Recollections of Lena A. Warner, December 7, 1904 |
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Received
Dec. 10th 1904.
Written by Mrs Lena A. Warner
Kelly quotes much of this
in his book p 227
From date of the lecture I heard on Yellow Fever, de-
livered by Drs. R. B. Maury and R. W. Mitchell, I was possessed of
a great desire to come a second time in contact with this disease,
as my first knowledge of sorrow came to me through this terrible
scourge in 1876, in the town of Grenada, Miss. a place of 3000 in-
habitants. History records this epidemic as the most terrible death
rate known. In my own family eight members were stricken, and myself
and a child of nine years were the only one to recover. I can re-
call very distinctly the terribly ordeal we had to undergo; while
many noble men and women sacrificed their lives in response to the
helplessness of these unfortunate people. They came from all sec-
tions of the country, and as every occasion of this kind is burdened
with human, beasts of prey - robbing, pilfering the living, dying and
dead, so was this plague stricken little city. Men sent there by
the Howard Benevolent Association, who represented themselves as nurses,
were among the worst. My own Father, while ill with the fever, was
choked, robbed and left alone to die: I was too ill to even to cry
out for help, but witnessed the entire affair. It was twenty hours
before we were found in this condition. Burning tar, bonfires and disinfectants of various kinds
were placed on the corners of the streets, and yet, that peculiar o--
dor from Yellow Fever could be detected from every direction. The only signs of traffic, were wagons hauling the dead;
few caskets were seen and in their stead plain boxes, and sometimes
dry goods boxes were utilized: they were piled one on top of the other
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and fastened with ropes to the bed of the wagons. Negroes were se-
cured for this work; they were known to rob the dead and vacant res-
idences. The following winter several visits were made to the cabins,
where clothing, silver and other valuables were found. On one occa-
sion like this, I was called by the town Marshall to identify some
things supposed to have been taken from our house; while looking
down on a crowd of negroes, I called the Marshall's attention to a
negro man wearing my father's hat: he proved to be the [a] minister and
we found a wagon load of various articles at his house. The negro's
work as grave diggers proved to be very poor, as sixteen inches was
afterwards found to be the depth of any grave made during that time. In 1897, we had a few scattered cases of the fever
in Mississippi and Tennessee: I was then in the Delta, where I learn-
ed that Memphis was in quarantine against Mississippi, and vice versa
Mississippi was quarantined against Memphis: at the telegraph office
I learned that a freight train from New Orleans, bound for Memphis,
would take water about five A. M. and that it would be the last train
allowed to stop: I at once planned a trip to Memphis, and
when the train came, [began] climbing up on the engine and holding a ten
dollar bill before the engineer, I managed to seat myself near
him. I will not go into the details of this most unsafisfactory
trip, except to say that everytime we attempted to make a stop at
any place for water, that men would mysteriously make their appearance
with the biggest shot-guns I had ever seen. About dark the engineer
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began to argue that I could not get into Memphis, as I would certainly
be seen on the engine. We were at a small place called Lakeview, a
about ten miles from Memphis, it seemed fifty to me: I persuaded him
to put me in a box car, which was partially loaded with barrels, and as
they were constantly rolling I was compelled to stand all the way to
Memphis. I asked the engineer to telephone my brother as soon as he
reached Memphis where he could find me. On reaching Memphis, I was rewarded by getting to see nine
cases of the fever with Dr. R. W. Mitchell. In 1898, at the City Hospital I saw three cases of fever: one
a tramp and he told me that he left his partner nearly dead in a country
church at Phillips, Miss. affected just as he was - that was every sympton
of yellow fever: the next day I read in a paper where a church near Phil-
lips, Miss. had been burned because of a tramp dying with yellow fever,
and no one would bury him: this case and two others were diagnosed as
Malarial Hematuria. When our Government called for volunteer nurses to go to Cuba,
I availed myself of this opportunity. During August, 1900 I was ordered from Matanzas to Havana.
