Despite the growing toll of sick and dead and the heightened restrictions during the fourth week of October, 1918 as the “Spanish Influenza” epidemic spread in Berkeley, on October 23, 1918, the Berkeley Daily Gazette reported that the city was allowing public playgrounds to stay open. The reason given was the same reason used in the previous push to keep local public schools open; children could be better monitored for illness when they were together in supervised groups.
“Playgrounds are being kept open for the use of the boys and girls it being declared more desirable to have the children playing on the playground under careful supervision of the Play Directors, then to have them playing on the street. The open air and the deep respiration which comes about through playing games, and at the same time stimulating the revitalizing physical condition of the children is especially recommended by City Health officer Dr. J.J. Benton, who has endorsed the keeping open of the playground at this time.
Substantiation of Dr. Benton’s statement comes through a statement in the San Francisco Bulletin of a few days ago, made by Dr. Woods Hutchinson who is at present at the Palace Hotel in the city, when he recommends open air and deep breathing for all persons affiliated with influenza, this being declared one of the best means as a preventative.
(We will hear from Dr. Hutchison a bit later, when he visited Berkeley later in the week.)
Gustavus Schnider, Superintendent of Playgrounds in a special meeting with the play directors, gave special instructions which will help to safeguard all children using the playgrounds at the same time. The playgrounds shooting units will be discontinued for the present as all shooting was being done indoors. Play week as planned will be postponed indefinitely, an announcement of dates to be made later.”
(That’s an interesting reference to “shooting units”. I have not come across this before, but I infer it meant target practice with firearms. Taught by the City of Berkeley at public playgrounds.)
October 23, 1918 the United Press reported optimistically that in San Francisco there was “a decided decrease in the number of deaths and new influenza cases reported to the board of health today gave indication that the epidemic has been partially checked. A total of 840 (new) cases had been reported at noon, as compared with 1,200 at the same time yesterday. Twenty deaths were reported. Wearing of gauze masks was declared to be partly responsible for the decrease in the number of cases.”
Two days later, however, the San Francisco case load was back up. October 25, 1918 the Gazette reported that in San Francisco there were 1,080 “new cases of Spanish influenza and 48 deaths due to the disease…reported to city health authorities up to noon today. City Health Officer Hassler said he believed the disease had been checked. Twenty-five percent of the cases reported are due to hysteria, Dr. Hassler said. The number of cases reported this morning shows a decided decrease due, the health officer says, because of the enforced wearing of influenza masks. All prisoners in the city jail today were given masks to wear. Federal Judge Dooling today dismissed his entire jury panel; announcing that no jury trials would be held in his court room until the epidemic had ended.”
(Another San Francisco judge held his police court out of doors, and caught a severe cold as a result. A later article would report that after a staffer at the San Francisco jail collapsed on his rounds from influenza, and inmates started leaving their temporarily unlocked cells. Then, as now, there was concern that once the flu got into crowded jails and prisons it would spread rapidly among those who could not go elsewhere to be safe from infection.)
Elsewhere in San Francisco, “the Downtown Association launched a campaign today to convert the historic Cliff House into a big children’s hotel for youngsters whose parents have died or are ill with the disease.”
Statewide, the same day—October 25—total reported cases “numbered 55,528, an increase of 4,459 since Thursday night.” San Francisco had the most, Los Angeles had more than 1,000 new cases—“a sharp increase over yesterday”—, Oakland had 538 new, Sacramento 221, and other towns and cities reported cases scattered in tens and twenties around the state.
October 24, it was reported that Oakland saw 22 influenza related deaths, “making a grand total of 79 since the beginning of the scourge in the East Bay city.” There were at the same time nearly 2,500 people ill and quarantined in Oakland.
(It is worth remembering in this era that California was still a largely rural state. The state had a population of about 3.5 million at the time, less than 10% of its population today. Berkeley was California’s fifth biggest municipality, with a population recorded at 56,000 two years later in the 1920 Census. The only four bigger cities were San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, and Sacramento. Outside portions of the central Bay Area and parts of the Los Angeles Basin, there were really no large communities by today’s standards; enormous cities today, like San Jose and San Diego, were comparatively tiny then; San Jose in 1920 had less than 40,000 residents So reports of two, three, or four figure cases of influenza per city represented a large demographic impact. With those 3.5 million residents, an infection rate of more than 55,000 would mean that at least 1.5% of California residents were known to have contracted the influenza.)
