Blaine Posted a Smallpox Patrol on the Border
With Victoria reporting dozens of cases, Washington border towns put travelers under quarantine and sent six officers to watch the line.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
TACOMA, July 23.—[Special.]—The opinion of the United States consul at Victoria is that it is safe for Tacoma to remove quarantine against Victoria, there being no new cases there.
VANCOUVER, B.C., July 23.—[Special.]—After the storm has come the calm, and the streets tonight are in appearance a strong contrast to last night. The excitement of yesterday has given way to cool determination, and though Mayor Cope and other officials have decided to go to Victoria with the sheriff, the citizens almost to a man are opposed to them doing so. A steamer has been chartered to leave tomorrow evening at 6 o'clock, and between now and then strong efforts will be made to have the plans altered.
Two new cases of smallpox developed last night. Both were at the suspect station at Deadman's Island. One is the daughter of Mr. C. H. Stickles, who came from Victoria two days before she was taken down. The other is A. MacDonald, who came from Victoria ten days ago. This new phase has shown more clearly than ever the need of the quarantine. Another new case has also developed at Brice's mill, at Hastings, one of the places where the Yosemite took passengers after being refused a landing here. Two young ladies named Glenn, who were landed at Port Moody on the first trip on which a quarantine was enforced here, are reported down with the smallpox at Calgary, further showing the need of greater care. It is for objecting to the influx of such dangerous tourists that the people of Vancouver have been called 'villagers' and 'insects' by Justice Crease. It was only because of the strong interposition of cooler heads that he was not burned in effigy last night.
BLAINE, July 23.—[Special.]—The story published in the POST-INTELLIGENCER this morning relating to one sickly escaping from the Blaine pesthouse to Tacoma is a romance of his. Blaine has no pesthouse, having had no use for one, never having had a case of smallpox. Thorough quarantine is maintained here by the United States, county and city. Six officers patrol the boundary for two miles, night and day, and Point Roberts, twelve miles west, is also quarantined. Three runaway sailors from a ship at Vancouver were quarantined here today. They are happy, as this was what they desired, hoping to go on south at the end of ten days with a clean bill of health.
NEW WESTMINSTER, July 23.—[Special.]—Mayor Townsend said today that it is very probable the quarantine against Victoria will be raised in the early part of next week, provided the state of affairs at the capital continues favorable. Vancouver and Nanaimo will be consulted before any decided action is taken by this city, but the whole matter will in all probability be placed before the city council at the next meeting, Monday evening. A new smallpox hospital was finished this evening, ready for use in case it is ever needed. Happily, it will be vacant, as there are no patients to put in it.
Vancouver has nine cases of smallpox. Victoria has fifty-five cases. A new case appeared Friday—Mrs. Cameron, who had been nursing the sick. The two deaths at Victoria Tuesday were a pork butcher named Sprung and a man named Jessop, who recently arrived from Oxford County, Ont. One of the sufferers at the Jubilee hospital is a young lady who was the light of a small evening party held a couple of weeks ago, and which a young man named Hope, employed at the Albert Head quarantine station, attended. Mr. Hope spent most of the evening in the society of this young lady friend, though coming almost directly from the bedside of smallpox sufferers, and to his ill-timed attentions she may ascribe her present illness.
“Six officers patrol the boundary for two miles, night and day, and Point Roberts, twelve miles west, is also quarantined.”
In the 1890s, as now, a disease moving along the steamer routes could turn Puget Sound’s international border into a public-health flashpoint. Blaine’s patrol shows how quickly a local emergency becomes a question of who gets to cross.
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