The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-02-24
THE FIRST TO SAY PLAGUE
DIR, ARMITAGE ON THE MAU,
OUTBREAK.
Reported the first case as Suspicious to
the Sacrificed to Quarantine and
Preventive Measures.

DR.. Edward Armitage has written
communication to The Star giving in
detail the circumstances of his attend
ance on, and the medical history of the
first six cases of sickness included IN
the outbreak of bubonic plague at Ka-
hului. From his statement 1t would
appear that he was the first to suspect
bubonic plague and that he promptly
communicated his suspicious to the au-
thorities and asked that autopsies be
held.
Space is here given to only part of
his communication. The portions omit
ted, (for the sake of brevity) it is be-
lieved are only cumulative to the points
made in the other and are summarized
briefly.
DR.. Armitage treats each of the six
cases separately. OF the first case he
says:
ION Sunday morning, the 4th inst.
was called to see a Chinaman residing
in a house situated amongst the taro
patches, some distance below the Wal
luku Depot. 1 drove thither taking
with me my Chinese cook as interpre-
ter. The patient, a man named All
Tong was in an extremely weak condl-
ton, barely able to stand, with a tenn
perature of 104 deg, rapid pulse and
wash house in Kahului, where he had
been taken i'll on Chinese New Years
day; my enquiries and examination led
me to believe that he was suffering
from malaria, but my suspicious were
aroused by a considerable glandular
enlargement on the right side of his
neck which had first appeared two
days previously His friend came to
my house for medicine, but returned
oh
the man was dead
Immediately, l telephOned to Mr..
Hayselden, the Deputy Sheriff; on his
arrival, I told him that l had a case
which l strongly suspected to be one Of
plague; and requested him to find
Sheriff Baldwin and DIR. Weddick, and
to ask them to meet me at my house,
as soon as possible. Some time after
wards, the Sheriff arrived, and I en-
deavored to impress him with the grav-
ity of the case, urging on him the neces-
sity of strict inquiry and eXamina-
ton, and stating that in my opinion
the lungs would be found to be seri-
ously affected. Dr. Weddick did not
consult with me about the case, nor
was I asked to take part in the post
norton examination, which, so | after
wards heard was restricted to a simple
examination of the affected glands, pro-
nounced by the Government physician
to be free from suspicion.
Later, the Sheriff told me that Dr.
Weddick had incised the gland, and on
my asking him if he (the Sheriff. had
not called the doctors attention to the
lungs, upon which 1 had laid so much
stress, as to give expression to an Opin-
ion that the case was probably one of
pneumonia plague" he replied in the
negative"
OF the sixth case, the one which led
to the quarantine and the destruction
of the Kahului Chinatown, DR.. Armi-
tage says:
"The sixth patient, All Sam, came to
my Office at Wailuku, on the 9th inst.
He had come from the Quong Chong
store at Kahuui, which is situated at
the back of the same block as that in
which the other cases resided, and was
staying at house in Wailuku. His
temperature was 100 deg. 1 gave him
medicine and directed him to see me
on the following morning. Next day
the 10th, he returned complaining OF
pain in the right aXillary region. On
examination, l found two painful en-
larged glands, and requesting him to
wait l telephoned Immediately for the
Sheriff and DR.. Weddck, who, at that
time were at the Malulani hospital. on
their arrival, / at once told them that
we must declare the disease to be
ment physician to come to my office
and examine the case. He agreed in
my diagnosis, on which the Sheriff
promptly placed Wailuku and Kahului
in quarantine, whilst the patient was
left under guard on my office veranda
until he could be removed to Kahului
which was done shortly afterwards.
There he died"
OF the second case DR.. Armitage
saws that DR.. Weddick saw the body
with him and agreed that an autopsy
was not necessary. OF the third case
he says there was nothing pathogno-
monte of plague with the exception Of
a very slight enlargement of the left
femoral glands" that DR.. Weddick did
not consider the case suspicious on
February Z; and that DR.. Wood says
that when he saw the gland forwarded
to him. for examination, he and DR..
Hoffman both thought from it's ap-
pearance that it was a case of false
alarm
OF the fourth and fifth cases eVaIni-
nation of the bodies was made "Iter
death in the presence of the Sheriff, and
DR.. Weddick agreed with DR., Armitage
that autopsies were not necessary.
Commenting on the statement Of
facts he makes DIR. Armitage says: 1T
is evident that Nos. l and 6 presented
the most characteristic plague symp-
toms; whilst Nos. 2, 3, 4, and might
easily in the absence of some collateral
evidence, nave been diagnosed as cases
of 'Pernitious' or Malignant Mala-
ria.
Il diagnosed the first case of the
disease which came under my obserVa-
ton, as most probably a case of pla-
que, and l emphasized this fact
to the Sheriff l was not invited by
the Government officials to take any
part whatever in the autopsies per-
formed. In case No. /, 1 particularly
emphasized the swelling of the cervical
glands to Sheriff Baldwin, whilst in
cases and s 1 pointed out the enlarge
ment of the femoral and auxiliary
glands respectively to the Government
physician. And it was / who finally
declared the disease to be plague, thus
enabling the Sheriff to place a strict
quarantine on the districts in which
the affected cases had appeared"
IN NEBRASKA AND KANSAS.