OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR
PERIOD
THE FIRST YEAR OF THE SECOND EPIDEMIC OF
ASIATIC CHOLERA IN COLUMBUS, OHIO--1849
By JONATHAN FORMAN
Cholera, because of its sudden
appearance, its high mortality
and the frightfulness of its dead, has
always been a dramatic
character in the history of the human
race.
Some years ago the writer told the story
of the first cholera
epidemic in Columbus, that of 1833.1
This was the great epidemic
surpassing any pestilence that ever
afflicted this city. At that
time, the epidemic was traced from
Bengal (1817) on the Ganges
over Asia through Russia, across Europe
to Ireland, thence to
Quebec in 1832; from lower Canada
to upper Canada; from Buf-
falo with the soldiers of the Black Hawk
War to Ft. Dearborn
via Detroit and so down the Mississippi;
from New York down
the coast and around to New Orleans; in
fact, all over the United
States and Canada except Central Ohio.
The next summer, how-
ever, it entered Columbus where it
struck with unusual violence
and "continued considerably longer
than it ... [had] usually done
in towns similarly situated and
comparing with it in population."
In the issue of October 12, 1833, the Ohio
State Journal2 an-
nounced correctly that "Columbus
may now be considered en-
tirely free from disease, and as healthy
as in the most favorable
seasons." During the next few years
no cases of cholera occurred
in Columbus. Though the town had
received a serious set-back.
the epidemic, however, was soon
forgotten.
The completion of the National Highway
and the great suc-
cess of the Ohio Canal gave great
impetus to the growth of the
1 Jonathan Forman, "The First
Cholera Epidemic in Columbus, Ohio (1833)."
The Annals of Medical History (1934),
n. s. VI, No. 5, pp. 410-26.
2 The files of the Ohio State Journal
make up the real source material used in the
preparation of this paper.
303
304
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
city. These improvements were shortly
followed by the appear-
ance of the railroads. By I849, an epoch
of general prosperity
had developed, not previously equalled
or since surpassed. More
buildings were demanded than there were
workingmen to build
them. Houses sprang up in all parts of
the city and were rented
or sold as fast as they could be built.
Among the larger structures erected were
the Starling Medi-
cal College and the Gwynne Block on Town
Street. In 1846, an
act of the legislature had authorized
resumption of work on the
State House and, by the summer of 1849,
the edifice was some
eight or ten feet high and some of the
lower arches had been set.
In 1840, the population of Columbus numbered
6,048, but
with the revival of business the growth
was rapid and in 1848
an enumeration of the population was
made and recorded as
12,804.
Of these, 1,007 were colored people. In 1850, the
national
census revealed a city of 17,811 with 19 churches.3
The appearance of cholera again in New
York City com-
pelled the Columbus City Council in
February, 1848, to re-
establish its Board of Health. This board was composed of
Doctors Robert Thompson, John B.
Thompson, R. L. Howard,
Samuel M. Smith and S. Z. Seltzer, Isaac
Cool, John L. Gill,
Alexander E. Glenn. James Cherry and
Uriah Stotts. The council
in its ordinance of creation gave the
Board these powers:
to take the most prompt and efficient
measurce
to prevent the introduction
of contagious, malignant, dangerous and
infectious diseases into the city and
for the immediate and safe removal of
any person or persons who may be
found therein infected with any such
disease.
Just as during the previous epidemic of
cholera in 1833, the
Board set out at once to clean up the
city. It appealed to the
citizens by saying, "There is
scarcely a street, lane or alley in
the city but needs more or less
cleaning. Many lots and grounds
attached to dwellings are in a filthy
condition, and calculated at all
times to excite disease."
It was the same story as 16 years
earlier. In January, 1840.
200 persons had died of cholera in New
Orleans and already there
had been 11 deaths in Cincinnati, but
the people of Columbus
3 Franklin County, Historical
Record of Its Development, Resources, Industries.
Institutions and Inhabitants
(Columbus, Ohio, 1901).
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 305
were apathetic to their danger. The
offal of the slaughter houses
and other kinds of filth were dumped on
the ground and allowed
to putrify until the nearby inhabitants
were "greatly incommoded"
--a nice phrase used by one of the local
newspapers of the day.
