This file portion of www.watertownhistory.org website
Cholera in Watertown Wisconsin
By W. F. Jannke III
What a
fortunate age in which we live! There are pills to spur hair growth and
virility and shots to combat tuberculosis, polio and measles. New discoveries
are being made each and every day by scientists and chemists working in
spotless labs throughout the globe. Oh there are still epidemics and out-breaks
of new illnesses and there are plenty of old illnesses that are still being
fought. But should, Heaven forbid, another epidemic arise we have a much better
chance of survival than our ancestors did.
If we
turn back the hands of time and look at life here, in Watertown, 150 year ago
we are confronted not with the tidy little city that we would expect but with,
rather, a raw frontier village. Watertown was a village rapidly being filled
with people both English speaking as well as foreign speaking, all of whom were
trying to better their lives. To show how crowded things were getting one need
only consult the files of the Watertown
Chronicle. In 1847 the Chronicle
reported that everything in the shape of a house is crowded to overflowing. We
know of one slab shantee in which 17 persons are obliged to find elbow room as
best they can. The streets were muddy and nearly impassable during certain
times of the year. Animals roamed at will through the village leaving
unmistakable evidence of their presence behind them. And the two-legged variety
of animal was no better. Garbage was thrown into the streets and alley ways.
Members of households would throw slops and other waste matter out onto the
back yard. Outhouses were improperly dug and their contents often leached into
the water supply. In 1849 the local newspaper commented that Watertown was
filthy. Stagnant water is found in parts of it, and in others the carcasses of
animals.
There
was no Board of Health. The only doctors here at that time were Doctors J. R.
Goodenough, Cokely, Breckenridge, Hamilton and James Cody. They were general
practitioners who tried their best to combat the common ailments of the time.
Most people had a certain mistrust of doctors, however, and preferred to try to
dose themselves with patent medicines bought from druggists like Dr. Edward
Johnson, or Joseph Schubert or William C. Fountain. Death occurred more often
than cures, even if the patient went to a doctor. With time would come more
advanced understanding of diseases and their treatments. But that wouldn’t be
until the future. In 1849 the doctors were totally unprepared to deal with an
outbreak of a then incurable disease which would rival the great influenza
epidemic of 1918: Cholera.
Cholera
first reared its ugly head in Watertown in 1849 and it would return with
varying degrees each year until 1854 when, for some inexplicable reason, it
would vanish. Cholera was spread through the consumption of infected food or
water. It thrived in dense populations and left in its wake a high death rate.
Given the uncleanliness of the village at the time the atmosphere was ripe for
the spread of contagion. Cholera usually struck in the months of July and
August and cases would occur up till the middle of September. One resident
recalled that during the summer months at that time the weather was perfect for
breeding the germs. Each day was boiling hot and each night there were
thunderstorms and much rain which left puddles of stagnant water in the muddy
streets.
Newspapers
of the time reported that cholera was attacking cities along the eastern sea
coast and rapidly making its way westward. Milwaukee was hit first and the Chronicle reported with some fear that
it may strike Watertown and people should look towards cleaning their
properties. Something must be done, and done soon, if you would escape the
scourge, the Chronicle reported in
1849. The utmost cleanliness should be observed about your premises, and
unslacked lime used in liberal quantities.
But
despite the warnings people began dropping like flies. The symptoms of cholera
and the swiftness with which it crept upon a person were the worst aspects. The
symptoms of cholera ran thusly: the affected person would at first experience a
faint fluttering sensation in the heart, followed by dizziness, headaches,
cramps in the legs, indigestion, and a sense of creeping closeness over the
surface of the body accompanied by occasional hot flashes of fever. As the
disease progressed colic-like pains would wander through the body. Vomiting
became severe and a loss of bowel control would also occur. In addition, the
inside of the mouth took on a darker hue than normal and an insatiable thirst
would ensue. Towards the end the symptoms would worsen and then, just before
death, everything eases and sweet oblivion would come with but little
additional suffering. The sad fact about cholera is that if a person managed to
survive the first few days of an attack a full recovery could be expected. But
the cures often killed swifter than the actual disease.
One
such treatment called for the infected person to be dosed every half an hour
with a mixture of gum opium, gum camphor and carbonate of soda. Another
treatment to aid in combating the cold, clammy feeling involved bathing the person
with a mixture of brandy and cayenne pepper. Quack cures began to surface at
this time. One doctor in Watertown, an African-American named Butler. claimed
he could cure cholera, but unfortunately he died of it. In an ironic twist his
head was turned over to medical students for dissection purposes afterwards, so
he did serve a purpose.
