El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-01-01
HIDES SMALLPOX
CASE TWO WEEKS
Mexican Found With Dis
ease in Room With 10 Per
sons, Including Baby.

The contempt for or ignorance OF the
eariousDess OF smallpox among Ihe
Mexicans Of the average peon 0l'sSs'
and at the same time their rear o. a
hospital came to light IN tht ~ c9177-
settlement this week when the com
Dauv officials ferreted out oyIn5
man who had been hidden for IL days
by his family -.-,,s,,ss
The sdexican, Garpar her ma y ), ~ -
worked at the smelter ana on lne - -
Of december laid off. declaring tnal ne
was i'll Monday Of this week the 10 .
brother told his foreman at the sIllel7
fer that he wished to lay off DecauSS
Caspar was dying. The foreman asheu
hin, what was the matter, thinking IL
the usual excuse for a layotL
s'Smallpox," came the reply.
ssVVbere is he2' asked the foreman
at the pest house the man an
Bwered. .o...Tioa and
on Tuesday, When DIT. l. - w IliSi
sDoon. the smelter physician, came 70
Ne hospital. he asked the doctor II me ne
man reported dying was really So 80
with the smallpox. DR.. WlthersPooll 2
bogDital records did not show any suCh
man as having been treated LOT tn ,
disease and a telephone call 10 the cIIy
er,,ntiva hospital failed TO reveal such
= ,-5tieDt there. At once an investiga-
f{o,, was set on foot to locate the man
and q. reference TO his working recoL u
ebovred that he had really been away
from work for number OF days nov :
ever. there are no numbers among ~
I,o4sas i'm the smelter settlement anu
bfe address was unknown, and 1t was
frnDossfble at first to locate the noIII9
- tba sick man. On Thursday. now
ever. the smeiter officials loCaleu ~
Mace and the foreman. and Ut. w IN
erspoon called shortly De1ore noun noun
THE doctor found the man ABOUT ue9u
mfr, smallpox, lying on bed IN tnS
front room Of a three room house, VIZ
IN neopIe in the same room with MN.
Standing beside the bed OF the ny llis
man was a young Mexican woman, O
relative. and In her arms was vas d .,o ~,
months old baby. Neither the woman !
nor babv had been vacctnated. ok OL
the other people in the room had oeeh
'' .sHave You had a doctor?'' the wife
was asked ..z ,,o ,-ould
he sent to a hospital" she replied. FOR
over two weeks she had hidden anu
7,T1rsed her husband, without GIVING
him medical attention, in fear that ne
would be sent to a hospital
Immediately the county health OLE l.as
cials were notified and the man was
taken in an ambulance and started 70
the eruptive hospital, but died en- route
All the peopIe in the house were vac
cinated and placed under guard anu ~
compelled to strip OH al luSlL OAOt
ing. The clothing was placed IN the
room from which the dying man was
removed and was fumigated- The guar
will he maintained over the place anu
the peopie found in the room until the
DANCER OF their communicating the
disease to others has passed.
The smelter officials have to be very
cautious in these matters, because OF
the carelessness Of the Mexicans, in or
der to prevent a spread Of the disease
that might cause a qarantine OF tue
nIant or even a serious handicap to It's
operations. with the care that is USED,
the cases are kept down to a remark
ably small number, the officials say,
considering that the population Is en-
tfrelv Mexican. only 20 cases Of small
pox developed during the year 1914 IN
the entire "smelter settlement" which
includes the Courchesne lime quarry
tho I'll Paso brickyard, the Southwest
ern Portland cement plant and the
smelter.
the case Of Hermaines is the only
one thar has developed in the last
month. About a month ago, eight cases
were taken from the settlement in one
day.