The Ohio State Journal affirmed
that the alley between State and
Town streets "has piles of manure
etc., in every part of it".
People in the south end of the city have
apparently always had
the problem of enduring the system
of sewage disposal. A
contributor to the State Journal of
June 27, 1849, aroused, no
doubt by the arrival a few days before
that date of the dreaded
cholera, wrote:
Several thousands of dollars have lately
been appropriated to build a
fine sewer down Broad Street (From
Washington) to carry the filth from
the Lunatic Asylum and deposit in the
river with that which comes from
the Neil House, the American Hotel and
several other places around the
city.
This nauseous matter is lodged at the
foot of town by the Feeder
dam, and we who live in that part of
Columbus are almost driven from
our homes by the offensive miasma which
rises from the stagnant matter.
Almost every case of cholera that has
occurred in town has originated in
this neighborhood.
As was customary with newspapermen in
those days, a bitter
feud went on between the editor of the Statesman
and that of the
Ohio State Journal. The editor of the Statesman had come out
boldly for a radical cleaning up of all
the streets and alleys.
Whereupon the editor of The Ohio
State Journal made a careful
survey of the city and in the reports
made to his readers on June
28 stated that the Jewett property where
the epidemic began and
to which most people pointed the finger
of suspicion was clean
and in good order and had been occupied
by clean and decent
citizens. He, apparently, however, was
quite surprised to find
that the filthiest place in town was in
the alley as it passed The
Statesman's office.
The editor of The Ohio State Journal,
early in the epidemic,
warned the people against the excessive
use of chloride and lime,
which had been highly advertised as the
proper chemical to use
during the first epidemic. In an
editorial on June 30, he wrote:
"Next to the actual presence of the
epidemic of cholera itself, the
306
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
most dangerous influence to which
persons are likely to be ex-
posed, rises from the intemperate use of
those agents which are
commonly supposed to be antidotes. The
use of quicklime in
dwellings and confined situations is to
be condemned."
As was true in the first epidemic, the
papers of the time
soon began to carry advertisements for
remedies, and nostrums of
all kinds. Early in January when there
was news of the ravages
of cholera in New Orleans and up the
Mississippi, John Bull's
Fluid Extract of Sarsaparilla was given
a prominent display
under the bold headlines "Cholera!
Cholera! Purify the System !"
Later came Dr. Charles D. Foote's "Cholera
Specific". One of
the advertisements that seized the
opportunity was by the H. Coles
and Company, of 131 High Street, who
offered a house of good
size in the town of Worthington under
the bold heading of "Pre-
vention of Cholera." They pointed out in their advertisement that
not one case of cholera occurred in
Worthington, when it visited
Columbus in 1833. They ventured the
assertion that anyone liv-
ing in Worthington during the coming
summer would be safe.
The citizens of Columbus were quite
credulous. They bought
amulets, nostrums, patronized the steam
doctors and the botanics,
even more freely than they patronized
the regular medical pro-
fession. They didn't, however, fall for
this one--The advertise-
ment was carried from January 13 until
late in July in each issue
of the Ohio State Journal.
As in the last epidemic, J. H. Riley and
Company and other
local book dealers continued to
advertise Professor C. B. Cov-
entry's new work on cholera as well as
all of the other current
volumes on the subject.
The newspapers of the day continued to
carry warnings
against "fresh fruit and green
vegetables which still abound in
the markets and find ready
purchase." As a proof of the wisdom
of these warnings, the incidents cited
one where proper ladies
of the city passing by a hovel at the
corner of Third and Town
Streets severely chided some seven or
eight little Negroes who
were indulging themselves in the
questionable pastime of eating
green apples. Within a few days, five of
these ignorant children
were dead of the cholera. Although the
town of Circleville itself
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 307
remained practically free of the
disease, the nearby Renick farms
had some 74 hired men, of whom nearly
half died. During his
own convalescence, the owner made a
careful study of the situa-
tion, with the aid of his farm manager,
the doctor from Lock-
bourne who was in attendance and others
of his friends. A
report of their investigations was
published in the newspapers,
and in this they stated that the
contagion came from the potatoes
which the men had eaten.
The papers made much of the fine cool
weather and the
health of Columbus citizens, all
intended, no doubt, to allay fear.
