Three Children Dead in a Week: Diphtheria Stalks a Legislator's Family
Called home from the legislature by a telegram, Hon. Joseph Foster buries three children in a single week as his wife lies gravely ill with the same disease.
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It is difficult to express one's feelings in alluding to so sad and unexpected an affliction as has befallen the family of the Hon. Joseph Foster, who has so long and so acceptably represented this county in the Territorial Legislature. Shortly after leaving home for Olympia, he was hastily summoned back by a telegram from his wife, informing him of the dangerous illness of his children with diphtheria, and soon after his return his second oldest child, Rosetta Jane, a bright little girl of 9 years, was carried off by the fell destroyer, and was buried on Monday last. The other two children also contracted the disease, and to-day the sad news was brought in that they too had perished—Charles, the eldest, aged 12, and Emily, aged 4. To add to the misfortune, Mrs. Foster is also afflicted with the malady, and is not expected to recover. Only those who have experienced a like misfortune can fully appreciate the force of the shock to a father and mother to lose all their children in one short week. The bereaved parents have the heartfelt sympathy of the whole community. The funeral services will take place to-morrow on the arrival of the train from Renton, at half-past four o'clock.
“Only those who have experienced a like misfortune can fully appreciate the force of the shock to a father and mother to lose all their children in one short week.”
Diphtheria was one of the leading killers of children in the 19th century, striking without warning. Before vaccines and antitoxin, a single outbreak could wipe out a family in days. The Foster family's loss is a reminder of how much modern medicine has changed childhood—and how fragile life remains for those without access to it.
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