Smallpox Outbreak at the American Hotel
Twenty-eight residents quarantined after hotel porter is moved to the city's pest house.
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.
One new case of smallpox was discovered yesterday in the American hotel on Washington street. Mike Manning, the porter, is the victim and he was removed to the pest house immediately. Health Officer Sparling placed the hotel under quarantine regulations and thoroughly fumigated the house from top to bottom. There are twenty-eight persons quarantined, comprising four or five nationalities. Everyone has been vaccinated and the health officer is confident the disease will be confined to the one patient.
“Health Officer Sparling placed the hotel under quarantine regulations and thoroughly fumigated the house from top to bottom.”
Public health crises in Seattle have historically triggered rapid responses that balance civic safety with social upheaval. The 1892 quarantine of the American Hotel reflects the era's reliance on 'pest houses' and immediate exclusion to manage infectious disease before the advent of modern antibiotic or vaccine protocols.
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