1900–1904 San Francisco plague: Difference between revisions

The third pandemic of the plague started in 1855 in China and eventually killed about 15 million people, mainly in India. In 1894, the plague hit [[Hong Kong]], a major trade port between China and the US.<ref name=Echenberg6>Echenberg 2007, p. 6</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Haas |first=Victor H. |date=March 1959 |title=When Bubonic Plague Came to Chinatown |journal=The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=141–147 |doi=10.4269/ajtmh.1959.8.141 |pmid=13637311 }}</ref> US officials were rightly worried aboutthat infectionothers fromwould peopleget andinfections from cargo carried by ships crossingthat would cross the Pacific Ocean,. andFor allthese suchreasons, all ships were rigorously inspected. At thisthat time, however, it was not widely known that rats could carry plague germs, and that fleas on those rats could transmit the disease to humans.<ref name=Echenberg7>Echenberg 2007, p. 7</ref> Ships arriving in US ports were declared clean after inspection of the passengers showed no signsigns of disease. Health officials conducted no tests on rats or fleas.<ref name=Echenberg11>Echenberg 2007, p. 11</ref> (ADespite studyimportant ofadvances Hongin Kongthe rats1890s andin micethe asfight aagainst majorbubonic vectorplague, inmany plagueof wasthe firstworld's publisheddoctors indid 1894not byimmediately [[Alexandrechange Yersin]]their ineffective and outdated methods.<ref name=Echenberg6Echenberg11/> Simultaneously but independently, [[Kitasato Shibasaburō]] described the plague bacteria in Hong Kong.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Perry |first=J.C. |date=August 29, 1908 |title=Plague; Mode of Dissemination and Methods for Control |journal=Medical Record |publisher=William Wood and Company |editor=Thomas L. Stedman |volume=74 |issue=9 |page=345 |url=httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=VQlYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA345}}</ref> Many|access-date=December of26, the2015 world's|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512081909/https://books.google.com/books?id=VQlYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA345 doctors|archive-date=May did12, not2016 immediately change their|url-status=live ineffective and outdated methods even after these advancements were discussed at conferences.}}</ref><ref name=Echenberg11/>)

In the newly formed US [[Territory of Hawaii]], the city of [[Honolulu]] fell victim to the plague in December 1899. Residents of [[Chinatown, Honolulu]], were reporting cases of fever and swollen [[Lymph node|lymph glands]] forming [[bubo]]es, with severe internal organ damage – quickly leading to death. Not knowing precisely how to control the spread of the disease, city health officials of the city determineddecided to burn theinfected houses where victims had been found. Thousands of area residents were evacuated and quarantined for four months. Infected buildings were identified and destroyed by fire. On January 20, 1900, changing winds fanned the flames out of control, and nearly all of Chinatown burned—{{convert|38|acre}}—leaving 6,000 without homes.<ref>Chase 2003, p. 12</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Albert Pierce |title=Under Hawaiian Skies |url=httphttps://booksarchive.google.comorg/books?id=_2CmsAMr75wC&pg=PA387details/underhawaiiansk00taylgoog |year=1922 |publisher=Advertiser Publishing Company |location=Honolulu |page=[https://archive.org/details/underhawaiiansk00taylgoog/page/n501 387]}}</ref>

