Pest houses, hysteria created in smallpox epidemic of 1903

A smallpox epidemic described in this column on Oct. 6 erupted in Maine in the early years of the 20th century. The “scare,” as newspapers called it, had originated in the logging camps and gradually moved south and west, touching off outbreaks in towns and cities in central Maine in the fall of 1903.

Especially hard hit were Bangor (162 cases), Old Town (130 cases) and Brewer (48 cases). Because the strain of the dread disease was a mild one, only 21 deaths were recorded out of 2,300 cases statewide in 1902 and 1903. But the general public was badly frightened, and the state’s public health apparatus was running overtime, much to the chagrin of public officials who had to pay the bills.

Today’s column is a diary of some of the events that were recorded almost daily in the Bangor Daily News and the Bangor Daily Commercial from the middle of October 1903, when cases began appearing in some numbers, until the middle of November, when the epidemic appeared to be petering out.

During the period, thousands of people rushed to get free vaccinations, there being no general inoculation mandate at that time. If they came down with the illness, or even if they were exposed to a sick person, they could expect to have their homes quarantined, or worse, to be sent to the pest house, and read their names and addresses in the newspapers.

Oct. 14, 1903: The Bangor City Council approved the acquisition of a “house of detention,” where travelers with suspicious symptoms could be kept until it was certain they were ill, at which point they could be moved to the pest house to recover and be fumigated along with their belongings.

Oct. 15: An editorial in the Bangor Daily Commercial urged employers to fire workers who refused to be vaccinated, and castigated doctors who had been misdiagnosing smallpox as chickenpox, one reason the disease had gotten out of control.

Oct. 16: The Bangor City Council closed City Hall to public assemblies, but rescinded the action the next day, instead urging people to stay away from groups. In Brewer, all the employees of Eastern Manufacturing Company were vaccinated.

Oct. 17: In Old Town, the employees of Nekonegan pulp mill were vaccinated, followed in the next days by those at the Old Town Canoe Company and “the two woolen mills,” at employer expense.

Oct. 20: Fearing they would get the disease, a group of 20 Canadian ships carpenters deserted their jobs at the Stetson yard in Brewer, but they were stopped at the border at Vassalboro and quarantined by Canadian officials. Meanwhile, five men quarantined in the boarding house at the yard “escaped.”

Oct. 21: In Bangor, Mayor Beal directed the old city hall on Court Street, most recently used as an armory, to be “fitted up” for “a contagious hospital,” and local residents protested. Old Town’s city hospital, meanwhile, was quarantined after a sick man stopped there before traveling on to Bangor and being committed to the pest house. Old Town officials planned a new city contagion hospital “at the old race track in the pine grove.”

Oct. 22: Grocers instructed their drivers not to enter homes to take orders. Bangor hired special policemen to watch quarantined homes.

Oct. 23: Businesses were trying to make money off the epidemic. Caldwell Sweet advertised a tube of formaldehyde that could be carried about and inhaled occasionally, while W. H. Taylor and Son sold life insurance for people who didn’t want to risk vaccination.

Oct. 30: Police uncovered a case of hiding a smallpox victim. Mrs. Speed said her sister, Mrs. Mooney, had recovered from a minor illness and left town, when she was really hiding in the house with Mr. Mooney, who also had the disease. This was an offence with serious consequences, police told the press.

Oct. 31: Brewer’s new detention hospital was scheduled to be moved to the city farm, where smallpox victims were being kept.

Nov. 3: D. Benson Young, who had recently been released from quarantine, wrote a letter to the editor criticizing doctors who advised against being vaccinated. He added, “Any person who neglects to vaccinate is to my mind not only an enemy of his city and family, but as much of a criminal as one who would attempt to derail a train.”

Nov. 5: An editorial writer for the NEWS complained the city had been unfairly labeled as “a centre for smallpox.” Half the residents had been vaccinated in the past three weeks, and a quarter in the past two years, the writer said after consulting with doctors.

In Old Town, J. S. Hincks had added to his “already finely equipped undertaking establishment an improved formaldehyde gas generator” that enabled him to disinfect a room (presumably containing a body) by forcing the gas through the keyhole.

Nov. 7: For some days now, people in Old Town had been urging health officials to quarantine Indian Island. But an investigation revealed “conditions there are much more satisfactory than in some of the more thickly settled portions of the city – and that the Indians are taking more precautions than some of the whites.”

Nov. 11: Gradually things were getting better, but the political fallout in Bangor was just beginning. The highly respected Dr. Galen M. Woodcock resigned his seat on the health board, citing “a physical and nervous breakdown” brought on by the stress of his job, including “many discouragements and rebuffs.” Then the City Council fired the city physician for deserting his post and a Fire Department hose truck driver for flouting health regulations. The city physician, Dr. E. E. Goodrich, responded in a letter to the editor that he went “into the woods” Oct. 5 because of his poor health, as he had informed officials, and he had not left town to make money vaccinating lumbermen.

Nov. 17: Bangor city physician George Hilton began touring city schools, checking teachers and students for vaccination marks. “We haven’t the power to compel vaccination,” said Superintendent Tilton. “But we can prevent the attendance of pupils who have not been vaccinated by simply refusing them admission.”

Wayne Reilly writes a history column each Monday in the Style section. During his 28 years at the Bangor Daily News, he worked as a reporter, editorial page writer and assignment editor. He can be reached at wreilly@bangordailynews.net.