I am pleased that Delaware Humanities has selected a timely new program I have been researching about the pandemic of 1918 in the region. The goal of this program is to understand how the experience of 1918, a situation that called for drastic action, unfolded and use this examination in a discussion that connects the past with today.
TITLE
We Have Been Here Before: Delmarva During the 1918 Pandemic
Art work from the Illinois State Department of Health in 1918. Source: National Institutes of Health Library)
DESCRIPTION
With the nation currently struggling with an unprecedented public health emergency as the coronavirus impacts the nation, this program examines the impact of the so-called Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918 on Delmarva and nearby points. The virus took a grim toll in this region, and it overwhelmed the health care system, forcing the region to shut down for an extended period. Although they didn’t call it social distancing at the top of the twentieth century, the methods they used to quarantine the contagion are similar to what we practice today. Thus, as the world struggles with this novel contagion, we will take a relevant look at the past to see how people in the region 102-years ago managed a similar situation, at a time when medical science did not have a treatment for the pathogen.
A Delaware Humanities speakers bureau program.
A 1918 poster created in response to the virulent created by the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation (Source: Philadelphia Free Library https://bit.ly/34BT3Oq)
After influenza struck Wilmington in the autumn of 1918, concerned officials at the New Castle County Workhouse struggled to keep the county prison from becoming a hot spot. In the tight cells and confined, overcrowded spaces at Greenbank isolation or what we today call social distancing was impossible. Thus, Warden Richard F. Cross and the workhouse physician, Dr. William H. Kraemer, took every possible precaution to keep the sickness outside prison walls, as the pandemic’s deadly toll spread in northern Delaware.
Nonetheless, as the contagion upended everyday life in Wilmington, Dr. Kraemer became apprehensive that the walls had been breached. During daily sick calls in late September, more inmates began showing up with sniffles, sore throats, deep coughs, and chest congestion. Diagnosing the symptoms in the cramped, poorly ventilated space behind bars, he steadied himself for a fight with the virus with the limited tools the medical profession made available to practitioners as there were no cures or vaccines.
The New Castle County Workhouse, a postcard from around 1911. (source: personal collection)
Then a prison guard, Archibald C Dorsey, came down with the flu. Suffering for three or four days, the 42-year old died at his home at 1330 French Street in Wilmington on September 29, 1918. Officer Dorsey was laid to rest at Cathedral Cemetery on October 2.1 A few days later newspapers mentioned that an outbreak had occurred at the prison, but the cases were generally mild.2
Flu Claims Victims at Workhouse
As the virus spread in Delaware, the courts continued sentencing convicts to the workhouse. One man, Jas. W. Roundtree, a foreman of a Baltimore shipyard, came to Wilmington early in October to see the superintendent of the local shipyard. Soon after arriving, he caught the attention of the police when he stole some women’s clothing. Officer Bullock hauled the man before the city court, which held him on $500 bail.
Shortly after the trial, Roundtree became “wildly delirious.” Instead of being a common thief, the Baltimorean had been out of his head, suffering from influenza. The police hurriedly decided not to jail him, but they could not find a doctor to come to the station to treat the delirious man. So, they sent the patient to the workhouse to receive care from the county physician. It was the only compassionate thing they could do.3
As October slipped painfully by an alarming surge in illnesses indicated that the virus was raging unchecked within the prison walls as inmates and guards fell sick. When Dr. Kraemer made his medical rounds on the afternoon of Friday, October 11, ten percent of the inmates were ill. He had forty-five ailing prisoners in cells, while the six most serious cases struggled to survive the infection in the prison hospital.
A registry of deaths at the New Castle County Workhouse (Source: Delaware Public Archives.)
By contrast, a month earlier on September 11, 1 percent of the inmates were sick, and there were no patients in the hospital. The rate of infections was far higher within the institution than in the general population of the city.4
These elevated conditions continued for a little over two weeks, and on October 16, the flu claimed the first inmate. Samuel Green, 33, died Oct. 11, an influenza-pneumonia victim. 5 Five days later, Nineteen-year-old Ernest Holly, serving a life sentence for a murder near Newark, perished at the workhouse on Wednesday night. October 16. Then on October 19, the disease took another victim, Rosero Malsese, 31. He was serving two months for highway robbery. This made the third inmate death at Greenbank during the pandemic.6, 7, 8
By October 21, Dr. Kraemer had good news for Warden Cross. The infections were clearing up rapidly at Greenbank, the few remaining inmates recovering. Plus, there had been no deaths nor any new cases at the workhouse in the past 24 hours.9
At least one more inmate, Frank Smith, perished. The 39-year-old sentenced on November 9, 1917, to three years died one year later after incarceration on Nov 8. 1918. Pneumonia associated with influenza was listed as the cause of death.
Gradually the suffering diminished at the county prison, but at least four people died during the outbreak. The previous year, only four inmates deaths occured during the entire twelve months.