SanThe Francisco'sextensive harbormaritime wasoperations onlyof onethe shortport oceanof voyageSan awayFrancisco fromcaused Honolulu,concern andamong medical men such as [[Joseph J. Kinyoun]], the chief quarantine officer of the federal [[Marine Hospital Service]] (MHS) in San Francisco, were worried about the infection comingspreading to California. A Japanese ship, the S.S. ''Nippon Maru'', arriving in [[San Francisco Bay]] in June 1899 may have, had two plague deaths at sea, and perhapsthere were two more cases of stowaways carryingfound dead in the plaguebay, butwith nothingpostmortem conclusivecultures wasproving found.they Inhad Januarythe 1900,plague.<ref Kinyounname=Link1955>{{cite orderedjournal all|last=Link ships|first=Vernon comingB. to|year=1955 San|title=A FranciscoHistory fromof China,Plague Japan,in Australiathe andUnited HawaiiStates toof flyAmerica yellow|journal=Public flagsHealth toMonograph warn|volume=26 of|pages=1–11 possible|pmid=14371919 plague|url=http://public.health.oregon.gov/DiseasesConditions/CommunicableDisease/DiseaseSurveillanceData/Weekly-MonthlyStatistics/Documents/aug04b.pdf on|url-status=dead board|archive-url=https://web.<refarchive.org/web/20131221082603/http://public.health.oregon.gov/DiseasesConditions/CommunicableDisease/DiseaseSurveillanceData/Weekly-MonthlyStatistics/Documents/aug04b.pdf name|archive-date=Chase18>ChaseDecember 200321, p.2013 18}}</ref> CityIn promotersNew wereYork confidentin thatNovember plague could not take hold1899, andthe theyBritish wereship unhappy''J.W. withTaylor'' whatbrought theythree sawcases asof Kinyoun'splague high-handedfrom abuseBrazil, ofbut authority.the Oncases Februarywere 4,confined 1900,to the Sundayship.<ref magazinename=Link1955/> supplementThe ofJapanese thefreighter S.S. ''Nanyo Maru'' arrived in [[SanPort FranciscoTownsend, ExaminerWashington]]'', carriedon anJanuary article30, titled1900, "Whywith San3 Franciscodeaths Isout Plague-Proof".<ref>Chaseof 2003,17 p.cases 223</ref>of Certainconfirmed Americanplague. expertsAll heldof thethese mistakenships beliefwere thatquarantined; athey rice-basedare dietnot leftknown Asiansto withhave ainfected lowerthe resistancegeneral topopulation. plagueHowever, andit is possible that aplague dietescaped some unknown ship by way of meatfleas keptor [[Whiterats, people]]later freeto frominfect thisUS diseaseresidents.<ref>Kraut 1995, [http://books.google.com/books?idname=EIqwDj9umzYC&pg=PA85 p. 85]<Link1955/ref>

Allied with powerful railroad and city business interests, California governor [[Henry Gage]] publicly denied thatthe existence of any pestilencepestilent outbreak in theSan cityFrancisco, fearing that any word of the [[bubonic plague|bubonic plague's]]'s presence would deeply damage the city's and state's economy.<ref name="Gage denies plague epidemic">Chase 2003, pp. 70, 72, 79–81, 85, 115, 119–122</ref> Supportive newspapers, such as the ''[[San Francisco Call|Call]]'', the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle|Chronicle]]'' and the ''[[San Francisco Bulletin|Bulletin]]'', echoed Gage's denials, beginning what was to become an intense defamation campaign against quarantine officer Kinyoun.<ref>{{cite Injournal response|last=Power to|first=J. theGerard state's|date=April refuting1995 of|title=Media theDependency, plague'sBubonic existencePlague, [[Surgeonand the Social GeneralConstruction of the UnitedChinese Other States|U.Sjournal=Journal of Communication Inquiry |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=89–110 |doi=10.1177/019685999501900106 Surgeon|s2cid=145556040 General]]}}</ref> [[WalterIn response to the state's denial, Wyman]] recommended to federal [[U.S. Secretary of the Treasury|Treasury Secretary]] [[Lyman J. Gage]] tothat he intervene. Secretary Gage agreed, creating a three-man commission of investigators who were respected medical commissionscholars, toexperienced medicallywith investigateidentifying and treating the cityplague in China or India. The commission examined six San Francisco cases and conclusively discovereddetermined that bubonic plague was present.<ref name=Clark1961/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Tutorow |first=Norman E. |date=Summer 1996 |title=A Tale of Two Hospitals: U.S. Marine Hospital No. 19 and the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital on the Presidio of San Francisco |journal=California History |volume=75 |issue=2 |pages=154–169 |jstor=25177577|doi=10.2307/25177577 }}</ref>