The night before my transfer to Havana, I was entertained at the quarters
of the officers of the 2nd Cavalry station [ed] at Matanzas: there I met a Ma-
jor Cartwright, who informed me that he also had been ordered to Havana,
as he was an immune, had had the fever in '98 at Santiago. Two weeks af-
ter my arrival in yellow fever camps, the ambulance brought a patient from
Gen Lee's headquarters: as I stepped forward to give directions in
regard to the patient I recognized Major Cartwright: |
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- 4 - th after some conversation, he stated that he could not
possible have yellow fever, as he certainly had a genuine case in '98.
However, on the six [th] day after his arrival he died of black vomit. Major Peterson also thought that he had had the fever,
but he was taken ill again with it, and his wife hearing of his ill-
ness two hours after his death, committed suicide by shooting her-
self through the temple in our quarters at Las Animas. The waiter
being an eye witness to this dreadful tragedy. The only nurse with me that had yellow fever, was one
who claimed to be an immune: she [was] sent to Major Edmund's residence at
Quemados, the night before his death, she returned to the camp and
four days after was taken with a mild case, (we had no mosquitoes in
our camp.) Quarentien was very strict, but we continued to have
yellow fever among the soldiers and officers: we were poorly equip-
ped at Columbia Barracks Detention Camp and yet the mortality was
not as great as in this Country. A few officers and privates from
the Palace in Havana were taken to Las Animas, a Cuban Hospital for
civilians under Major Gorgas supervision; he called on our chief
Surgeon for help: I was ordered there for ten days: at this place
they were well equipped, the nurses being well cared for as well as
the patients. We lost that week Major Peterson, Captain Page, the
Quarter Master Sargent, one soldier, one civilians employee. Major
Gorgas was very successful in the treatment of the fever, and upon
my return to Camp Columbia, I determined to imitate his directions. |
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- 5 - In September I nursed Dr. James A. Carroll, a member of Major
Reed's Staff of Commissioners, and he told he me that he experiment-
ed upon himself with the mosquito: while he had a severe case he
did not have hemorrhages: even to the whites of his eyes were as
yellow as saffron. A few days after Dr. Carroll's chill, Dr. Jessie
Lazear was stricken with the fever: he also was a member of this board
and brought on a litter to our Camp about eleven A.M. he knew what his
illness was, and informed me that he had his chill about six P. M.
had not been in bed all night, as he was busy writing up on their
experiments in regard to yellow fever and the mosquito. His temperature
was 103, pulse 80: he lived five days: the black vomit would spurt
from his mouth up through the bar over his cot. I had just relieved
the day nurse and gone on for the night: my efforts to keep him in
bed failed and I called for help, but before assistance reached me
we had made several turns around the room in his efforts to get out.
All night it took two men to hold him, and he died the next morning. Mrs Warner
erred here.
Lazear died
at 845 PM
P.S.H In December I met Major Reed, and it was at this time
that they began in earnest to erect buildings for the special exper-
iments to prove that the mosquito was the only source of infection. Major Reed was an officer whom we were all devoted to: he
liked best to be called "Doctor", I was always glad on my daily vis-
its to Labratory, to catch him there: he had won the friendship and
esteem of the entire corps, having the most genial manners and so
considerate and kind to every one. I do not feel that I could speak
in too high terms of Major Reed. At all times he was so willing to
go into detail with [any part of] the experiment I did not comprehend, and was
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patient enough to give me a peep through the different microscopes and
give a full explanation. I told him of our '78 epidemic and he in-
formed me that S. [Surg] Gen. Sternberg was in Memphis at that time. The
experimental camp was called after Dr. Lazear: in a statement I heard
Major Reed make he said that Dr. Lazear's efforts in this work had
been of vast importance. Major Reed was strong in his friendships
as Dr. Jas A. Carroll can readily testify. I recall an incident which
gives an insight into the kind of man he was - On one occasion he moved
his mess quarters because he heard his brother officer use language
at the table which was very ungentlemanly. It was due to his inde-
fatigable efforts that we owe our success with yellow fever at Camp
Lazear., as we never lost a case experimented upon.
Lena A. Warner.
Ex. Chief Nurse, U. S. A. N. C.
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