The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-10-09
Eighty-TwO Cases Reported to
City Health Department.
Tie Red Cross May Open
Emergency Hospital Here.
WARNING CARDS PUT UP
Pool Halls May Be Forced To
Close in Short Time.
All Schools, Theaters and
Churches Are Closed.

Topeka stands on the verge of a
serious epidemic of Spanish influ-
enza. Reports of eighty-two cases now
stand the records in the office of
DR.. II. L. Clark. city health officer.
Up to midnight Tuesday the number
of cases reported stood at fifty-two.
This morning the telephones in the Of
fices of the city health department
scarcely stopped ringing. From the
time the office opened this morning
up to shortly after II o'clock there
had been thirty more cases reported
The total now stands at eighty-two.
OF these cases not all have been in
Vestigated and part have been turned
in by suspicious neighbors, SO that the
total of real influenza may be slightly
decreased. But three cases of those
reported this morning arose at 323
Jefferson street. This is where Miss
Mary Lannon died Monday of a COM
plication of Spanish influenza which
turned into pneumonia as it does In
alnlost-all cases where death results.
1t was. announced this afternoon
that the Red Cross is looking for q
building that can be used for an emer-
gency hospital here and that the local
organization is taking every possible
step to be ready to render aid in case
the epidemic reaches serious proper
tiors. Nurses who can be called upon
ard equipment for the hospital where
patients can BE kept isolated were be-
Ing arranged for.
May Use Old X. of 6. Hall.
The hospital will probably be To-
Gated in the old Knights of Columbus
hall at the corner of Eighth and
Quincy streets, altho the old Midland
hotel building at Fourth and Quincy
is also being considered.
The local R.d Cross workers are
already hard at work turning out
pneum onia jackets, pajamas and bed
clothes in preparation for the OPEN
ing of the hospital. Horace L. Hall,
in a statement this noon, declared that
the American Red Cross society will
stand behind the local authorities to
the end of its resources. Hall said
that he is instructed by headquarters
to aid the local men in every possible
way.
Hall would make not statement in
gard to a rumored call for the nurses
trained by the home service section of
the Red Cross in the recent confer
ences. 1t is iEtimated, however, that
the epidemic of influenza in Topeka
and other parts of the country has so
disrupted the nursing fraternity that it
will he necessary to call on the home
service workers for aid in the emer-
Gency.
While it is not stated officially that
an epidemic is rampant in Topeka.
authorities from the city, county and
state regard with considerable gravity
the situation which has developed in
the last forty-eight hours
Post Warming Signs.
A warning sign has been devised by
the city health department, and is be-
ing placed on every house where in
luenza is found. The sign reads:
KEEP OUT-INFLUENZA HERE.
All stricken with this disease
must be ISOLATED until recovery.
None but the nurse or attendant
should enter the sick room.
children from this house must
not attend school or shows until all
cases in the house have recovered.
Adults showing no symptoms of
Illness are not quara ntined, but
must not attend public gatherings
or shows for five days after last ex-
posure.
And one entering sick room should
cover their nose and mouth with a
gauze mask.
TOPEKA HEALTH DEPT.
No orders have been received here
calling for the quarantine of other
dwellers in houses sheltering a person
stricken with the disease No indica-
tions have yet been offered suggesting
that this will be done, altho Doctor
Clark says that if later developments
prove It's ISCcSSllS lAlS otCp Will 1Ol-
low.
The governor of Missouri has issued
an order closing everything in his
state. The order is practically the
same as the one issued by Doctor
Clark for Topeka.
At noon today all schools. theaters and
churches in Topeka were closed Off
cially. All conventions and public
gatherings of more than twenty peo.
pie. which includes afternoon parties
card parties, dances and the efforts oi
loafers to settle the war in an after
noon of discussion-an come under
the order placed in effect today. a
noon. by DR.. H. L. Clark, city health
officer.
Bethany and Washburn colleges, tht
city schools, and parochial schools al
come under the ban. Sen. William H
Thompson will not speak at the city
auditorium tonight, neither will any
other speaker be given an opportunity
to address a Topeka audience unit
the epidemic has been successful,
stamped out.
The order will be placed in effect al