Though the local weather annals of 1849
are meager, the record
shows that until the beginning of
January, the weather had been
mild. A heavy snowfall accompanied by
freezing took place on
April 17 and the month of May was gentle
and showery. The
first three weeks in June were cool,
requiring a little blaze to
warm the houses.
On May 27, Allen W. Turner, who arrived by stagecoach
a couple of days before, from
Cincinnati, died of cholera con-
tracted in that city. This was the first
case of this epidemic for
Columbus. But Asiatic cholera really
began on the twenty-first
of June, 1849, about the time when it
had started its ravages in
1833. Its first victims were four
members of the family of
George B. Smith who lived in the Jewett
Block.
Many citizens soon fled from the city.
Panic reigned. The
newspapers and civic leaders did all
they could to shame or
coax the citizens to stay and face the
danger. Apparently the
Board of Health appointed the year
before, had not continued in
the diligent paths in which it began its
work. Whether this was
due to professional jealousies, the
writer has not been able to
ascertain. At any rate, an editorial
appears in the Ohio State
Journal for July 25 which says, "The Board of Health, as a
body,
is now defunct. Tis well. Let a new one
be organized and
differently constructed. It were better
there were no physician
on the Board. Unless there shall be more
occasion, than at pres-
ent exists, the whole Board may well be
dispensed with." Never-
theless, two days later, a new Health
Board was established, its
members being George B. Harvey, Isaac
Dalton. W. W. Pollard.
308 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL
N. W. Smith and James Cherry. The Board
made daily reports
until September 6 and were diligent in
their attempts to control
the disease.
As it did in 1833, the second visitation of this scourge
promptly invaded the Ohio Penitentiary,
only it was more severe
this time. On the morning of June 30, 1849, the first case was
reported among the prisoners. Dr. H.
Lathrop, the regular prison
physician being out of the city, Dr.
William Trevitt was called
in. Dr. Lathrop returned that afternoon,
but asked Dr. Trevitt
to stay and help him. In the first nine
days that cholera raged
in the prison, 396 inmates were
prescribed for by these two
physicians and there had been 21 deaths.
On the twelfth of July, 12 more victims
died and the Di-
rectors, in their alarm, sent out for
more physicians. The most
prominent and skillful responded. Drs. B. F. Gard, Robert
Thompson, J. B. Thompson, J. Morrison
and Norman Gay (whom
our older citizens still remember)--A
number of medical students
and citizen volunteers were engaged to
act as nurses. All work
of the prisoners was stopped on the
State House and in the work-
shops. The hospitals were depressingly
overcrowded with the
sick, the dying and ghastly bodies of
the dead. Panic reigned.
The idle workshops were promptly
converted into hospital wards.
To add to the difficulty of the
situation, many of the guards also
became panic-stricken and deserted. The
situation has been most
dramatically portrayed in the 1901
history of Columbus.
From the pressure of necessity, the
erstwhile strict discipline of the
prison was relaxed, the prisoners being
allowed almost unrestrained inter-
course. Thus, every opportunity was
afforded them to reveal their true
characters. Some exhibited manly heroism
or stoical indifference, while
others displayed the most timid, nervous
and striking agitation. The im-
pulse to flee was checked by frowning prison
walls, while sore distress and
death reigned on every hand. To pass
through the prison yard at this time
was a severe trial, both of heart and
nerve, and it was impossible, without
emotions deep and soul-stirring, to meet
the eager, over-wrought throng that
crowded about one at every step and hear
their pitiful pleadings--"In God's
name, sir, can we not have our
pardons?" "Will not the Governor come
and have mercy upon us?" "Must we be kept here to die? "I
plead for
my liberty and my life."
The scene can be better imagined than
described. It was gruesome
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY---- PRE-CIVIL WAR
enough, from any standpoint. Many of the prisoners entreated earnestly,
importunately, not to be locked up in
their cells, promising the best behavior
in return for such indulgence. The Warden, persuaded that a relaxation of
discipline would be beneficial,
determined to try the experiment of leaving
the prisoners out of their cells. Many
feared that unpleasant consequences
would result from this course and predicted insubordination,
mutiny and
revolt.
But these fears were not realized.
The prisoners seemed to be
deeply grateful for the forbearance
shown them and the interest taken in
their welfare. They rendered very
efficient aid when help was so much
needed, and, in many cases, were bold
and unflinching in administering to
the relief of the sick.
