The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1900-01-26
SOME SMALLPOX,
MORE TALK.
The Talk Gets Worse, The
Disease Better.
SUSPICIOUS CASES QUAR,Nrl ED
Fewer Ca,es Now 'hsn Two week. \ o
Those All Under Quarantine, and But
Little Danger of Further spread.

ticulariy in regard to the case of DIR. l..
h. Rlgsdae, out of which there has
arisen a div rs y of opinion among the
medical frate. nifty.
To begin at the be ginning, ID Rags
dale was taken sick week before last.
and was confined to his room for day
or two. Last week, however. he was
out upon the streets again and attend
ing to his business as usual, with an
eruption of some kind upon his face.
The rumor became circulated that he
had smallpox, and this led to "A visit TO
his Office and an examination Of his
case Friday morning by five members of
the Board Of Health namely, Doctors
Wilkes, Williamso., Pillow. Harrison
and Bidde. After diagnosis of his
case, these gentlemen arrived at the CON
clusion that DR.. Ragsdale was afflicted
with mild case of yarioloid, and there
upon instructed him to place himself in
quarantine.
DR.. Ragsdale's own diagnosis of his
case, however, differed from that of the
other physicians, and he contended that
he did not have smallpox nor varioloid.
and refused to go into quarantine. FRI
day night he went to Nashville, where
he saw DIR j S Cain, Dean of the medi-
cal department of the Unive 'sity of the
South, and DR.. John A. Witherspo
formerly physician of this city. Drs.
Cain and Withers poon ex lmined D :.
Ragsdaje, and Saturday m Drning he re-
turned to Columbia with the following
certificate signed by them:
NASHVILLE, Tenn Jan. 10 1901
have lis evening examined DR.. l.. E.
Ragsdale, and learned from him the
symptoms which have preceded and at
tended the skin eruption now upon his
body, and am of the opinion that the dis
ease is not smallpox.
[Signedl u. S. CAIN, NJ. D
81 endorse the above
| fSignedl -. A. WITHERsPOON, NJ. d. -
Saturday morning after the return of
Dr.. Ragsdale from Nashville, warrant
was sworn out for mis- arrest by DR..
Robt. Pillow, President of the Boa d. of
Health, charging him With violating the
city health regulations. He was
brought before Judge Erwin Saturday
afternoon, but, upon application of the
defendent, the trial of the case was post
poned until tomorrow afternoon at 2
| ClOCh. lIlc utlCLNldub Nl5ulllS " lDITO-
duce the testimony of the Nashville ply
sicians. In the meantime, DR.. Rags
dale agreed to keep himself within
doors, and the house of DR. Sheddan, on
Ninth street, where he boards, was
| quarar tined.
DIR. Ragsdale issued a card to the pub
lie in Saturdays DAILY HERALD, in
connection with the certificate signed
by Drs. ain and Witherspoon, in which
he explained in detail all the circum-
stances connected with his illness, and
denying that he had smallpox In his
card he stated that his sickness was due
| to what he knew to be a case of IL
grippe of the form that involves the
CASTRO intestinal tract; the stomach dis
| turbance was very marked, and co-inci-
dent with this there came a few papules
on different parts of his body. After
getting out of bed he went TO hi office,
where, at the request of some of the ten
ants of the Masonic building, he was
examined by DR.. Pillow, who said there
was no evidence of smallpox in his case.
Later, he met DR.. Wilkes, who also said
the eruption did not look like smallpox.
This occurred before the examination
of Health, when he was declared to be
affected with vlrioloid.
Monday DIR. Deering j Roberts, q
member of the faculty Of the Univer-
sity of Tennessee and editor of the
Southern Practitioner" came out from
Nashville at the request of DIS. Rags
dale and Sheddln, and made a diogno-
sis of Dr.. Ragsdale's case. He concur
red in the op!ni n cZp-e5sed by ID s.
Cain and WitherspoOn, and. in a con
versation with a HERALD reporter, stated
that there was no doubt in his mind that
DIR. Ragsdale did not have either small
poX or variolOid.
Tuesday a responsible citizen Of
Maury county stated to HERALD rep
resentative and to several others, land
the rumor was so published in Tues
days HERALD that he had been to
Nashville and had a conversation with
DR.. WitherspOOn, who stated that he
h ID Civ n Dr.. RIgsdale two certific ties,
one stating that he did not have small
pox, and another stating that he die
have "a typical case of varIoloid. .
Wednesday, however, DR.. Ragsdale is
sued card in the HERALD, giving al
explanation of this mat ter. and stating
that Dr. witherspoon did not give hin
two certificates at the same time Or
Sunday morning he received a 'tte
from Dr. WitherspoOn stating that af
ter studying over his case he feared tla
it might be a case of dtyDjcdi varioioiC
(which means not tVpicdO and advising
him as a friend to be careful, stating
further that if it was not varioloid NJ
harm would be done by being careful
Thus the Ragsdale case stands. Mat
tiers will doubtless be cleared at to
J morrow's trial.
Saturday members of the Board o
Health examined Mr.. W. f. Hayes, il
Socth Columbia, and Hugh Barker
| son of Mr.. A. A. Barker, and decide,
that they both had mild cases Of small
pox. Subsequently, they were place,
in quarantine.
Ii should not be inferred from tn
above that the smallpox situation ha
! reached an alarming state nor that an.
! excitement exists. Though the Rags
dale episode has created a great deal O
! talk, the actful condition of affairs j
: not as bad as three or four weeks age
T. Not as many cases are reported now a
: then. and tue few now on hand ar
! more promptly quarantined and bette
looked after, reducing to a minimum
the danger Of any spread Of the diseass
Only those who live at a distance an