LikeAs with the findings of Kinyoun, the Treasury commission's findings were again immediately denounced by Governor Gage.<ref name="Gage denies plague epidemic"/> Gage believed the federal government's growing presence in the matter was a gross intrusion of what he recognizedviewed as a state concern. In his retaliation, Gage denied the federal commission any use of the [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California's]] laboratories in [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]] to further study the outbreak, by threatening the university's state funding.<ref name="Gage denies plague epidemic"/> The ''Bulletin'' also attacked the federal commission, branding it as a "youthful and inexperienced trio."<ref name=Echenberg231/>

[[File:Kinyoun injected in the head 1900.jpg|thumb|upright|left|A [[political cartoon]] published in a Chinese-language daily paper in June 1900; epidemiologist [[Joseph J. Kinyoun]] being injected in the head with [[Waldemar Haffkine]]'s experimental plague vaccine. Two other doctors appear to be developing [[bubo]]es on their heads from the over-sizedoversized inoculations. Federal judge [[William W. Morrow]] looks on.]]

The clash between Gage and federal authorities intensified. Wyman instructed Kinyoun to place Chinatown under a second quarantine, as well as blocking all [[East Asians]] from entering state borders. Wyman also instructed Kinyoun to inoculate all persons of Asian heritage in Chinatown, using an experimental [[vaccine]] developed by [[Waldemar Haffkine]], one known to have severe side effects. Spokesmen in Chinatown protested strenuously; they did not give their permission for this kind of mass experimentation.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Trauner |first=Joan B. |date=Spring 1978 |title=The Chinese as Medical Scapegoats in San Francisco, 1870–1905 |journal=California History |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=70–87 |jstor=25157817|doi=10.2307/25157817 }}</ref> The [[Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association]], also known as the Six Companies, filed suit on behalf of Wong Wai, a merchant who took a stance against what he perceived as a violation of his personal liberty. Not quite a [[class action suit]], the arguments included similar wording such as complaints that all residents of Chinatown were being denied [[Equal Protection Clause|"equal protection under the law"]], part of the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] to the US constitution. Federal judge [[William W. Morrow]] ruled uncharacteristically in favor of the Chinese, largely because the defense by the State of California was unable to prove that Chinese Americans were more susceptible to plague than Anglo Americans. The decision set a precedent for greater limits placed on public health authorities seeking to isolate diseased populations.<ref>Kraut 1995, [httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=EIqwDj9umzYC&pg=PA89 pp. 89–92] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160519122058/https://books.google.com/books?id=EIqwDj9umzYC&pg=PA89 |date=May 19, 2016 }}</ref><ref name=McClain2006>{{cite journal |last=McClain |first=Charles |date=November 17, 2006 |title=Of Medicine, Race, and American Law: The Bubonic Plague Outbreak of 1900 |journal=Law & Social Inquiry |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=447–513 |issn=0897-6546 |doi=10.1111/j.1747-4469.1988.tb01126.x |s2cid=12415113 |url=https://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/facpubs/136 }}</ref>