The Watertown Chronicle in 1849 also advised
that great care should also be advised in your diet, as little cold water as
possible used, and excesses of fatigue studiously guarded against. Since the
cause of the disease was not generally known at this time it was felt that
people should be cautious in their daily activities. An 1850 article went on to
state that people should drink no alcohol, and but little cold water; be
moderate in your diet, confining yourselves principally to vegetable food...
People were not only advised to discard the use and consumption of green corn,
cucumbers, melons and unripe potatoes, but they were also advised to avoid as
much as possible the night air and to be careful of even living in houses with
rotting vegetables in their root cellars. It was felt that cholera was often
passed through the air, where it hung like a spectral miasma. An 1849 Chronicle article also added that in
relation to preventatives, the best are a quiet, cheerful state of mind...
To
avoid the cholera, people took to escaping the infected cities, fleeing into
the country. The Chronicle
reprimanded its readers in 1851 for this action by saying, nothing is to be
gained by ingloriously fleeing the place; but every man should consider himself
a nurse, and step forward to the relief of the suffering with cheerfulness and
alacrity.
Cholera
was no respecter of class. In 1850 the local paper remarked with some
astonishment that the disease made its appearance on one of the highest points
of ground on the east side of the river, and one heretofore considered as the
most healthy portion of the town...the victims have been among the first class
of our citizens--those who have been regular in their habits and abstemtious in
their diet... In 1849, the first year of the scourge, 54 cases were reported
here, 19 of which resulted in death. One old resident recalled that on
People
were getting frantic. Whole families were dying within a short span of days.
What could be causing this outbreak? Well the Chronicle unwittingly hit the nail on the head when it reported in
1850 that all the fatal cases, thus far, have occurred within about 20 rods of
the house where the disease first appeared, and most of them within half the
distance! It was obviously the polluted water. The paper repeatedly called on
the townspeople to clean up their properties. Cellars and yards should be
cleansed, the obstructions to drains removed and lime profusely scattered in
streets, yards and vaults... railed Jonathan Hadley, editor of the Watertown Chronicle in 1850.
One of
the biggest outrages was the running at large of swine on the public streets.
People complained constantly, but it wasn’t until 1853 that an ordinance
outlawing such a practice was enacted. But by then the effects of cholera,
still nasty to be sure, has been somewhat alleviated. In fact, since 1851 the
strain of cholera here began to have a lessening impact. But there was still a
crying need for a Board of Health in Watertown. The 1849 village charter
specified the establishment of such a body but one would not be created until
well after the cholera days. But despite this things began to get better.
By
1853 the clean up had begun. The Chronicle
at this time reported that our streets are beginning to assume a somewhat neater
appearance... With the removal of animal wastes and improvements in sewerage
disposal, even as practiced by individual citizens to varying degrees of
success, the health of the city improved immeasurably. So much so in fact, that
on
In
1854, to the amazement of many, cholera made its final appearance here. Its
final visitation prompted the editor of the Chronicle
to write one last editorial decrying the need for better sanitation: Our
authorities have too long neglected the purification of our city...The city
council have the power to take all steps necessary...It is their duty to do
so...We do not know but our city fathers may withhold all efforts for the
restoration of the public health until frightened into activity by the ghosts
of members of their own households...our people expect--nay, they demand--that
at this crisis they ACT, and act with vigor...A board of health should be
established and a thorough system of purification entered upon at one...Mayor
[Theodore] Prentiss!...see to it that before the going down of next Saturday’s
sun, the more grievous of the nuisances...be abated...
Though
cholera did make a brief reappearance in the early 1870s, in a much milder
form, the disease, for all intents and purposes, left Watertown for good after
1854. One positive thing that came out of this epidemic was the formation of
health departments, city sanitation, the founding of hospitals and orphanages
throughout the nation. In Watertown it wouldn’t be until well after the turn of
the century that a hospital would be founded and a health department would be
implemented but the city did begin to keep its streets and public nuisances in
better order. It wouldn’t be until the turn of the century that muddy or dirt
streets would be replaced with paved ones and it would be even later than that
before the last horse-drawn vehicles would be observed on our streets. But as a
result of this epidemic the citizens here stopped, at least for a little while,
taking things like public health for granted. Especially those who lost loved
ones in the great cholera epidemic in Watertown.
