Waterbury Democrat., 1902-03-01
SMALLPOX TALK,
Fopty-Five Locked in-Individ-
 uals Are Very Restless.
DR AxTELLE CONFIRMS IT.

One-Dr S. B. Mum Says He Will
 Talk on the Question Next Week.
 The Patient Is Getting Along Nicely
 and Will Soon Be Better, t is Thought.
 This is a hard day on the army of people quarantined at the Salvation Army shelter on South Main street. It is just the kind of weather that gives q man the first symptoms of spring fever, and anyone who has Lad an attack of that sickness can form some idea of the feeling that comes over a man who has it bad and tinIs himself within the walls of an ordinary house waiting to see if that dreaded malady, smallpox, will attack him or anybody else in the building. But pub lie safety demands this, and so long as it does the quarantine must be maintained as long as the authorities deem it necessary. 4 few may find fault about it, but this cannot be helped. The quarantine cannot be made too rigid to suit the public so long as they are satisfied that the dis ease is here. and there appears to be no reason to doubt that.
 Doctor" said a Democrat reporter to Medical Examiner Axtelle tbis morning, ''if you discover any more diamonds on the street you had better say nothing about them. Some people say that the one you picked up i. not genuine"
 It was Dr Axtelle who called at1en- tion to the condition of Joseph Dia- mond, the smallpox patient now at the contagious disease hospital. He was sure at the time that the man had smallpox and he has not changed lis mind since. "I hope' he replied, that no one will be misled by the in- situation that this is not a case of smallpox. I had two years experience with it al Riverside hospital and know something about it. That man had q fully developed case of smallpox tie day 1 saw him. To call it by any other name would be deceiving the people and might lead to serious results. If people got the notion into th...r beads that the man was simply suffer- ing from the effects of nothing worse than some skin disease it might throw them off their guard and deter tEem from using such precaution as .ilcy would otherwise resort to. There is no doubt i'll my mind as to the natlra of the mans disease and I don't believe there is a physician in the world who would call it anything elsen
 Later on the reporter met Dr s. E. Munn, one of the strongest opponents of the vaccination theory in the state. Tn answer to a question as to whether he had got himself inoculated w,tb vaccine virus since the smallpox scare struck Waterbury. the doctor smiled and replied somewhat sharply that he mad not. He said he is going to rent q hall next week and talk there on this subject. He intends to invite all the physicians i'll town to hear him and he IeelS that Ii they are open to cony:c- ton and take any stock in statistics he will disabuse them of the notion that Vacclnatlon cuts any figure in saving mankind from contracting smallpox of- renders the disease less violent where 1t attacks yaccinated persons. If pr Munn's version of the case be correcr. vaccination is no safeguard against smallpox. He wanted to know why the doctors didn't recommend something to ward off typhoid fever, disease that carries away seven to one more than smallpox does The doctor answered the question himself by stating that this was due to the fact that no fool had invented any hog antidote for typhoid fever. In this connection it might not be amiss to state that nearly every physician you meet is an ardent believer in vaccination and makes no bones of recommending his neighbors and friends to take advantage of :he precaution.
 But let Us return to the shelter. Tine number of persons quarantined there now is forty-fiye. At a low figure it will cost about 50 cents head to feed them, so that if the siege is kept I'D for q few weeks the bill will be pro tty high. Some of the men detained arc tolerably good fellows and thinz that the authorities have taken a mean ad- vantage of them. They cannot under stand why they should be held while people who call at the contagious dis ease hospital are allowed to go where they please. A man who looked like professional hobo was about town to- day looking for Q fellow whom he knew only by the name of MugSs." He said himself and three others were on the road for some time past bat they lost track of s.Muggs'' in Ansonia in the early part of last week and heard nothing of him since. Water bury was on their itinerary and he was very much afraid that he reached here in time to be cooped with the other habitues of the shelter. He eser.bed him as low-sized stout man. with no teeth in the upper part of his moutl He was asked why he didn't go down there and try if he could recognize bim through the windows. He said knew trick worth two of that. add.nc as he ambled away, ssthe cops might ram me in."
 The day after Joseph Diamond was taken to the contagious disease hos pital resident of Waterbury, who be- longs in North Attleboro, sent copy of the Democrat to a friend ia that place and has since received a letter from the person. He states that he knows Diamond we'll and that he is a fellow who is capable of earning good wages. He was well acquainted with him i'll his earlier years, but had not heard of him before for some time. The patient is doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances and probably will come out all r,Ght. No symptoms of the malady has been discovered in any other quarter.