The Sister Superior Arrested for Concealing Smallpox

It has just transpired that Elizabeth McCune, the sister superior of the Convent of Mercy at Snohomish, who was accused last summer of concealing two smallpox cases in the convent and, after their discovery, allowing them to escape, was arrested at a house on South Eighth street in this city last Tuesday by Marshal Brown, of Snohomish. As she was sick in bed she was placed under $100 bonds to appear before the superior court of Snohomish county and a guard was placed over the house to prevent her escape. Early in August, 1892, when the outbreak of smallpox in Snohomish had begun to cause alarm there, it was discovered that two women, named Rosa Birnbaum, aged 21, and Maggie White, aged 24, had been sick with smallpox in its worst form for nearly four weeks, and that the facts were carefully kept from the public. Health Officer McCready quarantined the building, but the women escaped in late August, followed by the sister superior. Rosa Birnbaum was later found on the street in the city, still suffering from smallpox, and was taken to the pest house. She recently returned to Snohomish and gave the officials there a hint as to the whereabouts of the sister superior, which led to her arrest.