The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-02-01
cHaRLorrE,s SMALLPOX CASES
william jackson, the First Patient, Died
Hard work TO Get Hun Buried-Hs
was Put in = Grave Mine or Ten Feet

| The Charlotte Observer, OF Friday,
says:
William Jackson. colored, the first
smallpox patient reported TO the au-
thorities. died yesterday morning at .
O'Clock, at mis- house on South NC
Dowesl street From the time IL was
discovered tina he had smallpox, h
doctors saw that they had a serious
case on <heir hands. DR. Wilder said
to The Observer Monday. after first
seeing Jackson, that he was a very sick
man. He was treated vigorously, nut
the disease had too strong a hold on
him. Symptoms Of uremia developed
Wednesday afternoon n death result
ed in twelve hours. The negro was in
the p~ustulous stage of h disease. His
face and neck were a mass OF sores.
large pits being on both. He was fully
aware OF his condition. the doctors
telling him from che first that he had
smallpox. He was conscious 10 within
a few minutes of the time he died.
There was no one in the house out the
mans family. DR.. Wilder was tele-
phoned for an hour before he died, but
knowing that the man WAS beyond
human help, and not caring to take any
unnecessary risks. he telepnoned d.
rections of what TO do, to the guards.
At 6 O'Clock he wen over and saw
the remains. News Of
death spread as soon as daylight
dawned, ard a hundred or more
negroes collected in a group ON Nc
Dowell street. about 100 yards from
the house and remained there holding
a daylight wake until the body was re
moved.
The coffin in which the unfortunate
man was to be placed( was taken 10
the house at an early hour. His sons,
who, with the rest of the family, were
in the house, but in an isolated room,
put him in the coffin, IND placed the
coffin in the box. They then put the
remains OF the porch.
Chief OF Police Orr mad every effort
to get the body rernoved in the early
| morning, but he could not get any one,
for love nor money, TO touch the box.
He spent all morning trying to find a
dra lyman who would haul the body to
the cemetery. Not a negro would touch
it. The chief was just about conclud-
ing to bury the man in the street in
front Of his house., when a negro man
| finally agreed to haul the remains to
Pinewood, the colored cemtery.
The casket was put in a double box,
and placed on the wagon. The driver
sat as far from it as possible. Chief or
Police Orr, on horseback, rode in front.
and thus the funeral procession Of the
first smallpox patient known in Char
| lotte since before the war, moved on to
the cemetery. There was no need to
| notify the people to get out of the
/ street along which the wagon passed
! Chief Orr simply notified them-those
| on Mcdowell and Ninth streets, that
| the remains WOul be taken along those
| streets. The people did the rest. The
| grave was dug in the potter's field in
| Pinewood, and was nine feet deep.
| Chief Orr doesn't fear any attempt at
| grave robbery in this instance.
Joe Carter, Ed. DeBrube, Mural
| Springs and two other negroes assisted
in burying him.
The house where k lived was
| fumigated under the city physicians
| direction yesterday afternoon. The
| family of deceased will be kept in
strict quarantine until all danger is
| past, the quarantine ra"1lation being
| under the direction Of Alderman Rob-
| ertson.
jackson, as will be remembered, was
| taken sick a week ago last night, COM
ing in from Greenville, S. c.. on hat
| udS. ne was tllDIOy gu DIS ltsIiidAl OH
| the Southern, and worked between
here and Greenville. He was in contact
| there with a man said to have a very
BAD case of chicken-pox, but which
must nave been smallpox. His disease
was on Monday pronounced smallpox.
SalIie Wagner, the cOlored Woman,
| the second and last case reported. was
moved to the house of detention yes
i terday afternoon at 4 o'clock. She is
| improving rapidly.
VA~CIN.TION.
The v~accinating artists were at their
| places in Chief Orr's room yesterday
morning at the appointed tine, and
| resumAed operations, Whicl We're sus-
| pended Tuesday afternoon on account
| of the virus giving out. The scenes Of
| Tuesday We're repeated. Streams of
| people poured in and out AL day. A
rope was stretched down the hall, di-
viding the incoming and outgoing
line. The large majority of those vac
| cinated were negroes, but there was a
fair sprinkling of whites. Fourteen
| hundred were vaccinated by Drs. Wild
err, Hawley and McK Knight and 600 or
more by Drs.Hawley, Williams and Pope
! colored, at other places. The COM
pulsory vaccination worked k a
| charm. The unvaccinated man, wo-
man or child is the exception. If vac
| cination is, as the doctors say. quar-
antfne against smallpox, then by virtue
of sore arms Charlotte will have no
| more smallpox"
NO MORE FUNERALS FOR HIM.
The Charlotte News OF Friday says
! Of the funeral:
The colored men who oficiated at
4 ~ <-,a--ol 1@ yIv;Ir;on Ta~l-~- $500
| day, say that If there are any more
| smallpox patierts to be buried. they
respectfully decline To act in any ca
pacity. They are charitable. they say.
and they believe in showing the dead
| the proper c~ourtesies. but TREY do not
care to go through the same experience
that Was forced on them this morning.
There were five in the funeral party
that escorted the remains Of Jackson
TO the cemetery yesterday. Among the
number was Ed. lie Brough, DR.. Nc
Il Ca~zEr- .I~F,-n- FL s~-s--- .l-4& H.