Quarantine Enforcement on Sprague Street
When parents failed to keep children with smallpox indoors, health officials forcibly removed the family to the pest house.
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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.
Because the parents would not make them stay indoors, two children of a family named Lind, who were afflicted with smallpox, were forcibly taken to the pest house yesterday by County Health Physician Stiles. The Linds reside on Sprague Street, and a few days ago, two of the children were discovered to have smallpox. Dr. Stiles warned the mother to keep the children indoors, but complaints came in from neighbors Saturday that the children were being allowed to roam the streets and chase other children in childish glee. A second warning was given, but as no heed was paid, the health officer drove to the residence and removed the children to the pest house. It was learned today that the father is contemplating bringing proceedings against the health officer. The removal was a carrying out of quarantine laws, which both the health officer and Prosecuting Attorney Wilson declared were necessary after neighbors reported the children were trying to spread the infection to others, with one child even allegedly pulling scabs from his face and sticking them on a fence.
“One of the children, it is said, pulled the scabs off his face and stuck them on the fence. This was too much for the neighbors.”
Public health enforcement often creates friction between individual liberty and collective safety, a tension that became a global flashpoint during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 1903, the 'pest house' was the standard, albeit feared, solution for infectious disease isolation.
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