Workhouse Opened in 1901
The New Castle County Workhouse was located at Greenbank, about six miles west of downtown Wilmington. The first prisoners arrived at the modern house of corrections on November 6, 1901. Designed for 350 inmates, World War I considerably accelerated the incarcerated population as Wilmington’s war industries boomed. “To guard and supervise in a safe and sanitary manner, a population at times nearly six hundred in an institution designed for three hundred fifty was obviously impossible,” Caldwell notes. “On December 1, 1918, five hundred forty-eight prisoners were crowded into the inadequate accommodations of the workhouse.”10
Medical Cases at the New Castle County Workhouse, 9/24/1918 – 10/27/1918 (Source: Workhouse Daily Activity Report, Delaware public Archives)
Endnotes
Some of my current research is focused on investigating the impact of the 1918 pandemic in communities along an extended corridor stretching from Baltimore to Philadelphia. This work has or will take me to cities and counties along I-95, as well as jurisdictions near this region.
In the summer of 2019, before the novel coronavirus upended normal life, part of my fieldwork took me to rural Salem County. As I worked in South Jersey, the Salem County Historical Society asked if I would write an article for the quarterly newsletter. When the piece appeared in the print, no one could have guessed that in six months, another pandemic of historic proportions, the novel coronavirus of 202o, would rip across the world, shutting Salem County down for months as public health officials struggled to control the pathogen’s spread.
Thus this summer, as the nation battles the COVID-19 outbreak, the editor asked if I would take a further look at the fight against the disease there, 102-years-ago. This installment focused on the frontline workers when the so-called Spanish influenza ripped across the county in 1918.
My research continues as I have been working with the Delaware Public Archives death records, police blotters, public health reports, death certificates, governor’s correspondence, workhouse journals, Wilmington city records, and much more. As conditions permit, I plan to do additional fieldwork in Harrisburg, Trenton, and Philadelphia.
Here is the front page from the Quarterly Newsletter.
Salem Countians on the Frontline of the Global Pandemic of 1918, an article in the Quarterly Newsletter of the Salem County Historical Society (Fall 2020)
For nine years, I have served as the editor of the Maryland State Firemen’s Association (MSFA) newsletter, The Volunteer Trumpet. But the summer 2020 issue, which usually coincides with the annual firefighters’ convention in Ocean City, is my last number as I step down as editor. I am pleased during this nearly ten-year term to have had the opportunity to steer the course of the Maryland Fire Service publication while strengthening its content.
Once I accepted the opportunity offered to me by Past President John Denver, I received critical help getting acclimated to the MSFA as I figured out how to pull together the first issue, learned how to find contributors, and worked within the Association. In addition to President Denver, Chief Richard Smith from the executive committee oriented me to the operation, providing valuable contacts around the state, while also outlining expectations. Most importantly, Chief Smith’s ongoing guidance and support as I climbed a steep learning curve with the first couple of issues were essential in helping me transition effectively into the post. This help from two of the organization’s executives was critical for the successful launch of a new editor, and it carried me through more than 50 issues.
We had a strong group of contributors, columnists, and photographers gathering newsworthy material from around Maryland, over this period. So, as I write my final editor’s column, I want to acknowledge the work of the regular correspondents. They made the Volunteer Trumpet while giving us a chance to share amazing Maryland fire service stories, showcase the work of the volunteer fire departments, and present Association activities.
The Volunteer Trumpet, the newsletter of the Maryland State Firemen’s Association
Chief Clarence “Chip” Jewell’s popular Firehouse Logbook added immensely to the periodical. Our senior columnist produced informed fire service commentary, history, and timely, thoughtful opinions in his regular spot in these pages.
Jim Jarboe, one of our most recognizable contributors as our artist in residence, provided timely safety reminders. He also kept readers sharp by challenging them with his Wally Quizzes, “Are you as smart as the old-time fire chief.” These were things the readers looked for on these pages.
MSFA PIO Ron Watkins diligently covered his beat, the Association. He kept us up-to-date on MSFA news and covered local happenings in central and western Maryland.
We also were fortunate to be able to showcase the excellent work of two Maryland Fire Service Photographers, Bruce Secrist, and Neving Steffy. They provided high-quality on-location coverage, supplying images that told the story on the Eastern Shore. The excellent work through the lens of these photographers often occupied prominent spots on these pages.
And Heidi McPherson served as a copy editor, proofreading submissions and keeping an eye on me, too. From MIEMSS, Jim Brown provided news, and from the State Fire Marshal, Brian S. Geraci had his regular updates.
I am grateful to our regular contributors and those who occasionally submitted items. It’s been a privilege to serve as editor of this publication for the past nine years.
Of course, this final year presented challenges as the coronavirus grew from a distant global event to a public health emergency that largely shut Maryland down as Governor Hogan issued stay-at-home orders to stop the spread of the virus. This upended the convention, the focus of our June issue.
So, with the closing of this volume, I am also delighted to pass the torch to a capable new editor, Jonathan Dayton. Editor Dayton will do excellent work guiding the Volunteer Trumpet through the next stage of its development, and I wish him all the best. It has been my pleasure to contribute to the Trumpet over the years.
L to R: Singerly Medic Shirley Herring, Sparky, Captain Mike Dixon, and a school teacher talk about plans for fire prevention week around 1976.
