing of
the case in the Jail until told Of it by
Star reporter.
He said that chickenpox seldom attacks
adults. 1t is a disease, he said, that Is
confined almost exclusively to children, and
at this particular time he said case of
chickenpox reported with an adult as the
patient he would be very apt to suspect
that it was case of smallpox, although 1t
may be chickenpox.
Several suspected cases were reported to
the health office today, but at o'clock
none Of them had turned out to be small
pox.
The patient Cotton had his sentence re-
duced to three months. ard later he made
case, including letters from the prisoner.
have been sent to the Department of JUS
tice, and he Las also written letters to
Judge Miller. who tried his case.
When Judge Miller was told of Cotton's
sickness this afternoon he gave orders to
the clerk to have no prisoners brought up
from jail for trial. There are several pris-
oners In Jail awaiting jury trials and sew
eral of them were to have been tried to-
morrow but Judge Miller excused the jury
until he can ascertain something more
about the sickness of the prisoner. If he
has an eruptive disease the judge thinks
prisoners had better not be brought into
court, for fear of spreading the disease.
1t is probable that the judges of the
criminal courts will take similar action.
Health Officer Woodward said this after
noon that no report of the case at the Jail
had been received. The law does not
quire physicians to make reports in cases
Of chicken pox.