The Topeka state journal., 1897-09-07
Government Sends Experts to
the Fever District.
Immediate Quarantine of In
fected Locality Ordered.
REACHES N. ORLEANS
One Death From Yellow Fever
in the Crescent City.
Victim Had Been Staying at
Ocean Springs.

Washington, Sept. Tn addition to
DR.. Guiteras, Drs. Murray and Carter,
also yellow fever experts, have been
ordered by the marine hospital authori-
ties to the scene of the epidemic az
Ocean Springs.
The following order was sent today to
Assistant Surgeon Wasdin at Mobile:
Until Gordon is established, have
railroad agents sell tickets only to
northern points, north of Washington.
or points in mountainous districts, and
keep record of all who leave, with points
of their destination, notifying local au-
thorities. Arrange for Gordon. Employ
necessary help and turn matters over
to him for duty"
Orders have also been given to trans
fer the camp outfit from Waynesville TO
Ocean Springs. DIR. Guiteras is expect
ed to arrive today.
New Orleans, Sept. 7.-Raoul Gelpi.
who had been spending the summer at
Ocean Springs, died yesterday in this,
city. DIR. Walmsly, acting president
of the board of health after an autopsy
announced that Gelpi had died of yellow
| fever. The board of health has taken
charge of the house, which will be thor
oughly fumigated and disinfected. No
one viii be allowed to atttnd the funeral
| Gelpi was 81 years of age. DIR. Walms-
| ly says this is the only case in the city
1t was considerably after unidnighr
| this morning when the board of health
| office was closed for few hours and
| the tired physicians went home to
I snatch a tSW nOUrS OF rest. Up to tnaC
| time, although the widest publicity had
| been given to the Gelpi case and the de-
| sire of the board was known that every
| suspicious case should be promptly re-
ported, no news was received at the Of
| flee to lead to the belief that there eX-
| listed a single case of yellow fever in
| New Orleans. The office was reopened
/ early this morning, but up to o'clock
no report was made of any suspicious
i cases.
I The board will hold another meeting
| and there will be informal conferences
| daily while the scare lasts. 1t is un-
| derstood that at the meeting there will
| be some modification of the regulations
| adopted yesterday quarantining the en-
| tire coast and steps will be taken to al
| low residents of New Orleans who are
sOjOurning at unaffected ports to re-
| turn to the city. Although the action
| of Mobile and Galveston in quarantine
| ing New Orleans is naturally resented,
| there is no disposition here to retaliate
| unless fever shall appear in one or both
| of those cities. Many small towns in
Mississippi and Louisiana have quaran-
| tined against New Orleans, but the bar
| riers are likely to be raised at once if no
| more cases develop here. In the mean
| time the physicians think Gordon
| around the Gelpi residence will prevent
! spread of the sickness.
DR.. H. A. Cant of Water Valley, a
member of the state board of health,
| has taken charge of the situation z
Ocean Springs and will spare neither
| pains nor money in effort to stamp
out the fever. He is of the opinion
| that with care and good management
| this can be done in few days All
| houses where fever has been or may be
| will be thoroughly looked after and the
| sick will be isolated. Today the board
| has put out disinfectants in all the prin-
| cipal streets and the town will be
| strewn with 1ye from one end to the
| other. The excitement has Quieted down
| considerably and the people. now that
| the first scare is over, see that things
are no worse than they have been all
| along, and in fact are better, as there
| has been only one new case reported in
| the past twenty-four hours and there
| are but three so-cal1ed suspicious cases
| among the fever patients in the town.
| The other cases are doing well. The
| duration of the fever is only from "a to.
| 4S hours and some of the patients do
| not take to their beds a all from the
| disease. The Louisiana board of health
| has a record of all people who have
| come from Ocean Springs in the last
| few days and is giving strict attention
| to all of them.