October 25, the president of Berkeley’s Board of Education, Dr. Roy Woolsey, “threatened with arrest and punishment” any employer who hired a child under 16 without a proper work permit from the city. This sort of work was probably enticing in a market with well-paying war industry jobs and a labor shortage, and teenagers out of school early with time on their hands because of the flu.
“We have dismissed the schools as a measure to combat the spread of Spanish influenza,” said Dr Woolsey “and it is the intention of the school authorities that children be kept at home, or off the streets, where there is more danger of their contracting the disease than in the school rooms. The law provides that every employer of a child under sixteen years of age must first secure a permit to employ the child from the truant officer. There are now many instances of violation of this law in Berkeley.”
October 21, 1918, the Red Cross said it was “still in great need of sheets and pajamas for the influenza work at the barracks (on the UC campus). Donations of oranges would also be greatly appreciate by the sick boys, as many of them can eat nothing else.” An article later in the week appealed for bathrobes and slippers perhaps implying that at least some of the sick at the barracks were becoming ambulatory.
October 23 the Red Cross was commended for its work on the campus in a Gazette article.
“That the United States government considers the American Red Cross one of most useful aids in time of public emergency has been amply proved here by the events of the past week. At the very beginning of the present epidemic on October 14, two urgent calls brought by SATC boys from the university infirmary, started the ball rolling. Since that time the local chapter has furnished all medical supplies and the trained and untrained volunteer nurses at the three barracks. Included among volunteers are the most prominent women in Berkeley. Because of the generosity of the public, the Red Cross has been able to supply hundreds of pillows, sheets, pillow slips, towels, pajamas and other linen, not only to the three barrack hospitals, but also the Defenders’ club, which is used as a convalescent home, and to the Zeta Psi home, converted into an annex to the infirmary.”
Note: The temporary barracks were wooden structures built on the UC campus to accommodate the SATC servicemen. I am also not sure exactly where they stood; I think they were near Oxford Street in what is now the “West Crescent” area, which was not extensively landscaped until later in the 1920s. The barracks would have been removed after the War.
I am not sure where or what the “Defenders’ Club” was. The name makes it sound as if it was an organization formed as part of patriotic activities during the Great War. An article on “Club Activities” in the October 24 Gazette gives some further hints. It appears to have been a women’s club with a large physical facility, since the building was described as having a canteen / kitchen, a “large assembly room” converted into a hospital ward for 60, and “wings” that provided another 25 beds, “several in each small study room.” The article noted “prominent club and society women have donned their ‘flu’ masks and are working valiantly to help convalescent boys successfully finish their fight with the tyrant germs”.
(One of the vexing issues with historical research is that contemporary accounts are often vague because of course everyone at the time knew what the writer was talking about. There was no need to give specific addresses or descriptions for well known organizations. Today, for instance, no reporter would write something like “the event took place at Berkeley Bowl, a locally owned supermarket at 2020 Oregon Street”…)
Note: During World War I nearly 116,000 United States Army men died, according to a statistical summary published by the Federal government in 1919. The causes of death were: 50% disease; 43% “battle”; 7% “other”. In the United States, 36,000 soldiers died; presumably the vast majority of those were killed by disease, particularly the Spanish influenza. October, 1918, was the statistical peak of Army deaths; during that month nearly four out of every 1,000 soldiers died per week. The spike in deaths then sharply declined into mid November. Most military camps were concentrated in the Midwest and East, but there were three major ones on the West Coast: Camp Lewis in Washington, Camp Fremont in the Bay Area, and Camp Kearny near San Diego. Source: see https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/00333549101250S311
October 24, the Gazette headlined “Influenza Cases are Decreasing”, above another story headlined “ ‘Flu’ Cases in State Increase”.
The first article said “The Spanish influenza at the university is subsiding, the discharges from the hospital exceeding the admissions for the last three days. That the epidemic has been effectively checked at the School of Military Aeronautics was announced today. Only four new cases were reported among the flying cadets yesterday.
Three new deaths from Spanish influenza were reported at the city health office before noon today, This brings the total number of deaths in Berkeley to 24, according to health officer statistics. There are now a total of 885 cases in Berkeley, according to the figures. Of this number, 119 were reported yesterday, all but 48 cases having been reported by university physicians.
In boarding houses where 537 women are living, only four cases have developed within the last 24 hours as against seven of the preceding day. In clubs and sororities of 406 members, only one cold has been reported during the last 24 hours, compared with four of the day before. This shows that influenza is on the decline and by wearing masks a further decrease in new cases is expected.