For 16 days and nights, no key was
turned upon a prisoner. Yet,
during all that time, perfect order and
due subordination prevailed, Over
these days and nights were a veritable
reign of terror. Many of the con-
victs were pardoned by the Governor, but
it was soon found that the pris-
oners were safer within the walls than
on the exterior. Their presence
outside created a panic, people shunning
a pardoned convict as a walking
pestilence and, if attacked by the
cholera, lie was almost certain to perish
for want of care.4
The epidemic climaxed with a burst of 22
deaths. At the
end of this day, the two physicians went
home never to return,
for both were stricken with the disease
which they had fought so
valiantly. Dr. Gard5 succumbed to the severe ailment within 24
hours, while Dr. Lathrop fought on for 4
days and nights. The
memory of these two physicians, their
bravery, professional zeal.
and devotion to duty should command
respect. Deaths in the
prison gradually subsided until on July
30 the last one occurred.
So the epidemic within the prison walls
lasted just one month
to the day.6
4 Ohio State Journal, July 13, 1849,
stated: "MELANCHOLY DEATH--We
learn from a gentleman in this city,
that a convict, whose pardon was obtained on
Wednesday, died of cholera last night, in
the woods, two miles from beyond New
Albany, a village in the northeastern
part of this county. He had passed a part of the
first night on the porch
of a tavern in the village. Some good assurance should
certainly be given by parties who procure these
pardons, that they will not abandon
the pardoned convict to so
dreadful a fate. We shall undoubtedly hear of more
instances of this kind."
5 Dr. B. F. Card was
seized with the cholera at I I P. AM. and died the next
day at 1:30. He was a
native of Washington County, had practiced previously about
12 miles from Columbus in Pickaway County, where he had served in the Ohio
legislature. He was one of
the Directors of the Ohio Penitentiary.
6 The Louisville Journal is
quoted in the Ohio State Journal of June 20 as follows:
"The PICAYUNE says, medical students in New Orleans were the
first to take alarm
on the appearance of cholera, in that city and that 'They fled,
many of them, like
wild deer, startled by the woodmen's
bugle.' We are happy to state that such cannot
be said of the medical students in this
city." Unfortunately the students at the Star-
ling Medical College had no opportunity to exhibit their
bravery along with that
of their teachers, because their term had ended long before the
epidemic began and
was over well before
they returned. A few who were resident in the city did
volunteer
to serve as nurses in the
Penitentiary.
310 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
There are many
amusing accounts mixed by the tragedy and
pain throughout the
summer--Welch and Delevan's Circus arrived
in town on July 30
but gave up the idea of setting up for the
advertised exhibit
and went into quarters in Columbus because
of the country-wide
spread of the cholera.
The telegraph was
young in those days. The first wire into
Columbus was from
Pittsburgh and its first message came in on
the evening of August
11, 1847. By 1849,
there were 2 lines
to Cincinnati and one
to Chillicothe. The first
notable false dis-
patch, which added a
good deal to the anxiety of our cholera-rid-
den city was one
which announced the death of President Taylor
of cholera.
Also belonging to the
variety of curiosa was the appearance
of a great number of
quacks with many means of cure and pre-
vention. The best of
these claimed to be a Moroccan who ped-
dled highly aromatic
amulets made of "a berry that grows upon
a tree on Mount
Lebanon, and a botanical garden near Jerusalem."
He was able to sell a
good many of these trinkets at from one to
four dollars each.
Under the striking
title of "PANIC--STAMPEDE--ROLL
ING TEN
PINS--CHOLERA" the Ohio State Journal of June
26 ran a most
amusing story about the epidemic. It seemed to
be a matter of
editorial policy on the part of both papers to claim
that the health of
the community, aside from the cholera, was
good and to gather as
many funny stories about cholera and its
victims as they
could. Apparently this was an attempt to make
light of the dreaded
disease. The story of Mr. Brown s prob-
ably the best of the
series.
Mr. Brown, on Public
Lane, by profession a mason, who was (by
mistake) reported in the city papers of yesterday, as nearly
dead with
cholera, is still
alive, to the joy of his friends and the happiness of his
family. Mr. Brown is,
on ordinary occasions, a sober, temperate, laborious
citizen, but he has
his weaknesses--so has everybody, even if his name
ain't Brown. Mr.
