The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-17

member, he is not, but if we find out
 the origin of this fever half the pre- vention of the spread will have been accomplished.
 Ike" addressing the negro. they tell me there 'is a small negro in this about the house. It is very important
 that I should know if he has been re- gently to Pensacola. It is reported that he was in Pensacola less than two
 weeks ago. If he was there in this
 time he is probably the one who in- ported the infection. Arrange right | away to see him. Use your head in talking with the boy. It may be that
 someOne. maybe his parents. has put him on guard. Go at him in a round. about but skillful way and get the facts, whatever the cost"
 The word of the authoritative Health Officer was all that was necessary for action on the part of Ike. He was off in a leap and headed for the direc- ton of where the much wanted negro boy lived when he was not breathing
 the gravel dust on the roads of 8 freight train in and out of Pensacola. In the meantime the Secretary sep arated from the Health Officer and In- tendant and moved towards to the de- pot. He carried with him a pickle bottle that no one noticed, not even the telegraph operator who sat pinned to the half-moon desk with the instru- ments on top, when the Secretary walked into buy a ticket to his home. He had done all that he could to help the village out of the trouble and to save it from an epidemic and he was off for home on the next train.
 Rummage his brain as much as he would. the Health Officer assisted by the intendant. could not get tangi- ble clue of the fever's channel of im- portation into Cline. It was an in- terior town, sparse of population, hav- ing little communication with the out CT world. A strict quarantine all the season had been maintained by the State.
 The veil of mystery overhung the history of the cases of fever and every effort. by foot and vehicle travel. availed the searchers nothing.
 On the third day of the fruitless search, the Health Officer was more troubled than he had ever been. Ike came to him with the hollow informal tion that the boy tramp had been found and thoroughly examined and to the satisfaction of Ike the boy had not been in Pensacola or New Orleans or any other infected point in six months The State Health Officer wished the boy had been In one of the cities, not in an inhuman spirit but through an inordinate curiosity and desire to know whence and the wherefore of the fever.
 Dr. Wessala suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to fumigate the house in which the Jansings died. This was strange, too, all the houses fumi- gated except that in which the ill., fated man and wife had breathed their last It seemed so different from old time battles with the fever They had been brave men ip those day who ern txrtk N.afl kA | and expose themselves to the bespat- tered bedclothes but they would fear all the while that the germ from the surroundings and not from a mosquito would attack them. Now the mosquito theory was generally accepted and 1t was realized that one of the insects could be In another house with the same deadly poison that those carried which remained in the original focus
 There was a rush, therefore, to the house of the Jansings. The door was opened and the sombre hallway was entered by the Health Officer and the intendant. Ike followed and by direc- tion Of the Health Officer ascended to the attic by a ladder which rested on the floor at the far end of the hall. He carried with him the fumgants and was equipped for scientific work like his white friends below.
 As the two below were tacking on
 the last screen of the window of the room where Mir. lansing died, they dropped hammer and nails at a loud shriek or triumph from like who came tumbiing down the ladder. The hall was dark and it was difacult to see what caused the excitement of the ne- gro. He finally rushed to the front porch, holding in his hands A limp ob
 feet, of a dull color. without any defn ite shape. The Health onacer and the