Tacoma Quarantined Its Neighbours, and the State Health Board Said Enough
A Congregational minister refuses the vaccine and argues with the health officer on the depot platform, while the state board warns Tacoma it will 'exert its authority' over a quarantine drawn against Olympia and the Sound.
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.
TACOMA, July 22. — Rev. Dr. Brown, of the First Congregational church, went to Seattle today. On his return by train he refused to be vaccinated and had an altercation with the quarantine officer. Mr. Brown got off at the reservation and was followed by the deputy, but was not arrested. He thinks Tacoma is carrying the quarantine too far.
The Tacoma health board will tomorrow pass on the question of removing the quarantine. The British consul at Victoria states to Health Officer Newell that there has been but one case of smallpox since the 15th, and that if there are no new cases before the first of next week it is believed it will be safe to remove the quarantine.
OLYMPIA, July 22. — Health officer Armstrong has written to Health Officer Newell of this city, threatening to enforce quarantine against Olympia unless this city adopts quarantine regulations against persons coming from Seattle and other down-Sound points, but the Olympia authorities decline to establish such quarantine at present. The following letter on this subject was sent by Dr. Armstrong, secretary of the state board of health, to the Tacoma health officer today:
"I see by newspaper accounts that you propose establishing quarantine against Olympia. In view of the fact that we have not had a case of smallpox here for three years, and have no direct communication with an infected district, the proposed regulation appears to me very unreasonable and unjust, and if persisted in it may become necessary for the state board to exert its authority in such matter. There is certainly no desire to precipitate a conflict of authority in these matters, which are for the general good, and I hope the newspaper article referred to was unauthorized and incorrect."
“In view of the fact that we have not had a case of smallpox here for three years... the proposed regulation appears to me very unreasonable and unjust.”
In 1892 nobody could agree who held the power to close a port — city, county or state — and towns happily threw up lines against each other on pure rumor. The state board's threat to 'exert its authority' is the first draft of the public-health jurisdiction fights that would be fought again in Seattle in 1918 and 2020. Tacoma's quarrel with Olympia over travelers from the north is a municipal border war in miniature.
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