The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-12-02
IN TYPHOID'S GRIP
SIXTY CASES AND TEN
DEATHS AT ROEBLING.
Trenton Physicians Think Water from
Delaware Started Epidemic-State
Health Board Investigating.

TRENTON, Dec. 2.-Water from the
Delaware Rive is believed by ply
sicians Of this city to have coused the
typhoid epidemic now prevalent at
Roebling. The bacteriologists of the
state Board of Health, which is inves-
tigating. have not as yet reached n
decision as to the source Of the dis
case.
There have been ten deaths, and sixty
patients suffering from the disease are
in the hospitals. Forty are in st.
Francis's Hospital in this city, most
of whom came from Roebling and
Kinkora. There have been six deaths
from typhoid In st. Francis's Hospital.
The authorities of Roebling declare
that only W or three fatal cases
have developed there.
One peculiar feature of the epidemic
is that most of tho cases are what Is
known as walking typhoid" and there
are records of a score of cases which
show that the patients, usually power
full workmen. remained at their work
several weeks after the disease had
fully developed, and in various In
stances with a temperature Of 1O5 de-
grees. DR.. ]. Davidson, of st. Francis's
Hospital. said yesterday that he be-
ieved part of the cases were without
parallel. He told of several strong
men who had walked all the way from
Roebling to the hospital, a distance of
ten miles, of what they were
afflicted with, and in two or three in
stances reached the hospital in a state
of deIirium.
Members Of the State Board of
Health have taken the epidemic in
hand. but no definite decision has been
reached as to the source of the disease.
Roebling's population is composed of
H~ungarians employed in the great wire
works, and it is among them that the
epidemic mas made its greatest head
way. Through ignorance of the disease
and its consequences, many cases de-
veloped and progressed to the critical
stage in Hungarian families before the
physicians or health authorities learned
of its existence. and because of this the
epidemic gained considerable Roadway
before any effective work could be done
in the way of checking 1t.
Although the model city Is provided
with a first-class modern hospital, capa-
Bile of caring for 100 patients, it has
bC1OitiC lIC1C05oAS W I'll AAiS
gency hospital exclusively for typhoid
cases, and there are now twenty cases
there, with new patients coming in
daily.
DR.. Paul Traub, in charge of the hos
pitfalls of Roebling, is as much in the
dark as TO the cause of the epidemic as
are the State Board of Health and the
physicians in the Trenton Hospital. He
went over the history of the epidemic
and said that after two months Of con-
slant study he was still unable to say
where the typhoid germs first came
from. He is inclined to believe, as are
many others, that the drinking water
was the original sourc and that there
is a danger that the disease may mani
fest itself at other points along the Del
aware River where the water Is used
for drinking purposes.
Workmen employed by the State be-
gan the removal of a large sand bar in
she river just above Trenton early last
summer. 1t was the stirring up of this
ancient repository of all sorts of germs
that is believed to have started the
epidemic, physicians say. This sand bar
had been Increasing In size for 200
year and had reached a height where
ii was obstructing navigation at that
point.
Dynamite was freely used n much
of the sediment released floated down
and found its way into storage tanks
OF Roebling and other towns below
Trenton
Roeblirg was built a little more
than a yea ago by John Roebling's
sons to carry on their extensive wire
manufacturing business. The plant in
Trenton had beer outgrown by the
business and it became necessary to
find new quarters. The town is sit
uated on the east bank of the Della
ware River. ten miles below Trenton,
and has a population of about 1000.
1t has three hotels. a club, libraries,
churches. public baths, a park, several
stores and provides house rent and