There are at present 450 cases being cared for by the university. With barracks 3,4,5, and “C” being used as hospitals for members of the Students’ Army Training Corps and Naval units and with the Students’ Infirmary and Zeta Psi Fraternity house available for non-military males and women students, ample hospital accommodations are ready to meet any expected increase in the number of cases on the campus.
A group of visiting nurses’ aides, volunteers from the student body, has organized under Dr. Lillian Moore of the physiology department to visit cases discharged from the infirmary. They are to see that convalescing patients are progressing satisfactorily, and will also get in touch with students living in isolated homes with no one to care for them.
By organizing these aids, it is hoped that all students in need of medical care and unprovided for, while be reached. Several nurses’ aides have already been detailed to take care of women doing their own housekeeping work or living alone in apartment houses. This is aimed to relieve the pressure on the infirmary and at the same time to provide adequate treatment for all cases.”
Despite such assurances, the toll of illness on the campus was such that normal academic operations faltered. For October 25, we find this article.
“University Work Is At A Standstill. President Benjamin Ide Wheeler of the university has informed the various departments of the university that on account of the great number of absences from classes, due to the influenza epidemic, it has been found necessary to allow opportunities for instructors to reorganize their work in order that classes may commence again on an even basis when the epidemic shall have ended. The president has recommended to the departments that in classes where work has been seriously disorganized no new assignments be made for the period up to November 3, or an earlier date to be determined at the discretion of the instructor concerned.
The president states that classes will meet as usual, instructors utilizing the time for review or for individual conferences with students who have dropped behind because of illness or for other reasons.”
The second article on October 24 reported that “Influenza cases in the state total 50,135 this morning. This is an increase of 4,441 over Wednesday night” (and, inexplicably, a drop of some 5,000 from a few days before. Perhaps those considered recovered were removed from the tally. But then, as now, even official totals could be muddled in a fast moving health crisis).
San Francisco still led the list with 1,371 new cases, Los Angeles came second at 720, and Oakland had 391. Berkeley with its 119 new cases was below several cities including Sacramento which had 131 new cases, and tiny Richmond which reported 132.
A debate broke out in the pages of the Gazette on October 22 regarding open-air church services. “Whether the holding of church services in the open air in North Cragmont, outside the city limits, is a violation of the spirit of Dr. J.J. Benton’s order against the holding of meetings of all kinds because of the Spanish influenza, has become a matter of discussion between two church organizations, both of which have asked the city council for a decision.
‘In view of the fact that Dr. Benton allowed St. Joseph’s Catholic church to hold open air meetings Sunday,’ said Mrs. N. Cleveland of the Second Church of Christ, Scientist, ‘we propose to hold an open air meeting at our church tomorrow night, unless the city council orders us not to do so. Dr. Benton told us Saturday there could be no open air meetings within the city, He said he would raid, with the aid of the police, any meeting which it was attempted to hold (sic). In view of his order we held services in Cragmont. The Catholics held their services within the city, however.’
‘Dr. Benton has threatened and failed to make good. Now we have asked the council to offer a ruling.’
According to Mayor Irving and (Police) Chief Vollmer, the Catholic service was held Sunday because of a misunderstanding on the part of city officials of Dr. Benton’s order. Chief Vollmer said he had received no orders to ‘raid’ any church service, and if there was a violation of Dr. Benton’s order, there should be warrants issued for the arrest of those who were responsible for the violation.
Dr. E.P. Dennett, pastor of the Trinity Methodist Church, asked city officials this morning to interpret Dr. Benton’s order. He said his church desired to hold services in Cragmont, if such a meeting would not be interpreted as violation of the spirit of the order.”
October 22, the Gazette weighed in with a rare editorial about the influenza—in fact, the first one I’ve found in all the October editions, at a time when the paper was wont to run three to five separate editorial statements each day on various topics.
“Church assemblages are essential to victory in the spiritual war as well as the physical war and to conquer sin, Satan, and the kaiser” the paper said. “There is little danger in church assemblages to save the soul. As a rule our churches are high ceilinged, well ventilated, and not crowded. The clergyman’s complaint is that they are too often half deserted for the golf links or for long automobile rides or for social festivities. To pronounce an unfilled church a ‘ crowded assembly’, menacing the public health and on that grounds to close it altogether is an act of grim and cruel irony.”
