Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1903-01-06
|N0ZCAuS EORZALARN|.
HEALTH DEPARTMENT DOES nor
3 FEAR SMALLPOX EPIDEMIC.
&
no NEW CASES DEvEL !: oP e
The SOLITARY Sufferer ut the SMALL
po1 Hospital is Fast Recovering ring
Superintendent Davis Discusses !'':'.
the. Yancey Case.

There is. no epidemic of smallpox at
the City Hospital, and we do not fear
one. The people Of the city may rest a s.
sured that their health authorities will
notify. them Of any. danger when it. exists.
Till then let them not worry about a
smallpox epidemic
Such was the emphatic statement Of
DR.. w. T. .Oppenhimer president Of the
Richmond Board of Health, to a reporter
Of the Dispatch last night.
DR.. Oppenhimer is loud in his condem-
nation Of the publication of what he calls
distorted facts in the newspapers. which
he claims are doing no little harm to the
Industrial interests of the city when there
is absolutely no cause for it.
While there have been five cases at the
city almshouse, no new ones have devel-
ioped since December 3d., excepting an
old negro inmate, who was stricken with
the malady on December 18th and imme-
diately removed to the pest house in the
county, where he has since died.
Only one case is detained at the small
pox hospital now. This is Jennie Jones,
white inmate of the almshouse, who
was employed in the hospital as a ser
want to assist the nurses with their rough
work. She is now thought to be conva-
descent, and will be discharged in a short
time.
SUPERINTENDENT DAVIS IS INDIG-
NANT.
Superintendent George 3. Davis is in
dignant over the publication of a special
from Louisa county that the people Of
Green Springs that county, were stirred
up over the treatment Of Lewis Yancey,
who contracted the disease while at the
almshouse to attend his brother, who was
asphyxiated at the Davis Hotel and taken
to the hospital for treatment.
Mr.. Davis pointed out that everything
possible was done for Mr.. Yancey's broth
er, and that the gentleman who is now
so i'll in Louisa county left the institu-
ton after expressing his gratitude for
the treatment accorded him and his
brother. Mr.. Davis says no one connect
ed with the institution can be blamed
for the presence of the contagion
There has only been three cases in the
white hospital, and one in the colored.
The young woman who came to Rich
mond to be: married and afterwards died
at the pest-house, was never in the City
Hospital. When she was, found with the
disease she was removed direct to the
pest-house from the place on Broad street
where she was found.
The trouble at the hospital arose over
the admission of a man named Stone, who
had been discharged from smallpox
hospital at Charlotte, N. c.. as cured.
the request Of Mrs. Light, the head Of
the Salvation Army in Richmond
1t seems that Mrs. Light had taken
Jones in her quarters. She found he was
suffering from terrible affection, and
worked to get him in the hospital. She
went to Superintendent Davis and asked
that he be treated. The resident physi-
clan examined Jones and found Mrs.
Lights statement to be true. Not being
advised that the man had been suffering
with smallpox, and there being no in
dication Of the disease, he was admitted
to the hospital on November LIST -
COURSE OF DISEASE TRACED
It was here that Miss Robbie Yeager
contracted the disease. She was detailed
to nurse Stone. and afterwards, when
Yancey was admitted to the hospital for
treatment, she attended him
AS soon as it was discovered that Stone
was suffering from smallpox, he was
hurried to the smallpox pest-house, and
has since been discharged.
On December 22d Miss Yeager, Jennie
Jones, and a man by name Of Toler, were
found to be i'll. The woman Jones and
Toler were taken to the farm, but Miss
gYeager was too i'll to. be moved, so she
was isolated in remote portion of the
building, and DR.. Sandidge and Miss Carr
volunteered to attend her
There is no doubt that the disease was
contracted from Stone because all of the
victims were in his ward and all con-
tracted it at the same time.
Mr.. Yapcey, the Louisa county man,
sat on Stones cot and talked to him
while attending his brother. Miss Yeager
attended both Stone and Yancey. The
woman Jones washed the floor around
Stones bed daily,
Miss Carr, the nurse who attended
Miss Yeager, is now reported i'll, and
I the physicians are anxously awaiting
the development OF her trouble. No symp-
toms Of smallpox have yet developed
Miss Allen, smallpox immune nurse, is
attending Miss Carr
These are anxious times at the aims
house, but the trouble is thought to be
over now.