New Britain herald., 1920-02-03
h. Henry I. Bray To- day Hands in List of 127CaSeS Heretofore UnreveaIed
VIOLATE STATE
 CODE IN so DOING
But Physician Believes He
 Was in the Right; Failure / to Report Was to Avert
 Panic in New Britain.

Because the methods employed by . the board of health in freely dis -Rensing news and figures relative to lthe influenza epidemic. locally. were not in keeping with his views on that matter, Dr. Henry'T Bray, United States Public Health representative and for several years superintendent of the board of health here, with held his report on flu cases attended during the past week and today s:artled officers of the board by re- pSrting 127 cases.
 Gan Bring Me to Court"
 That the publicity given influenza was the cause of his action was ad- mitted this morning in a telephone conversation, employees of the health department said. His action is in direct violation of a state code direct ing physicians to report daily the number of cases attended by them, the doctor is said to have admitted, Sut to show how lightly he regarded the matter, he is said to have re- marked this morning: You can bring me to court for it if you want to-
 New Flu" Aspect
 His report throws an entirely new light upon the influenza situation here. inasmuch as 127 additional cases of flu" are added to the present %Dtal and while the public has. been appraised of but 373 cases the figure is more nearly 525.
 Dr. Bray Explains.
 Dr. Bray explained this noon that it was not his desire to withhold from the newspapers any legitimate news but he felt daily reports, with figures, -would only assist in causing fear and would do nothing to allay the cpl demic. In speaking for publication, he said that his report covered a period of about five days. He eA- plained that the state board of health has passed a rule whereby physicians are required to report every 24 hours . but expressed his belief that present ~conditions would not warrant such Ereports. He continued:
 Threatens Resignation.
 "I have been in public health serv- ice for over 12 years and know as much about it as anybody else. NO other doctor is going to tell me what to do. If there is somebody who can do my work better, I am ready to hand in my resignation to Mayor .-Quigley"
 State Reports.
 It is probable, from information sleaned in the office of the board of health this morning, that in the weekly report to the state board of health. a special notice explaining the unusually large number of influenza sufferers will be affixed. Otherwise ( if is felt the state officers will receive the report with consternatlon anc delegates from that board will be sent to New Britain to take the situation in hand.
 Had the report of Dr. Bray beer made in time for the last weekly re port, New Britain would have headed the list of Connecticut cities in the number of sufferers. As it now stands Waterbury leads, Hartford is seconc and New Britain is third.
 Hartford. Feb. 3.-There was an in crease of new influenza cases in Con- necticut of over HOO in the past 2+ hours according to reports to the state department of health today. This + the greatest mum Der thus far reported Hartford jumped to the front Wltf 21O, with Bridgeport next with 9l Others reporting were: New HaVef 70, Waterbury 67, Ansonia 56. Derb! 52, Enfield 48, Danbury 47, Norwlci 43, Greenwich 10, Putnam 33. NeV Britain 25, Pennington 22, scatter ing 306.
 Boston. Feb. 3.-Reports of new in fuenZa cases made to the departmen of health today for the past "A hour; were almost double that of the pre- vious 4S-hour period. The total wa 1721 of which 1341 were outside o Boston Part of the increase healtt officials thought, was due to belateC returns for the weekend period.
 New York, Feb. 3.-More death from influenza and pneumonia were reported to the health department to day than or any day since the pres ent epidemic began. Today's death were 163 from influenza compared with 94 yesterday, and 1S4 from pneu monia an increase of 55. New case of influenza totalled 3,629 compared with 2,673 yesterday. There was 58' new cases of pneumonia, an increas