Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-05-24
1000 VACCTNATED
m SMALLPOX FIGHT
ronr Cases Found Among
Negroes Brought Here
From Georgia
nrsTRICT IS QUARANTINED

outbreak of smallpox, brought by
.,nrant negroes from Georgia, was dis
nn, .rod early today in downtown section.
IA before daybreak 5000 persons had been
t.o,ed by health officials who estab-
,,ned a rigid quarantine.
r,.,r cases we're discovered, all in one
.n.s at ZOE South Fifteenth street The
.,,r,s were taken to the Philadelphia Hos
',., for Contagious Diseases, together with
,or other persons living in the same
- All of the patients are negroes
s,.,ot watch is being maintained for ap-
nce Of the disease elsewhere as the
y, ease was brought to this city April 30
IS tbe contagion has had opportunity to
..-sad Eleven days after exposure is the
,priod in which the disease develops before
appearing
Irnder orders from Director Wilmer
y.,,.en. of the Department of Public
,1aoI,b and Charities, DR.. A. a. Cairns
.sjsf medical INSPECTOR of the Bureau Of
tJsaIth. established quarantine at 3
.,clock this morning. The three large
.ouares bounded by Kater. Catharine, Fiji
.Srnth and Sixteenth streets were roped off
"a guard Of $50 policemen was rushed
~ the area by lieutenants of the nearby
ao,,ce districts. Fifty physicians plunged
Ito the work of vaccination, which is being
carried into establishments where inmates
a. the South Fifteenth street house worked
Most of the inhabitants of the quarantined
section are negroes.
FIRST CASE NOT REPORTED
The first case Of the disease. which was
not reported, was brought from Georgia
April 30 when a large number of negroes
arrived The victim was five-year-old
p.arl Taylor Her BODY was marked with
hui ba .
ouire the services Of a physician. This fact
health officials regard as a menace. for the
rlrl was allowed to play in the streets with
other children. Subsequently she recovered.
but the disease had been communicated to
others in the house.
Not until yesterday, when one Of the
women became violently i'll, was a doctor
called. He was DR.. Albert Henry, and he
Immediately reported the presence Of small
pox.
When health officers entered the house
this morning they found the following i'll
from smallpox: Viola Jones. twenty-four
years old who was taken sick May Is
Pearl Slmms. nineteen years old, who was
taken sick May 10; Lulu Jordan, twenty
FIVE years old, who was taken sick May 20
and Lucille Walker. eighteen years old
whose case came to the notice of Doctor
Henry yesterday.
Seven others sent with them to the hos
pital were Harry Jordan Charles Jones'
Anna Purnell and two daughters, Pauline
and Mary; Lucius Ross and Viola Ross
All Of them came to Philadelphia from Ash
burn, Turner County, Ga.
LANDLADY DISAPPEARS
The andlady of the house, a negress
named Johnson, has disappeared She is
known to be inside the roped area and has
been vaccinated but friends will not reveal
Aa, 20 fhn hna fRpfa oil for faaN
that they will take her tc the hospital.
In the midst of the work of vaccination.
Doctor Cairns took time to issue an appeal
to the public not to employ Southern
negroes unless they are Vaccinated.
"T'hese negroes come up regularly from
the South and almost invariably settle
down in insanitary places where smallpox
breeds" he said THE public should not
employ them unless they have been vac
clnated. Otherwise, the public runs a great
risk of catching the disease.
I'VE are going to vaccinate every person
working in places where any of the negroes
in this house worked. Such task would
be unnecessary IL the employers had COM
pelled the negroes to be vaccinated before
employing them"
GLOOM AND JOY
The quarantine brought mingled joy and
gloom to the large negro population OF the
district. Policemen were kept busy pre-
venting men and women from escaping from
the barred area TO go to their work through
out the city. Traffic iTowing toward the
roped section piled up until there wer
nearly eco motorcars and other vehicle
Jammed in the streets. All were forced t
60 back. \ woodwork mill at Fifteenth
and Fitzwater streets was shut down b.
the quarantine.
Nearly 500 pupils of the James Pollocl
Public School foR> negroes, at Hicks and
Fitzwater streets, were overjoyed when 1
was announced that the school was closed
Most of the pupils are from outside tn
quarantine district