In the fall of 1887, yellow fever became epidemic in Plant City and in other sections of Florida

From The Plague and Plant City, a post from a year and a half ago. Captain Francis W. Merrin, my 2nd great grandfather settled in Plant City, Florida after the Civil War, publishing the local newspaper. He was an energetic businessman as well as a member of the town council.

So many accounts today of the Covid-19 pandemic are apocalyptic in nature, describing an epidemic that is mild in comparison to many which we have experienced. We used to have much more lethal plagues much more frequently. Journalists today are committing a form of the fallacy of nunc pro tunc (now for then). It is a stripping of the present story of its context by obliterating the past. Trying to give a drama to the present that was far more common and much dramatic in the past.

In that earlier post, I quoted from Plant City, Its Origin and History by Quintilla Geer Bruton and David E. Bailey.

TRAGEDY STRIKES

Doctors did not know how to cope with the deadly disease.

In the fall of 1887, yellow fever became epidemic in Plant City and in other sections of Florida. Originating in Havana, it had spread to Key West. From there it was transmitted to Tampa, and from Tampa it was carried to Manatee and to Plant City.

First official mention of the sickness in Plant City was in the town minutes dated May 27, 1887. The council passed a resolution to designate Dr. R. M. Wells as the town physician, and a second resolution was passed to quarantine the town against Key West, or any other town or city affected with any contagious disease.

Volunteer guards, armed with shotguns and wearing yellow armbands, patrolled the roads and railroads leading to Plant City, to prevent more infected people from entering the town. Those who could prove they were not from infected areas were allowed to stay. Those who could not were turned back, by force if necessary. So prevalent was the disease in Tampa that some residents fled in terror to Seffner and to Plant City to stay, before a quarantine was imposed against Tampa. This spread the disease.

A special meeting was called for October 7 to consider raising money to quarantine against Tampa. When a day's soliciting raised only sixty-three dollars, the council ceased its effort. Nevertheless, the mayor issued a proclamation declaring such a quarantine. The marshal was ordered to stop any Plant Citians from visiting Tampa, and a fine of one dollar and court costs was set for a violation.

A quarantine station had been set up in town, but on October 31 the council voted seventy-five dollars for moving it to a point west of town, between Ranges 20 and 21, and the former quarantine line was withdrawn back to that line.

Doctors did not know how to cope with the deadly disease; neither did they know at that time that it was transmitted by the mosquito. Plant City had few doctors; however, during the epidemic others came to aid the disease-stricken town, among them Dr. Olin S. Wright, who came from Jacksonville where he had had some experience with the disease. Nearly five thousand cases and over four hundred deaths were reported in Jacksonville.

Dr. Wright spent the rest of his life in Plant City, becoming one of its most prominent and useful citizens, involving himself in business, government, and fraternal activities, in addition to his medical profession. He was reported to be the first Plant City doctor to become affiliated with the Hillsborough County Medical Association.

In January, 1888, the newly-constituted council was immediately faced with the continuing yellow fever problem. During a discussion at a council meeting it was decided to fumigate and to do a thorough cleaning of the entire town. Buildings specifically mentioned for treatment were W.F. Burts’ Tropical Hotel, and the homes of R.B. McLendon and William Collins where deaths had occurred. Mr. Burts promised to take all bedding from his hotel which had been been subject to the disease and move it to his place in the country. The citizens were also ordered to clean up and fumigate everything necessary.

On March 13 Town Clerk G. W. Wells was ordered to appear before the County Board of Health to ask for financial aid to rid Plant City of unsanitary conditions.

A meeting was called on April 7 to devise some plan to stamp out the fever. Since Dr. Wells, the town physician, was sick and not able to attend to duty, a motion was passed to have Dr. Douglas act as the town physician. He was empowered to do or have done anything that he might deem necessary for the good of the town.

Many Plant Citians were victims of the fever. Few families escaped, and some suffered more than one death. So fatal was the disease that when a person was stricken, a coffin would often be placed on the porch to avoid delay in burying the victim. This was considered essential to protect others. All homes with a fever patient were quarantined. Guests were quarantined in the Robinson House after several occupants became ill.

When the hotel proprietor, Joseph B. Robinson, and his wife, Arlette, contracted the disease they were taken to a small cottage on the Robinson farm at the edge of town. Two ingenious young friends of the couple, T. J. Smith and John Barns, cut small pine trees and stacked them on each side of the cottage, tent fashion, to help keep it cool. Both Mr. and Mrs. Robinson recovered.

