Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-07-25

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infection could have been easily con-
Quoted TO the river water. On the Stf
of March one case of typhoid fever was
reported and on the 18th of march the
second case was reported. and WITHIN
the following fifteen days. or up &c
March IS. there occurred 2T0 cases In
widely separated districts of the city
averaging eighteen cases day. To at
| tempt to account for this outbreak o!
fever in any other way than by con-
taminated water supply would be the
| veriest nonsense: it was so sudden, the
| cases so widely separated and numer-
Gus that "a wayfaring man could not
err therein
The sudden appearance of the dis
ease is only equaled by few epidemics
| in the history of typhoid infection. Out
lof this number of cases those drinking
| hydrant water numbered 24O, thirty
stating that they used we'll or boiled
water, scarcely ever drinking when at
the neighbors,' and only once in a while
when shopping down town. Under these
conditions it can be said in all fairness,
they, too, had drank hydrant water
What other circumstances? On interro-
agting the dairymen I have been I'M
able to find a single case of sickness al
their homes previous to March 10. You
will observe that DR.. Hoffman did not
arrive on the ground to investigate the
sanitary conditions until some ten
weeks had elapsed. at which time the
fever had greatly abated, after the ply
sicians of the city made such q vigor-
Gus protest against the use OF city wa
ter, advising the precautionary meas
ures of boiling all drinking water, for
had the conditions continued as at first,
there would not have been left in health
a dairyman, in my judgment, to sell
milk. Later than the date mentioned
there developed fever cases in two fam
Ties who were handling milk, so there
could have been no chance of typhoid
infection from the dairylnen at the out
break of the disease. / am unable to
learn up to this time OF but very few
families who were getting water from
their neighbors' wells. If the well wa
ter of the shallow wells was contami-
mated by typhoid bacillus 1t would have
to be used extensively and would OF a
necessity require many to pass the wa
ter around which in March would not
be required. as people generally We're
not suffering for drinking water at
that time of the year.
Another factor which caused the
rapid and wide spread OF the fever. d.
recting attention unerringly to the city
water. was the extensive flushing of the
city mains, not OF itself causing fever,
nor can blame be attached to any OFF,
cial for this act, for we heard no growi-
ings and grumblings from the volcano
of disease beneath our city streets. The
opening Of hydrants, the extra pressure
and the dropping out of circulation OF
the water In the mains required more
of an intake. The water, unfortunate
ly at this time, having been infected,
was in the above manner put in rapid
and wide circulation. as is demon
strated by the great number of people
so suddenly stricken with fever.
II quote from DR.. Hoftman's report of
June so: AT the pumping station the
receiving wells are, as at present con-
structed not free from danger of con-
tamination. there being no pretense of
keeping out the river water or surface
drainage The virulence of the infec-
ton can be seen and the effects noted
by the tables as printed in previous
issue of the T.-R. in regard to fever
cases in the public schools, to which l
wish to call attention. notice the to-
tai number of pupils In attendance at
the Rodgers or Second ward school to
be $50. The number who had fever,
This school and the pu-
pills attending there are much nearer
the pumping station than any other;
Just where the first and most contami-
mated water reached them. The high
est per cent of fever cases in the pub
lie schools of Marshalltown was in this
school, Compared with the Woodbury.
school, where out of a total of 374 only
fourteen had the fever. and in the An
son school, south side, $50 in attend
ance, eleven had the fever. The Hart
we'll school on the west, where forty
two were in attendance, one had the
fever. In this locality well water Is
used. AS you look over these tables
your attention is attracted to the fact
that in the outlying schools and dis
tricts from which the attendance came,
where more wells are used and where
the typhoid infection was so diluted on
account of the long distance in the cir
culation of the water from the pumping
station before reaching the people, but
few cases developed, and the further
fact that the city water was used in all
schools until several weeks after the
epidemic of fever began, when the wa
ter of the deep well was demanded by
the parents of the pupils attending the
high school, requires no further expla-
nation to a reasonable mind than that
the city water was the cause.
II quote from DIR. Hoffmans report
in mentioning the 5000 feet of perfor-
ated pipe called filtering gallery:
This pipe is connected directly with
one of the wells in use at the pumping
station and the water IS seriously con-
terminated and wholly unsafe. This
gallery must be disconnected from the
system at once So, from DR.. Hoffman's
report, the water could be easily con-
taminated and was, as have shown 1t
was. The typhoid infection came and
passed into the circulation of the city
mains, became diluted and suddenly
ended. The life of the bacillus, which
quoting again from DR.. Hoffman, is
short: When 1t is borne In mind that
the life of the bacillus, causing typhoid
fever in city water, is very short lived,
five to seven days then 1 declare the
truth of the infection of the city water
self-evident, the exact conditions hav-
ing been fulfilled.
ITO make it more plain, find that
within fifteen days after DR.. Hoffman's
report was handed in, which was on