Brown had a felon on his finger. And he couldn't sleep
o'nights or work
o'days. Mr. Brown took to rolling tenpins and, as he
was a little afraid
of the cholera, took the antidote occasionally, say a dram
between each two
games. Mr. Brown became, strangely affected thereby.
He was afraid that he
was suffering under the premonitories, he doubled
the dose, found the
weakness in his legs and the disturbance of his stomach
OHIO MEDICAL
HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 311
on the increase, went
home, embraced his wife, sent a boy posthaste for all
the doctors in town, casted
up his accounts and went into a collapse, . . .
under the advice of a
German physician who dropped in opportunely with
his acet. and plumb.
and capsicumi, Red Hot for the occasion.
On the promulgation of
the intelligence, of the attack, a general
stampede commenced in the neighborhood. Pots, kettles, beds, and
bedding.
chairs, and children,
bedsteads and babies, were hurriedly bundled into all
the extemporary
vehicles of the vicinage and a general flight commenced.
So frightened was one
poor fellow, the father of the boy, who went
to rally the medical faculty,
that he refused to check his retreat to take up
his son in the street,
but heroically abandoned him to the underwriters.
He dashed ahead to save
the rest of the family from the contagion,
which he believed to be
at his heels in hot pursuit. On the
arrival
of the medical
gentleman, he found the patient daubed from
head to
foot with capsicum and
sinapisms, while his stomach was still supposed to
contain a pretty
general assortment of drugs and medicines, portions of
which in a state of
compound unknown to the dispensatory were occasionally
conveyed to the light,
mingled with a pretty strong suspicion of the fumes
of cognac and Maglory.
Mr. Brown recovered as was to be expected. The
cause of his disease,
is supposed to be a pretty free indulgence in ten pins
upon an empty stomach.
The unfortunate operation of the medicine--similis
simlilibus instead of contraria contrariis, as was his
intention in taking it.
The disease in the city
continued on through the summer,
pretty much confined
during the last four weeks to the German
immigrant population of
the south end. It was about the middle
of September when the
disease abated in the city, although there
were no deaths in the
Ohio Penitentiary after July 30.
The
Board reported 162
deaths in the city from
cholera. This, of
course, did not include
the 116 deaths in the Penitentiary, which
made the total deaths
in Columbus, during the second visitation.
number 272. Among the victims were Drs. Gard, Lathrop
and
Isaac F. Taylor.7
In the development of
culture, we are the resultant of our
resources divided by
the number of our population. Ohio, at
one time, according to
Dr. Paul Sears, was more overcrowded
by its 12,000 Indians than it is now by its 7,000,000
inhabitants.
In the evolution of
this culture we have passed through a
series of steps
beginning with the primitive pioneer existence
only slightly above
that of the native Indian. The transition to an
7 Alfred E. Lee. History of the City of Columbus, the
Capital of Ohio (New York).
1892), 2 vols.
312
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
industrial civilization, with its
attendant curse, the city, brought
overcrowding and congestion. We first acquired a backyard
privy which had few advantages over no
privy at all. These
privies were undoubtedly the means of
spreading epidemics such
as cholera. Progress and fewer epidemics
came with the indoor
toilet, or at least with one attached to
the city sewers, with its
plumbing. Though the sewerage system has
resulted in depriv-
ing our soil of vital minerals and
someday soon we must learn
to recover and return to the soil all
these vital minerals that
sanitation has taught us to dispose of
in sewerage, yet with the
installation of sewerage, cholera
retreated to the tropics, where
it still remains endemic.
Thus ended Columbus' second experience
with the dreaded
Asiatic cholera, but the demon's
appetite was not yet satiated,
for the disease returned the next year.
That year, it began with
the death of Mrs. Robert Russell in the
United States Hotel on
the northwest corner of Town and High
streets and raged until
about the middle of September with the
same virulence and fatality
as in the preceding year. The population
of the city was then
17,882. As usual about one-fourth fled
from the city. There
were 225 deaths among those who stayed and faced it. There was
no cholera in 1851; a few cases
appeared in 1852 and in 1854: but
this was the last sizable visitation.