Davenport Times Davenport, Scott, Iowa Thurs., Apr 26, 1900 SMALLPOX REPORTED It Breaks Out Near Fifteenth and Brady ELMER STROMBECK VICTIM Disease Diagnosed as the Dread Malady and Patient is Forthwith Removed to the Pest House Elmer Strombeck, 22 years old, a working man, employed on the C R I & P railway shops, is at the pest house suffereing from a genuine attack of smallpox. Strombeck lived at 1522 Brady street with his sister in one of Dr. C.T. Lindley's houses. He was employed as late as ten days ago at the C R I & P shops in sweeping out cars, etc., and his illness is attributed to the inhalation of car dust. At noon yesterday, Dr. Raymond Peck was called to attend the patient and discovered him broken out into blotches very suggestive of smallpox. The sister of the patient several days before attributed the disease to blood poisoning due to an injury received in the hand some time previously. Was Ill for Ten Days As ther ehas been a misunderstanding on the part of some citizens who are complaining because the case was not called to the attention of the proper authorities earlier, a representative of this paper called upon Dr. Raymond Peck, who was the first one to discover the true condition of the man and obtained from him the following facts: Mr. Strombeck was taken sick with a severe cold and symptoms of the grip on Sunday the 15th day of this month. "Dr. Peck was called to see him on the following Wednesday and prescribed for him, called again Thursday and found him greatly improved and relieved of all symptoms complained of. He then left orders with the patient and sister that if improvement did not continue to notify him at once. Not hearing from the patient he concluded that his services were no longer needed and dropped the matter from his mind. That was the last he heard from his patient until 12 o'clock yesterday noon, nearly six days after his last visit, when his sister telephoned that he was not so well and showed new symptoms. "Eruptions first broke out Dunday morning and it was almost four days after the above serious indication that Dr. Peck was informed of the fact and called upon to view the case. "He immediately quarantined the place and called in City Physician Preston and Dr. Watzek, both of whom confirmed his diagnosis of the case as one of genuine smallpox. So it will be plainly observed by all that any delay in reporting the case was due to the negligence of the victim and his sister themselves and to no one else." Those Who Are Exposed The family of Mrs. Sarah Ita occupies one half of the house and these parties have been exposed. All have been vaccinated. The Ita boy attends school No. 4 and up to yesterday the school children had been exposed. It is likely that all of the children there will be vaccinated as a safeguard. Residents Are Vaccinated. Those who reside on the hill in the vicinity of the Strombeck home are much exercised over the appearance of the plague in the neighborhood and there were scores of vaccinations solicited. The place has been quarantined and thoroughly fumigated. Vaccination Offered. On account of the fact that the little boy of the family went to school in No. 4 and was in Miss Miles' room in that building the city physician, Dr. Preston, ordered that the children in that room be vaccinated. The matter of the vaccination of all other pupils was left to the direction of Superintendant Young. In the room where the child attended school all the pupils who have not been vaccinated within 5 years will be required to be vaccinated at once. Two Escape Quarantine Mrs. Strombeck and her little daughter who were in the family of the one taken will with smallpox escaped yesterday between the time the disease was discovered and the time Dr. Preston was notified. They went to Anover, Ill. but Dr. Preston at once telegraphed to that city and told of the exposure. What Health Inspector Says Health Inspector Charles N. Jessen was seen this morning and said: "Dr. C.H. Preston first notified me yesterday afternoon. He first went ot Mayor Heinz and asked what should be done in the matter, and as I understand it, the mayor ordered him to look after the matter in his official capacity with full power to act. This Dr. Preston did. Late in the afternoon the patient Strombeck was conveyed to the pest house or the St. Robert's hospital in the Black Maria together with his sister and her babe. Claus Barofsky and Robert Stange were placed on guard to watch the premises on upper Brady street, after the quarantine had been established. There will be no special board of health meeting held today." Scourge of Smallpox All cases of regular smallpox according to physicians are divisible in to three stages, viz., first, that of the initial or eruptive fever, second, that of the progress and maturation of the specific eruption and third, that of the decline. The first stage begins with chilliness, followed by heat and dryness of the skin, a quickened pulse, loss of appetite, vomiting, headache and pains in the back and limbs. On the third day minute red specks begin to appear on the face and rapidly spread over the body. The fever usually begins to subside as soon as the eruption appears. Statistics show that the eighth day of the eruption is the most perilous. The cause of smallpox is universally agreed to be a specific contagion whose nature the medical profession is in the most profound ignorance. Smallpox is considered the most contagious of all known diseases and appears in epidemic form at irregular intervals, and after raging for a longer or shorter period, it gradually dies out and as a rule does not generally appear again in the same community for years. The entire course of smallpox in all its various stages occupies about three weeks. Cathy Joynt Labath Scott Co, IA USGenWeb Project http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/index.htm