Diphtheria Creating Havoc 1893

WOODRUFF, ANDREWS, MOORE

Posted By: Ernie Braida
Date: 8/16/2011 at 21:19:24

Diphtheria is again raging in Knoxville, and the white hearses are making daily trips to the cemetery.

A little son of Mr. and Mrs. Lora Woodruff--their second child--died of diphtheria Sunday morning and was buried the same evening. That night their eldest --a girl--died of the same disease and was buried yesterday.

Their baby is now the only child remaining and its throat was yesterday pronounced all right by Dr. C. W. Cornell, the attending physician.

A little son of Robert Andrews died Sunday night and was buried yesterday. His little brother is down with the disease.

The board of health held a meeting Sunday afternoon. While waiting for the absent members a boy came for Dr. Finarty, saying that his little brother had a very sore throat and had been ailing since Friday. The doctor went to examine and found the patient to be a child of Wm. Moore, suffering with a malignant case of diphtheria. There were several other children at this house, but no others sick.

The board of health ordered a rigid quarantine in all the cases. It has also ordered a strict compliance with the regulations of the board of health on the part of undertakers and physicians, which have been a dead letter heretofore.

James Inskeep has been appointed sanitary police, and he will keep a watch upon the quarantined houses, attend to what may be wanted by the inmates, and will also arrest any parties who may violate or disregard the quarantine regulations.

The cases which have died seem to have originated at Miss Batten's room in the west school building. The room has not yet been closed, but the board of health Sunday night had some sulphur candles burnt to purify the air.

W. P. Gibson, one of the directors was at the west building yesterday morning, He said the attendance was only about half the usual number. He found two pupils who had "sore throats" and sent them home. One was a daughter of Mrs. Kelsey, the other of G. W. Porter. Mr. Gibson stopped the practice of throwing all the slate pencils in a box and afterward picking them out at random. A better means of infection would be hard to find.

There has been in the past a great deal of criminal negligence in the matter of reporting contagious diseases and in the burial of dead bodies. We fear the present epidemie is likely to be a disastrous one.

The cases now known in the city are as follows:

Robert Andrews' boy;
Wm. Moore's boy.
O. P. Wright's little daughter, Dana, taken down yesterday morning.

Marion County Newspapers 1893