The Topeka state journal., 1899-11-29
MAY BE NEW DISEASE
Members Admit That They Do
Not Understand.
Guards to Be Employed and In
fected Houses Watched.
Mayor Drew In Favor of Most
Decisive Action.


must be stamped out of the city and
TO that end Mayor Drew and the city
board of health have been empowered
to establish the strfctest quarantine
4lossfble on every infected house, and
If any person attempts TO preak
through the quarantine he will be I'M
prfsoned in a pest prison until there Is
no danger of his communicating the
disease to others. and then sent 10 Iilo
citv iail to work out the penalty maze
for such cases. The penalty Tor aI-
tempting to break a quarantine IS
fine of from So to 800, and the mem
bers of the city council are IN AaVOr
of putting the fine well up towards the
top limit
ready stamped out said Mayor ore"
last night, If people had Obeyeo the
quarantine regulations, but we nave
had no place to send them ana they
were allowed to go Hereafter they VIII
be severely dealt with
The idea is gaining headway that
what is known as Cuban chlckenpoX Is
some new disease which is not descrlD-
ed in the medical works, and which mas
been unknown heretofore. rms ldea
is advanced by DR.. Agnes Mckee " al
lace. president of the city board OF
health, and is cOncurred in by other
physicians.
Mayor Drew called an informal meet
ing of the city council last evening 10
consider the matter.
mere was IlOL d Q4OA Jill u ~N7NA-~'
COuncilmen Hughes. Elliott, Benson
Burgess and Warner being the only
ones present, but the entire matter was
talked over and every councilman raw
ored immediate action to stamp out
the disease by a strict quarantine, buI
all We're opposed to the establishment
of a pest house. The city board Of
health. consisting of DR. Wallace City
Physician Peers and Dr. W B. swan,
who is also secretary of the state board
OF health We're also present
Mayor Drew explained in stating the
purpose of the meeting, that he had
done all that he felt warranted in doing
without first consulting the members
of the council. He said quarantine had
been established so far as possible, ana
the city sanitary force visited the quar-
antined houses three or four times
day. Nine men are employed in the
sanitary force, part of whom are en-
gagged in enforcing the quarantine reg
ulations. and the rest in fumigating
houses and looking after the sick
DR. Peers was called on for state
ment, and he gave a history of the cpl
dernic in Topeka UP to the present time.
The first case in this vicinity he
said. was at the Reform school The
school authorities know the exact boy
who brought it there, but they have
not discovered where he got it. 1t
spread rapidly and practically the
whole school had it. There were be
tween IS and 100 cases in the school.
The first case that I was called to
see was that Of Clarence Scott north
OF the city II was at IlTSC LnOugnL LnaL
1t might be smallpox, and had guards
stationed to quarantine both the house
where the patient had been and the
one to which he was removed I had
number of physicians examine the case,
and we finally decided that it was not
smallpox. I then dismissed the guards,
but still maintained the quarantine.
The disease seemed to subside for
time, and then it reaDpeared in the
city. Heretofore We have never quar-
antined chickenpox. but in this instance
the board of health decided that
quarantine ought to be maintained,
though it was called Cuban shicken-
pox- We have experienced a difficulty
in establishing a complete quarantine
for the reason that in some cases the
patients are not sick enough to call in
a physician. and those cases are never
reported to US. The only way in which
I'VE hear of them is through some
neighbOr. Whenever we hear rumOr
of a case we Investigate it, and if
case IS found it is quarantined. There
have thus far been about 20 places
quarantined in the city, but there have
been other cases not reported, and I
would estimate that the disease has ex-
listed in about 100 houses.
"One of the first cases we had was a
man named Green in North Topeka.
He lived by himself out on the Grant
Vile road. He got some medicine but
as ne had no clock at home he come
into town and stayed with S4iends near
Soldier creek. He became so sick that
he could not be removed, and he re-
mained there till he died. His death,
however, was brought about by inter
nal complications. This is the only
death we have had where this disease
has existed, and in this instance death
was not the result of the pOx. DR.. Wal
lace and DR.. HOgeboOm, Sr, both went
TO see the case and they said it was
not smallpox.
We had another case in man
named Bradshaw at the Fourth Ave
nue. hotel He told me that he was ac-
customed to take ten glasses of whisky
a day, and sometimes more and he
never kept track OF his beer. Any man
coming down under those conditions
would have the disease pretty bad and
ne did took several physicians there
and they all pronounced it not small
pOx- When the patient was s-ettine
wei and the scales peeling off, Doctors
AshmOre and Raub went to examine
him when 1 did not know it. and thew
at once pronounced it smallpox. DR.
Bradley, who now lives in New Mex
leo, also pronounced it smallpox, but
he did not see the patient until the dis
ease had peeled off
The board of health went around To-
day and examined several cases. but
none of them correspond to the hook
descriptions. I have the misfortune
never to have seen a case of SMALLPOX
but have studied a great many auth
critics on the subject in the last six
weeks, and this disease does not CORES
pond with what the medical books say
about smallpox
There have been between rs and 100
cases of the disease at the Reform
school and about 125 in the city but
the only fatality has been Green, and
his death was brought about by other
causes
Tt is impossible to maintain an an
solute quarantine without both night
and day guards. There are some peo-
pie who will not obey quarantine Or