Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1901-02-02
SMALLPOX At BLACKSBURG.
Chairman Board Of Health and Mayor Make
Statement.

Editor Yorkvllle Enquirer.
Our attention having been called to
an article in the Rock Hill Herald CIV
Ing the information that Rock Hill had
uuarantined against Blncksburg on ac-
count of smallpox, we desire space In
your ynlunblc and ever reliable paper
to give the FACTS In regard TO the
smallpox situation here, and to correct
the many false, ill-ndvised, and nasty
statements In The Herald's article. a
newspaper ls n power for good or evil
in this day. when everybody reads, and
any community is to be congratulated
when It has such n newspaper as The
ENQUIRER, which never publishes
current rum0r as well authenticated,
when telephone message would Sc
cure a correct statement. IL the town
council and board OF health OF ROCK
Hill had asked The chairman or the
board or the mayor OF our town. lot
information. they would have given them
facts and would have concealed MOTH
ing. 1t would have comported more
with that dignity which the officials or
such a. city as Rock Hill are supposed
to have.
Now, for the facts. There are In all.
seven cases Of smallpox In BlacksDurg.
All OF these cases originated. from the
best information we can get, directly or
Indirectly, in the phosphate works here,
from an infection brought from Cliff
ton. These cases, except one, (and ne
is an employee OF the fertilizer works)!
are Negroes. They are all Isolated, and
all inmates of the houses, or those VINO
have been exposed to infection, have
been vaccinated. Every person en-
ployed by the fertilizer factory has
been vaccinated.
The statement that the authorities
had taken no steps until last Satur-
day to arrest the spread Of the disease,
Is not true. The board Of health had,
upon it's first appearance, taken every
precaution possible, and every physi-
clan was requested to urge vaccination,
and a joint appeal made by the board
of health and city council to all OF our
citizens to be vaccinated. The board
of health employed health officer, VINO
was immune, to take a complete census
of the colored population, indicating
whether or not each person had been
yaccinated. They also employed ply
siclan as a public vaccinator, who vac
cinated the Negroes free of charge. All
this was done prior to last Saturday
ND to which time The Herald says
nothing had been done. The result OF
this work Is that over 500 colored per-
sons have been vaccinated and 80 per
cent. Of the whites. No white or color
ed child is admitted to the school room
unless they can show the certificate
of physician that they have been vac
cinated.
The statement made by The Herald
that it had been RELIABLY Informed
that persons had been seen on the
street with postules on their faces y
was, like all the other statements In
the article, incorrect, and we SUPPOSE
was based upon information given by
person who did not know postule
from the pits or scars that are the re-
suit Of an attack of smallpox. In fact,
the only correct statement in the whole
article is the private letter from
Blacksburg.
W. ,ro MT tbinkinp of n,la ra mining
against the measles and diphtheria so
prevalent in Rock Hill, both of which
are more fatal than the very mild form
of smallpox that we have.
J. G. BLACK, M. D.,
Chairman Board Of Heath.
WIN. ANDERSON, M. D.,
Mayor, City Of Blacksburg.
Blacksburg, January 81, 1901.