SMALLPOX IN LAUNCESTON 1903

In late May 1903, two cases of smallpox were confirmed after the steamer Gracchus had arrived in Melbourne from India on May 2. The first  victim was Mr William Walker, a horse dealer who embarked at Singapore. The other was a Mrs Dwan from Ballarat. Mrs Dwan went to the docks to meet her husband, who had boarded the ship in Java.

‘On returning to Ballarat she  [Mrs Dwan] washed his clothes and the underwear used by him on the voyage. She subsequently sickened and an eruption appeared all over her body. The medical men who examined the patient reported that the case was undoubtedly one of smallpox. ‘

One of the other passengers who  boarded the Gracchus in Calcutta was James ‘Jim’ Marion, a well known  music hall entertainer. Marion  travelled on to Launceston to perform at the Empire Theatre. He arrived on May 6  and performed for a week, commencing on  May 9.

My apologies for the quality of the following image of Marion taken in 1906, it’s the only one I could find.

On May 20 an alert was published  in Melbourne about smallpox aboard the Gracchus. It had been discovered earlier in  the month, after the steamer left Australia and arrived at Lyttelton in New Zealand.

A list of passengers who had left  the ship in Melbourne was printed, with a warning that they should be traced. As we know, two of the three highlighted passengers  had already  been identified; one as a positive case and one as the source of an infection.

Apparently a message was forwarded to Hobart’s  Board of Health. But was it acted upon?

SS Gracchus – (Source, Tynebuiltships.com)

FEVER – AND A TRAGIC LOSS

Present at the  Empire Theatre to watch James Marion one evening   was  local man Francis Duggan. Meanwhile, scarlet fever was being reported, with the loss of a nurse at the hospital and numerous other cases among the staff.

On June 27  it was revealed that nurse Cash, her colleagues,  and her  fever patient Francis Duggan  had been misdiagnosed.

LAUNCESTON – A sensation was caused here today by the announcement that smallpox had appeared in the city, and that two deaths had occurred. One of the victims was Nurse Cash, at the General Hospital, whose death was at first reported to be due to scarlet fever. The dread disease appears to have been discovered at the end of May, and the public are indignant at the action of the local doctor in suppressing the news.   (Adelaide Observer, June 27 1903.)

The news led to a scramble for vaccination, and  the  supply of vaccine (calf lymph) soon ran short. Mind you, at the height of the outbreak an anti-vaccination society was formed in Launceston. Members claimed it was an infringement on their personal liberty and injurious to health.

Vernon Cox, who had also attended the Empire Theatre, fell ill  with smallpox on June 3, but was affected only mildly and recovered. However, many of his relative and friends were not so fortunate. By the time quarantine measures had been put in place it was too late for a number of hospital staff and those living in and around the Cox residence in Margaret Street.

Note the barrier  around the front of the house;

The Cox residence in Margaret Street.

Of course the manager of the Empire Theatre objected to the inference that the infection had begun during Mr Marion’s engagement.

Miller’s fears of damage to the theatre’s business came true, because soon the entire city closed down. It had a devastating effect on the local economy. Years later cabbie George Webb would say that the 1903  epidemic was the closest he ever came to going out of business;

‘People had a deadly fear of any enclosed vehicle and would rather walk miles than travel in a cab. He said that during the period he went for almost a fortnight without a fare….His first fare during the epidemic was a well known miller in the city who rode a tricycle to his office. On this this day, a very wet and stormy one, his machine had suffered a mishap and he had to either take a cab or walk a considerable distance in the rain. The cab won, but the fare did not get the shelter he should have  as he leant as far out the door as possible, with his face covered with his handkerchief.‘ (Saturday Evening Express, June 11 1938)

A mobile furnace was constructed in order to destroy infected clothing, furniture etc., but isolating smallpox patients was delayed due to a lack of foresight. When the plague broke out in Sydney in 1900, several small quarantine  buildings  had  been erected on the outskirts of the city, but these had fallen into disrepair. It was early July before repairs and extensions were completed….by unvaccinated workmen! Until the hospital was ready patients were quarantined in their own homes, with round-the-clock guards outside.

Verulun, the Isolation Hospital. (Launceston Historical Society)

Those who died, including members of the Cox family, were buried at Verulun’s isolation cemetery.

Lonely graves, including members of the Cox family. (Launceston Historical Society)

One infected  family were so distressed  at the prospect of being moved to Verulun that they violently resisted. It led to  a siege situation at their home in Elizabeth Street.

When his engagement in Launceston ended James Marion left for New Zealand. By now news of the epidemic was  spreading  and the authorities in Wellington quickly took action.

James Marion was diagnosed with the disease soon afterwards.

Source – Moree Examiner, June 30 1903.

By September the epidemic in Launceston was almost over. There had been more than 60 confirmed cases, and 2o deaths.

THE SMALLPOX REPORT

A detailed inquiry into the outbreak was conducted by Dr John Elkington, who had been brought to Tasmania from Victoria  to manage the epidemic.  His report was completed in November and ran to 70 foolscap pages.

Dr Elkington’s report on the smallpox outbreak at Launceston was tabled in the House of Assembly tonight….He dealt with the origin of the epidemic, which he contended had been settled beyond doubt. Marion, a comedian, arrived from Calcutta via Melbourne  via the steamer Gracchus, and to that gentleman the outbreak originated.  No blame was attached to the medical men at Launceston for the delay in diagnosing the disease because of the absence of notable features.  (The North West Advocate, November 3 1903)

Dr Elkington  placed blame on the health authorities in Melbourne for not  immediately quarantining  the passengers who disembarked from the Gracchus.

Tasmania is probably indebted to the Melbourne officer of health for the presence of the disease here, as he failed to quarantine the passengers of the Gracchus on her arrival at Melbourne, although he knew that there had been smallpox on board. Considering the excessively stringent precautions that were taken in Melbourne against passengers from Tasmania while the disease existed, it is discouraging to think that reasonable precautions were not insisted upon when an infected ship arrived in a Victorian port.   (Australasian, Nov. 14 1903)

This seems rather unfair. I can find no evidence that the Melbourne health official was aware of cases aboard the Gracchus before it docked

NOTE – The last mention of James Marion in 1903 was on August 20;

Of course it was not Marion’s fault that he  carried the infection to  Launceston. He did recover, and performed in Australia and New Zealand for many years.

NOTE – Perhaps the strangest part of the epidemic was the theory that it had been caused by a box of bananas left by a shop near Margaret Street.  But that’s a story for another time.  😎

UPDATE, HERE IS EPISODE TWO OF THE EPIDEMIC SAGA.