October 23, the Gazette carried a letter from Mrs. N. Cleveland of the Second Church of Christ, Scientist. “Editor: Will you kindly give publicity to the following explanation of the two outdoor services held by Second Church of Christ, Scientist, of Berkeley, the first on the lot on Oxford Street and the second at Cragmont Rock, outside of the city limits. In the first instance we had permission from the mayor, and were assisted by a member of the police department. This meeting was announced in the Gazette before it was held. Afterwards, intimation came to us that the heath officer had ruled that no church services indoors or out could be held in the city of Berkeley. This ruling being in contradiction to that of the state board of health, the district attorney’s office was consulted for a statement of the exact law; that the statues are entirely vague and general. Inasmuch as it was the widely advertised opinion of the state board of health that churches should not be closed and, so far as has some to light, have not been throughout the state, it appeared to be the duty of the churches to regard themselves as an essential industry along with shipyards and other organizations which were not closed and to make every effort to continue to hold their services in order that they might fulfill another requirement of the state board of health, that there should be no undue hysteria during this time. When President Wilson called upon the American nation to assemble in their churches and pray for victory over a threatened evil last May, he manifestly regarded the church as an essential industry. Therefore, pending a final decision by the city council on this vital point, it was deemed by the board of directors of the Second Church of Christ, Scientist, that rather than ask its members, many of whom lived in North Berkeley, to attend the services of church of their denomination which were held with the approval and encouragement of the state board of health in Oakland, to arrange for services outside the north boundary instead.
Yesterday the city council gave its final decision and decided that it would uphold the ruling of the health officer and forbid people to assemble within the city limits for prayer. Therefore, in order not to be misunderstood, Second Church of Christ, Scientist, will discontinue its services for the present.”
October 25 the debate over the meetings held by the Second Church of Christ, Scientist, continued in the pages of the newspaper. There was a letter from a church member published.
“Editor Gazette: Since last Sunday’s meeting at North Cragmont and an article in Tuesday’s Gazette give an erroneous impression of the attitude of many Christian Scientists, I am glad of the opportunity to make the following statements:
First, as a member of Second Church of Christ, Scientist, in Berkeley, I am eager to assure Dr. Benton and other residents of the Gazette, that the North Cragmont meeting was not the result of a decision made by the church members, nor was it even the consequence of an action taken by the entire Board. There are a number of us who protested against the holding of any meetings, anywhere, and who would not attend that or any other.
It is my desire also, to express appreciation of the dignified courteous spirit shown in Dr. Benton’s statement last evening, as well as hearty approval of the sentiments there given.
This is not a time to strain at gnats and to swallow camels—to quibble over questions of authority and forget the law of brotherly kindness to our neighbors in distress. Doctors themselves differ as to the advisability of closing churches—and, too, of wearing masks—but what’s the difference? There is much sorrow and fear in Berkeley—the majority of its people desire that these measures be taken.
There is nothing to lose if each family study its Bible and pray alone at home for a while, if all refrain from gathering together anywhere for any purpose and if each individual wear a mask when out in public places. On the other hand, there is everything to gain from expressing clear-cut obedience, true, helpful citizenship and the utmost consideration for the rights and feelings of others among who we find ourselves. Edith L. Mossman.”
What was Dr. Benton’s “statement last evening”? He decided to reverse himself and allow outdoor church services!
The official statement, printed in the October 25 and 26 Gazette editions, was laid out and boxed like an advertisement and read:
“Notice to the Public and Churches in Particular. Churches of the city will be permitted to hold open air meetings on Sundays by obtaining a permit from the health department. As prerequisites to the issuance of the permit, the pastor shall be required to state the place at which the services are to be held and shall agree to see to it that all persons attending wear gauze masks. Dr. J.J. Benton, Health Officer for the City of Berkeley.”
There was also this article on the front page. “Churches May Hold Open Air Services”.
“In announcing today that church services may be held n the open air providing all persons in attendance wear gauze masks, Health Officer Dr. J.J. Benton, today issued the following statement:
In view of the fact that St. Joseph’s Catholic held its services in the open air in their gardens last Sunday in violation of the order that no church services, whether indoors or out of doors be held, and in view of the further fact that Mrs. Cleveland, president of the Second Church of Christ, Scientists,claims that said services were held under a permit issued by me as health officer, as stated in the issue of the Gazette of Tuesday, together with an admission on her part that her congregation, that is the Second Church of Christ, Scientists, held a meeting in North Cragmont, beyond the city limits, on Sunday, I believe it necessary that such inputation of favoritism be answered by myself.