Others were not so fortunate. Some who remembered those days said there were at least twenty-two deaths in town, among them Mrs. Frances Smith Allen and two of her four daughters, Nancy and Fannie; twenty-one-year-old Jesse A. Evers, only son of James T. Evers, who had died four years earlier; George W. Knight; Thomas C. Blount and his wife Mary; Alice, twenty-seven-year-old daughter of L.C. Cone; Nannie, twenty-six-year-old wife of William Collins; Abraham L. Smith; and Lucy, seventeen-year-old daughter of Dr. R. M. Wells. Dr. Wells survived the illness, but his business associate, Thomas B. McCall did not.

The bedding Mr. McCall died on was ordered burned, and the room in which he died well fumigated. Inmates of the McCall home were ordered to remain at home. This order had become routine when the epidemic persisted.

Writing in his diary about those tragic days, Oscar Strickland told of his wife's illness and his. "Had it not been for the Devine interposition of our heavenly Father we would have died,” he wrote.

The summer of 1888 saw a definite decline in the plague. At a council meeting on November 20, it was ordered to have Captain F. W. Merrin, now a member of the council, put in the South Florida Courier an item stating that if nothing occurred to the contrary, all refugees would be allowed to return to their homes on the first day of December, and the town would be opened up to the world, except infected places.

The general election in January, 1889, sent some new faces to Town Hall. W. F. Burts succeeded three-termer Edmondson as mayor, and W. D. Green became marshal; however, G. W. Wells was continued as clerk. Aldermen were 0. A. Strickland, Colonel J. L. Young, A. W. Green, H. H. Dickey, and former alderman, T. B. Smith, now back in office. Mr. Smith, one of the first aldermen elected in 1885, was elected chairman of the 1889 council.

This year saw a return to the normal function of the town without the threat of death by yellow fever. As a final note to the epidemic, a report written by Captain F. W. Merrin, bearing the signatures of all the aldermen, was ordered published in the Times Union (Jacksonville), the Savannah Morning News, and the South Florida Courier, stating that the town was free of the disease.

In 1890, the town only had 349 people. If they lost 22 people over the fifteen months of the plague, that amounted to 6.3% of the population. Equivalent to losing 21 million people today. Now that's a plague.

And fascinating to see the echoes:

Appointing a medical task force - "The council passed a resolution to designate Dr. R. M. Wells as the town physician."

People spreading the disease by flight - "So prevalent was the disease in Tampa that some residents fled in terror to Seffner and to Plant City."

Travel restrictions as a precaution - "A special meeting was called for October 7 to consider raising money to quarantine against Tampa."

Institutional Incapacity - "Doctors did not know how to cope with the deadly disease."

Heroic generosity of spirit - "Plant City had few doctors; however, during the epidemic others came to aid the disease-stricken town."

Efforts to do something without the knowledge that it would be effective - "During a discussion at a council meeting it was decided to fumigate and to do a thorough cleaning of the entire town."

Need for financing - "On March 13 Town Clerk G. W. Wells was ordered to appear before the County Board of Health to ask for financial aid to rid Plant City of unsanitary conditions."

Spread of the plague to the caregivers - "Since Dr. Wells, the town physician, was sick and not able to attend to duty, a motion was passed to have Dr. Douglas act as the town physician."

The importance of friendships - "Two ingenious young friends of the couple, T. J. Smith and John Barns, cut small pine trees and stacked them on each side of the cottage, tent fashion, to help keep it cool. Both Mr. and Mrs. Robinson recovered."

Lockdowns - "Inmates of the McCall home were ordered to remain at home. This order had become routine when the epidemic persisted."

Fifteen month peak and decline cycle - "The summer of 1888 saw a definite decline in the plague."

Reopening - "At a council meeting on November 20, it was ordered to have Captain F. W. Merrin, now a member of the council, put in the South Florida Courier an item stating that if nothing occurred to the contrary, all refugees would be allowed to return to their homes on the first day of December, and the town would be opened up to the world, except infected places."

Covid-19 is tragic and it is not nearly as bad as what we have dealt with before. We are armed today with knowledge and an abundance of resource that we never had before. This too shall pass.