Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1900-02-23
STERILIZED CITIZENS
Novel Method of Preventing the I'm
p~ortation of Smallpox.
n Veteran Hospital Service omcinl
Sprays n Crowd OF American
Who Crossed the Line to
See II DullnEht.

On my way to Mexico I had the
pleasure of meeting ut Ell paso. Tex.
DIR. Alexander, n veteran of the United
States marine hospital service, who had
spent many years in guarding our nor
tnis against Mexican pestilcnce. DR..
Alexander is by nativity n Swiss. but his
devotion to his adopted land is none tt.
less ardent on that account. He is what
is generally known MS "a character
rough, hale and hearty, with striking
resemblance to our pictured images OF
Kris kringlc, especially as regards his
twinkling eye and jelly-like abdomCa.
lie is a man worth going miles TO meet
for the funny tales he tells of his cX-
p~criences in the service of the public
health.
About three months ago smallpoX
was very prevalent just across the III,
Grandc from FL Paso, and it looked q.
II an epidemic would surely crosss ihc
river. But DIR. Alexander Instituted =
rigorous quarantine and managed 10
keep of all communication with TIC in
fccted region until a Mexican In ...h;
arrived on the other side. But @. every
sunday celebration of that C:liC;rs
spanish entertainment Il large a. ati;-
gent OF the sporting element ri tie
Texas town crossed the river to vi 81" the
fight. Not only did the citizen. Of T..
laso attend. but tourists would s;on
over and IN their return expose the
land of the stars and stripes to the ,.sk
of an epidemic.
Having no power to prevent their -
ing over and not wishing to be hard n
his IEllnNk- sttiynn, a., ,..I-. t /.
officer pleaded with them. delivering .
small moral lecture on the wrong the"
were doing, but all in vain. lie then
wrote Il more caustic article. in whTct.
he politely told them that there would
he trouble If the Sunday emfgrationinto
the infected province continued.
Sunday came, n beautiful srring dar,
ard the bulliight came of, and the
citizens and tourists emigrated rs of
yorc, chuckling to themselves as to
how the old doctor was Mt home pulling
his hair, for on their way over They saw
him not.
The fight was n good one. and the en-
joymcnt of the Americans was gree.
After The sport was over. our fellow -
liens started again for Dixie lnud. lat
they met n sudden and uncXpeci
check in the person of n large nunl err
OF river guards" under the command
or the old doctor. who proceeded to "cor-
raj the whole outfit"
Excitement ran high for awhile, and
some OF the most pugnacious were vTo-
lent and used bad words, and in re-
sponsc To angry q~uestionings ms to what
he meant to do, the doctor blandly re-
Piled: 81 am going to stcrilizc you"
Not being conversant with the germ
theory or with modern aseptic surcic-
al technique, the captiyes were much
nonpluSscd, but their suspense wns soon
relieved. After they had been placed in
line some OF the guards Disappeared.
but soon returned bearing n curious
looking apparatus which seemed to be
n cross between n force pump and n gil
ant atomizcr, and placed the machine in
front of the line.
The doctor took hold of Il tube, the as
sistants began to pump laboriously. md
while the cap'ives were wondering what
was going To happen their line was sud-
denly struck by n vaporOus blast tina:
almost tool them of their feet. To
their celebrations of anger the doc
tor replied that Er was simply killing
the germs with n good. strong solution
OF bichloridc of mercury. explaining
that the apparatus was ar invention of
his Of which he was very proud:
that the mechanism vas giwliiCity It,
self and that he was thinking strongly
OF getting out Il Eatcnt on IL. In the
meantime he rclcntlcsly sprinklcd
their best Sunday suits, spnring not ur
occasional plug hat or Caudy tie. and
serving mike the laborcr's jeans ard the
dudes 'Princc Albert
Whcn the anterior surfaces seemed
sufficiently saturated the sturdy health
officer calmly told them to turn their
backs and proceeded to finish the duck
ing rclcntlcssly. working his mcdicatch
sprinkler until the last offender was
soaked.
A street car load OF ~"sports' was held
up and similarly served. Most Of them
offered to ret out. but The doctor tx.
planned that that was not ncccss ary "a