Lex Anteinternet: Today In Wyoming's History: March 4, 1918 The start of the 1918 Flu Epidemic

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Today In Wyoming's History: March 4, 1918 The start of the 1918 Flu Epidemic

Soldiers with the Flu, Camp Funston, 1918.

1918 Mess Sergeant Albert Gitchell reported sick at Sick Call on Monday, March 4, 1918. He was sent to the ward housing those suspected of carrying infectious diseases by the medical orderly at Hospital Building 91. The same orderly then saw the next man in line, Cpl. Lee W. Drake, a truck driver assigned to the Headquarters Transportation Detachment's First Battalion. He reported with the same symptoms as Gitchell. The duty medic sent him to the same ward. The orderly then saw Sgt. Adolph Hurby who if anything was sicker.The orderly was then alarmed and called Lt. Elizabeth Harding, the chief nurse. By the time she arrived at the hospital two more sick soldiers were present. She called Col. Edward R. Schreiner, a 45-year-old army surgeon, awakening him from bed. Schreiner was alarmed and was taken to the hospital in the sidecar of a motorcycle driven by his orderly.

By noon there were 107. By the week's end, 522 were sick.

The 1918 Flu Epidemic had begun.

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Lex Anteinternet?

This blog has been around since 2009. In the very first post, we asked the question: "What the heck is this blog about?"

Our answer to the question was: "The intent of this blog is to try to explore and learn a few things about the practice of law prior to the current era. That is, prior to the internet, prior to easy roads, and the like. How did it work, how regional was it, how did lawyers perceive their roles, and how were they perceived?"

We also noted: "Part of the reason for this, quite frankly, has something to do with minor research for a very slow moving book."

All of this is still true, but the focus of the blog has changed somewhat. It now focuses on the era from 1890 to 1920 in general, rather than on the law and lawyers specifically, although that may be far from obvious. It's also become the location where we comment on anything we feel moved to comment on.

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