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The Cholera
1854
-- --REMEMBERING CHOLERA
<> 1854 OCCURRENCE
In 1854 during a
cholera epidemic my mother, brother and a sister were taken by this dreadful
disease. The coffins were homemade out
of bass wood lumber and were usually made by members of the family. In 1860 another sister was killed when her dress was caught in a tumbling rod
while threshing. [Derived from memories of August Moldenhauer]
1865
11
09 THE
CHOLERA IN ITS MOST MALIGNANT FORM
HAS
REACHED AMERICA
It was brought over
the Atlantic by the steamer Atlanta from Europe, which arrived at New York on
the 3rd. There is little danger that
this country will suffer from this Asiatic scourge this season. But the fact that not only the winds but the
vessels may bring it to our shores and that it may rapidly spread into the
interior should be a warning to prepare for this terrible and fatal
epidemic. In every city, whatever can be
done to avert or mitigate its deadly visitation should be accomplished without
delay. Next summer we may look for its
appearance elsewhere. Already there has
been sufficient warning to lead all to prepare for its presence. We ought not to wait until the evil is upon
us, and all its consternations and fear, before measures are adopted to ward
off its all-pervading malignity.
Our city should be
cleansed and cleared of everything that has a tendency to draw or increase its
violence. We may now console ourselves
with the reflection that for the present we are safe, but it is well to bear in
mind that at some future day we may pay dear for our delusive security in the
decimation of this community by the sudden arrival and raging of this disease
among us. Now is the time to take
preventive steps and put our city in the best condition of defense against this
frightful evil. WD
12
03 CITY
CLEANLINESS
A citizen handed us
the following communication with the request that it be published. It certainly calls attention to a very important
subject – one that should not be neglected but which could very easily be
attended to now to a certain extent.
Our city generally is
healthy, but when a whole continent is threatened with the ravages of a deadly
pestilence, it is the part of wisdom and safety to do in advance whatever can
be done to mitigate its fatal violence.
Let us see to the things that belong to our welfare.
Cholera Generators
Around the City
If our city fathers
would occasionally run their noses around the butcher shops and alleys they
would discover stench pools enough, even in the principal parts of the city, of
so foul and offensive a character as to convince them that a remedy ought be applied without delay.
The vilest refuse, offal and filth is daily thrown into the alleys and
gutters, there to fester and decay, and even in this cold and frosty weather,
one is compelled to close his eyes and hold his nose to avoid the repulsive
sight and sickening odors.
When Coleridge
visited the city of Cologne he declared that he counted thirty-nine separate
and distinct smells, each one of which was enough to knock a man down. Watertown can beat that, even in winter. In warmer weather, these seething cesspools
will become terrible cholera generators.
Suppose we should have an open winter and sickly spring, and cholera
sweeps over land, would not the dreaded scourge rage with ten-fold fury here on
account of the pre-disposing causes now in our midst. Now is the time to clean out these dirty
places. If there are no public funds
applicable to this necessary work the Common Council
can at least serve a notice upon every householder who creates these nuisances
and compel him to clear [clean] them up before a whole community suffers from
his wanton and selfish negligence. WD
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 abstemious 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 Main Street at this time, everyday from August through the middle
of September one would meet 6 to 8 funerals.
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 May 18, 1853 The Watertown
Chronicle was able to boast that Owing to the healthfulness of our city,
the two hearses formerly owned here have been sent to localities where they are
likely to find more employment. . . .
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.
History of Watertown,
Wisconsin