8th – There are 7 cases of small-pox in Chilli. now.
Smallpox was something that came around every winter to the nearby towns, but Chillicothe had avoided it. A few weeks before in the Chillicothe Constitution Tribune, it was reported that the mayor hired extra help to keep the hobos and tramps from getting off the trains in Chillicothe because of the belief they they were the carriers of smallpox. At the same time, the State of Missouri appropriated $10,000 to fund the State Board of Health to help mitigate the smallpox scourge across the state. Nevertheless, on February 14, 1901 it was reported that there were six cases of smallpox in Chillicothe, all mild and not life-threatening. Teachers encouraged parents to get their kids vaccinated, an expert was brought in from Kansas City to look after the cases, and a temporary smallpox hospital was set up for the cases, but it did not go so far as to enforce quarantines. The paper reported that residents, farmers, and businessmen were upset that more stringent measures were not taken, but the crisis passed in a few weeks.
The earliest Constitution Tribune issues were inconsistently printed, but in 1901 they became reliably printed, and are available for searching and view at chillicothe.newspaperarchive.com. Create a free account and it contains all known issues printed between 1889 and 2009.
