The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-06

every incoming steerage passenger from the Mediterranean, at each port along the coast. This has virtually be done al- ready in New York, according to the quarantine doctors.
 Although obvious efforts have been made to create cholera scare, New York has refused to became alarmed The pub lie apparently has reached he conclu- sion that modern sanitary science Is suf-
 icient guarantee against an importation of bacteria. It has also refused to be- come excited over lurid tales of condi- tions at the detention islands, Hoffman and Swinburne, which lie about half d mile off the south shore of Staten Island. The islands came under pr. Dotys s9- pervision in 19O9 when the quarantine commissioners were abolished and their duties handed over to the health officer
 Before Dr. Doty took charge of them, certain diseases. such as scarlet fever
 diphtheria, measles and chiclIen-pox. that came into port were handled by the board of health whose amb1lances and
 boats transferred patients to the citys contagious hospitals. The quarantine commissioners care for diseases "of the first class" only, but Dr. Doty treats all infectious cases at the Swinburpe Island hospital. None of them reaches the city. Hoffman Island is merely detention sta
 
 end, and third-class or steerase passen- gers who have been exposed to disease are held for observation. If they be- come il they are removed to Swinburne
 Cabin Passengers Rarely Held
 II is rather unusual for you to find cabin passengers on either island. for the sim pie reason that infectious diseases thrive principally in the crowded quarters of the steerage Moreover, experience has shown that cabin passengers do not often car ry infection from one port to another; consequently they are not detained for observation, except in rare instances. It does not necessarily follow that all of ships steerage passengers will be re- moved to the detention station if she brings disease into port, or that all her third class accommodations will be dis infected. It may happen that disease has developed in one compartment only and that but 40 or 50 passengers have been eX- Losed to 1t and should be detained To hold the whole ships company under such circumstances would be unnecessary restriction upon commerce, according to the best quarantine authorities. In 1eal- ing with cholera, however, 1t Is deemed advisable in all cases to detain ship, crew, and steerage passengers. those in tlc cabin being. released Immediately if no general infection exists. and there has been no illness in the frst-class accom- modations.
 All of the Atlantic ports save New York and Boston. have quarantine sta tons under the supervision of the fed ersl government New York 5 station IS a state institution. It was first estah- ljshed by the colonial legislature in 175S. st Bedloe's island. where it remained B years Then it was removed to Gov uor-fs Isl Ud ITO yellow fever appeared in New York and the Ies stature created commission To find q cite for a quarantine station on staten Island. The commission took land n the existing lighthouse grounds being part of the station.
 Staten Islanders did not like this sta ton. It was the means Of spreading in- lection among them, and in lS49 they pe- titioned the legislature to remove the hos ritals Their request was not needed In 1856 a visitation of yellow fever aroused the islanders. and they appealed to tie legislature again. Shipping interests and the underwriters defeated a b'll calling for removal of the station and the islanl- CTS then tried a few sanitary measures of their own. They formed a local board Of health. and gave it power o restrict fhe movements of quarantine employees, who were constantly passing in and out of it's gates and mingling with passengers al the ferry near by.
 Took Law Into Their Hands
 The health boards rules were ignored however, and ridicule was heaped upon its employees The result of all this was d determination to get rid of the station at all costs. On the night of July si, 1858, 9 prominent Staten Islanders met on Fort Hill, which rises above St. George, ana decided to take the law into heir own hands. They were provided with bundles Of straw and matches, and made their way stealthily to the wall that surround ed the station. Some one had conyenienl- ly dumped a load Of beams 10 which handles had been affixed, outside the wall and these were used as batterng rams. Once inside the men went about rheir work deliberately. They removed three , ellow-fever patients from a hospital and put a cat and a canary in a place of safety. Then they fired the rnoccupied When the firemen arrived they could not get inside the gate, and after | they had pulled 1t down they found thar their hose had been cut. They were in fact made helpless. The men Who applied | the torch did not finish their work that | night. They wanted to see if the pubic of it. The public lid approve, and the next night torches were applied 10 lHe DlutT Dulolhss.
 That particular station was never 'e- built, although temporary buildings were | erected. Members of the burning party | who had been arrested never suffered | The court decide that no | crime had been committed, and dis l charged the prisoners. Possibly this de- | csion had some effect on the public's az iitude toward the station that was sun- | sequently built at Seguines Point, Prime | Bay. This place, the Staten Islanders | said, spread disease among them, as tar | ether had done and one night party of | vigilantes burned the buildings After | that it was decided to remove he quar- | antine hospitals from Staten Island | taining only boarding station. In 1S0o | a floating hospital was established in ire | lower bay, and later Hoffman and Swim 1urne Islands were built on the sand spit | near South Beach. It cost Richmohd 1 county more than S1000OO to get rid of tue | hospitals on land. for the state decided that the taxpayers should foot the bill | for the property they had destroyed.
 Competent medical authorities say that | even if cholera got into the city there | could be no such seourge as visited New York in 1892, when 350O people died cf the disease. They base their assertion On their knowledge of what modern sanitary measures can do toward checking epi- demics, and declare that no American city is better prepared to cope with in fectious diseases than New York The great advance in sanitation IS apparent when one recalls the fact that about the only precaution taken by the city in 1882