Between 1901 and 1902, the plague outbreak continued to worsen. In ana 1901 address to both houses of the [[California State Legislature]], Gage accused federal authorities, particularly Kinyoun, of injecting plague bacteria into [[cadavers]], falsifying evidence.<ref name=Skubik2002>{{cite web |url=http://www.skubik.com/thesis%20summary.pdf |title=Public Health Politics and the San Francisco Plague Epidemic of 1900-19041900–1904 |publisher=Mark Skubik, San Jose State University |year=2002 |accessdateaccess-date=August 19, 2007 |archive-08url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000446/http://www.skubik.com/thesis%20summary.pdf |archive-19date=March 4, 2016 |formaturl-status=PDFlive }}</ref> In response to what he said to be massive scaremongering by the MHS, Gage pushed a censorship bill to gag any media reports of plague infection. The bill failed in the [[California State Legislature]], yet laws to gag reports amongst the medical community succeeded in passage and were signed into law by the governor. In addition, $100,000 was allocated to a public campaign led by Gage to deny the plague's existence.<ref name="Gage denies plague epidemic"/> Privately, however, Gage sent a special commission to [[Washington, D.C.]], consisting of [[Southern Pacific Railroad|Southern Pacific]], newspaper and shipping lawyers to negotiate a settlement with the MHS, whereby the federal government would remove Kinyoun from San Francisco with the promise that the state would secretly cooperate with the MHS in stamping out the plague epidemic.<ref name=Skubik2002/> [[Rupert Blue]] was appointed in Kinyoun's place.<ref>{{cite AV media|format=Video|website=www.pbs.org|url-access=limited|access-date=2023-09-25|title=Plague at the Golden Gate|url=https://www.pbs.org/video/plague-at-the-golden-gate-dhdrto/}}</ref>

Despite the secret agreement allowing for Kinyoun's removal, Gage went back on his promise of assisting federal authorities and continued to obstruct their efforts for study and quarantine. A report issued by the State Board of Health on September 16, 1901, bolstered Gage's claims, denying the plague's outbreak.<ref name="Gage denies plague epidemic"/><ref>{{Citation |last=California State Board of Health |title=Report of the Special Health Commissioners Appointed by the Governor to Confer with the Federal Authorities at Washington Respecting the Alleged Existence of Bubonic Plague in California |place=Sacramento |publisher=SuperintendentCalifornia State PrintingBoard of Health |origyearyear=1901 |edition=1 |url=httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=TCILAAAAIAAJ |accessdateaccess-date=17December October26, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504052453/https://books.google.com/books?id=TCILAAAAIAAJ |archive-date=May 4, 2016 |url-status=live 2010}}</ref>

Countering the continued denials made by San Francisco-based newspapers, reports from the ''[[Sacramento Bee]]'' and the [[Associated Press]] describing the plague's spread, hadpublicly madeannounced the outbreak become publicly known throughout the USUnited States. The state governments of [[Colorado]], [[Texas]] and [[Louisiana]] passedimposed quarantines of California, – arguing that since the state had refused to admit to a health crisis within its borders, states receiving rail or shipping cargo from California ports of call had the duty to protect themselves.<ref name=Skubik2002/> Threats of a national quarantine grew.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3296|title=Migration and Disease|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207140513/http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3296|archive-date=December 7, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

As the 1902 general elections approached, members of the [[Southern Pacific supportersTransportation Company|Southern Pacific]] board and the "Railroad Republican" faction<ref>For the "Railroad Republicans", see W. H. Hutchinson, "Prologue to Reform: the California Anti-Railroad Republicans, 1899–1905", ''Southern California Quarterly'' 1962 '''44'''(3): 175–218.</ref> increasingly saw Gage as an embarrassment to state [[United States Republican Party|Republicans]]. Gage's public denials of the plague outbreak were due to protectingprotect the state's economy and the business interests of his political allies.<ref name="Gage denies plague epidemic"/><ref name=Skubik2002/> However, reports from federal agencies and certain newspapers continued to showprove Gage incorrect. Other states were moving to quarantine or [[boycott]] California, and the powerful shipping and rail companies sought a new leader. At the state Republican convention that year, the Railroad Republican faction refused Gage's renomination for the governorship. In his place, former [[Mayor of Oakland]] [[George Pardee]], a German-trained medical physician, received the nomination. Pardee's nomination was largely a compromise between the Railroad Republican factions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://governors.library.ca.gov/21-pardee.html|title=George Pardee 1903–1907|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207141404/http://governors.library.ca.gov/21-pardee.html|archive-date=December 7, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

