An interesting editorial from the Fresno Republican, reprinted in the Calistoga California “Weekly Calistogian” of 14 February, 1919. It strikes me as interesting in both the thought given to what they expected after the epidemic but the need for social reform to support these expectation. – JS The Weekly Calistogian 14 February 1919 AFTER THE … [Read more…]
If you thought that conspiracy theories were a modern invention, this one banged around the US newspapers in September 1918. Sadly, the influenza didn’t respect any borders and raged through Europe as readily as it did the USA: Riverside Daily Press 19 September 1918 SPANISH INFLUENZA BROUGHT BY HUNS Head of Health Section of Shipping Board … [Read more…]
From the Morning Press, 24 August 1918, just before the Spanish influenza epidemic began to rage on the west coast of America: DR. POTTER WARNS PUBLIC AGAINST SPAIN’S INFLUENZA That Spanish influenza, a scourge which has attacked the great armies Europe, is bound to make its presence felt in the United States, was a prediction of … [Read more…]
Substitute COVID-19 for INFLUENZA in the article below, and you sum up how epidemics impact people. – JS. Riverside Daily Press 18 February 1919 SIDE TALKS BY RUTH CAMERON Rocking the Boat “Well, I’m thankful to say, I’m not so timid about germs. My carcass isn’t quite so valuable to me as all that,” said … [Read more…]
Calexico Chronicle 23 December 1918 REDONDO BEACH USES TRAVELING SCHOOLS Redondo Beach, Dec. 23.—Grammar schools have been closed here during the influenza epidemic, but the work of education goes on. Equipped with a small portable blackboard and necessary text books and records, each teacher calls upon each pupil enrolled in her classes and hears recitations … [Read more…]
WOMAN KILLED ON STOCKTON STREETS. (By United Press) Hanford Sentinel 19 December 1918 Stockton, Dec. 17. – Mystified by the murder of Mrs. Alice Kroyer, the police Monday admitted they had learned nothing that would clear up the identity of the murderer who killed her with a blow from an iron bar late Saturday night. … [Read more…]
Stockton Independent 2 November 1918 Considerable Loss Due to the Closing Down During the Influenza Epidemic. Merchants and businessmen in all the towns and cities of the country where the Spanish influenza is raging have suffered from a depression of trade amounting, in some lines and in some places to almost a complete suspension. In … [Read more…]
More news from 1918 – a couple of telling articles: Red Bluff Daily News 29 October 1918 SALOONS REFUSE TO OBEY ORDERS BOARD OF HEALTH STOCKTON, October 26 —The saloon keepers of Tracy, backed up by the attitude of Mayor N. S. Dwelly, are keeping open today in defiance of the order of the city … [Read more…]
The newspaper article below seems too familiar to our current state in July 2020: San Diego Union and Daily Bee 29 October 1918 EPIDEMIC WELL UNDER CONTROL, IT IS REPORTED Health Board Renews Request For Wearing Masks and Suggests Precautions. Two deaths and 40 new cases summed up the course of the Spanish influenza epidemic … [Read more…]
From the San Pedro Daily News 14 October 1918 UNCLE SAM’S ADVICE ON FLU “Cover up each cough and sneeze, If you don’t you’ll spread disease.” U. S. Public Health Service Issues Official Health Bulletin on Influenza. LATEST WORD ON SUBJECT. Epidemic Probably Not Spanish In Origin — Germ Still Unknown — People Should Guard … [Read more…]