The Smallpox Panic in Old Seattle
After a patient infected with smallpox was discovered wandering near a hotel and the police station, the city scrambled to replace its health officer and overhaul its containment protocols.
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.
At a special meeting of the board of health yesterday afternoon, Robert M. Eames was appointed health officer to succeed Dr. G. H. T. Sparling. Measures were also taken to contain the smallpox. President F. A. Churchill and other board members agreed that the current state of affairs required immediate action. Dr. Eames was unanimously elected on the first ballot. Dr. Holmes called attention to the dangerous conditions at the pest house, and the board instructed the new resident physician to go there at once and keep a record of each patient's progress. Meanwhile, a new case was discovered: A. McCloud, who had been sick in the Babcock house on Washington Street, walked into the police station claiming he had smallpox. He had been put out of the hotel and had slept on a wharf. Dr. Sparling confirmed the diagnosis, and the patient was sent to the pest house. The Babcock house was then cleared and fumigated, and all occupants were vaccinated. The presence of a smallpox patient in the police station prompted a general cleaning and mass vaccination of police officers.
“He had been put out of the hotel and had slept on a wharf. Dr. Sparling was called, and on examination he found McCloud to be covered with smallpox eruption.”
This 1892 report highlights the visceral, chaotic early days of public health policy in Seattle. The use of 'pest houses' and forced fumigation mirrors the intense anxiety of later pandemic responses, reminding us that the city's approach to infectious disease has always been intertwined with fears of homelessness and social disorder.
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