In his final speech, to the California State Legislature, in early January 1903, Gage continued to publicly deny the outbreak,. blamingHe blamed the federal government, in particular, Kinyoun, the MHS, and the San Francisco Board of Health, for damaging the state's economy.<ref name="Gage denies plague epidemic"/><ref name=Skubik2002/>

* [[List of epidemics]]

;===Notes===

;===Bibliography===

* {{cite book |last=Campbell |first=Ballard C. |title=Disasters, Accidents, and Crises in American History |chapter=1900: Outbreak of Bubonic Plague |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2008 |isbn=1438130120978-1438130125 |chapter-url=httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=VitlO1mWxzAC&pg=PA1899-IA1 |pages=182–184}}

* {{cite book |last=Chase |first=Marilyn |title=The Barbary Plague: The Black Death in Victorian San Francisco |publisher=Random House Digital |year=2004 |isbn=978-0375757082 |url= https://archive.org/details/barbaryplaguebla00chas|url-access=registration }}

* {{cite book |last=Echenberg |first=Myron |title=Plague Ports: The Global Urban Impact of Bubonic Plague: 1894-19011894–1901 |location=Sacramento |publisher=New York University Press |year=2007 |isbn=0814722326978-0814722329 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=X4kUCgAAQBAJ}}

* {{cite book |last=Kraut |first=Alan M. |title=Silent travelers: germs, genes, and the "immigrant menace" |url=httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=EIqwDj9umzYC |year=1995 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0801850967}}

* {{cite book |last=Markel |first=Howard |title=When Germs Travel: Six Major Epidemics That Have Invaded America And the Fears They Have Unleashed |publisher=Random House Digital |year=2005 |isbn=0375726020978-0375726026 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9aoTfHAEQvoC}}

* {{cite journal |last=Kalisch |first=Philip A. |title=The Black Death in Chinatown: Plague and Politics in San Francisco 1900-19041900–1904 |workjournal=Arizona and the West |volume=14 |number=2 |monthdate=Summer |year=1972 |pages=113–136 |publisherjstor=Journal of the Southwest 40168068|urlpmid=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4016806811614219 }}

* {{cite book |last=RisseRandall |first=GuenterDavid BK. |title=Plague,Black Fear,Death andat Politicsthe inGolden SanGate: Francisco'sThe ChinatownRace |chapter=Bubonicto PlagueSave VisitsAmerica Sanfrom Francisco'sthe ChinatownBubonic Plague |publisher=JHUW.W. PressNorton & Company |year=20122019 |isbn=1421405105978-0393609455 |url=httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=9aoTfHAEQvoC&pg=PA48dgR1DwAAQBAJ}}

* {{cite book |last=ShahRisse |first=NayanGuenter B. |author-link=Guenter B. Risse|title=Plague, Fear, and Politics in San Francisco's 'Chinatown': Race|chapter=Bubonic andPlague theVisits culturalSan politicsFrancisco's of public health, 1854–1952Chinatown |publisher=UniversityJHU of ChicagoPress |year=19952012 |isbn=978-1421405100 |chapter-url=httphttps://books.google.com/books/about/San_Francisco_s_Chinatown.html?id=7YASAQAAIAAJ9aoTfHAEQvoC}}

* {{cite book |last=Shah |first=Nayan |title=ContagiousSan dividesFrancisco's 'Chinatown': EpidemicsRace and racethe incultural Sanpolitics Francisco'sof Chinatownpublic health, 1854–1952 |publisher=University of California PressChicago |year=20011995 |isbnurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=05202262917YASAQAAIAAJ}}

* [http://www.sfmuseum.org/loc/chtownvisit.html 1902 Scene in Chinatown], Early Motion Pictures, Library of Congress

[[Category:20th1900s centuryhealth in the United Statesdisasters]]

[[Category:Epidemics20th-century epidemics]]

[[Category:History1900s ofin San Francisco, California]]

[[Category:Health disastersHealthcare in the UnitedSan Francisco Bay StatesArea]]