The facts in the matter are these: the health officer issued an order that no public meetings of any character whatsoever should be held in the city of Berkeley, said order to be enforced by the police department. In reference to the meeting held at St. Joseph’s Catholic church investigation shows that it was claimed to have been held under a verbal permit from some official who had no authority to issue even a verbal permit therefor (sic).
As regards the meeting in North Cragmont, I have this to say, that it was absolutely responsible in that it was in defiance, in spirit at least, of constituted authority and was certainly not in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ, who taught in the Bible, which is the standard of all who profess to be Christians to render under Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s thereby hoping to inculcate into his followers a respect for and submission to constituted authority whether or not they agree with the edicts of said constituted authority. Now, in order that there may be no further misapprehension regarding the holding of services by the churches in the open air, the following order has been issued.
Churches of the city will be permitted to hold open air meetings on Sunday by obtaining a permit from the health department. As prerequisites to the issuance of the permit, the pastor shall be required to state the place at which the services are to be held and shall agree to see to it that all persons attending wear gauze masks.”
(What made Benton change his mind? The City Council had just officially backed his closure order on churches! No articles seem to speak to the underlying reasons, although Benton is clearly perturbed at two things in his statement above—what he regarded as the un-Christian “defiance” of the Second Church of Christ, Scientist, and an unnamed “some official” who was alleged to have given the Roman Catholic parish verbal permission to hold services.
Possibly Benton had been privately pressured by some civic leaders or public officials to go easy on the churches. The conditions he required—tell the city where the service will be held, and all attendees must wear masks during your service—were hardly onerous since the church would be telling its parishioners of the location of the service anyway, and the City was already requiring everyone to wear masks outside the home. In essence, his reversed order carved out a special exemption for churches alone to have big public gatherings in Berkeley, at least outside the UC campus.)
Several churches acted immediately after Benton’s new order to schedule services for the following Sunday, October 29, according to an article in the Saturday, October 28 Gazette. These included First Baptist, Trinity Methodist and Epworth Methodist which planned a joint service, and First Christian, First Congregational and First Presbyterian, which held a similar triple joint service on the First Congregational grounds.
All of Berkeley’s Episcopal congregations with the exception of Good Shepherd (in west Berkeley), held a joint service on the grounds of St. Clement’s at Russell and Claremont. North Congregational Church also planned a morning service.
In the afternoon, at 4:00 PM, there was a larger joint service at First Congregational Church.
The Roman Catholic St. Joseph’s Church on Addison Street held its services in the garden of the Sisters of the Presentation convent next door (where the University Terrace UC faculty housing is now located, along California Street; portions of the garden survive in the inner courtyard of the housing complex).
And the Second Church of Christ, Scientist? They resumed their outdoor services on their lot on Oxford Street.
While some Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, Christian Scientists and Roman Catholics all opted to hold outdoor services, there’s curiously no mention of Lutherans. Berkeley had a number of Lutheran congregations, primarily in west Berkeley, usually organized in first generation immigrant communities from northern Europe.
October 23 the Gazette’s special column on West Berkeley news noted “Not a church in the West End opened its doors Sunday for public worship by order of the health department.” Presumably they continued that practice when the restriction was lifted the following Sunday. It is also possible that they didn’t have outdoor spaces to gather since West Berkeley church properties tended to be smaller then those in East Berkeley.
A last note on churches, from October 26: “College Avenue Methodist Sunday School is to adopt a novel way of observing Go-To-Sunday-School-Day tomorrow. According to letters sent out by the superintendent, Percy F. Morris, each family represented in the Sunday school membership is to hold its own school at home at 11 o’clock Sunday morning. All scholars studying the Graded Bible Lessons have been asked to prepare written lessons and to submit same to the teacher on the first Sunday the church is again open. An award of a Bible is offered to the scholar having the best set of lessons.”
(I feel for the parents at that church. Not only were their children home and underfoot during the week from Berkeley public schools that had been closed by the flu, but the parents were now expected to assign, monitor, and turn in for grading Sunday school homework as well. No rest for the weekend.)
By the last week in October it was clear to many local organizations that they couldn’t conduct business as usual, at least in terms of holding events. October 21 the Berkeley Federation of Mothers’ Clubs cancelled its planned October 24 “reciprocity picnic” at Live Oak Park, “to prevent the spread of Spanish influenza in Berkeley.” The same day the Berkeley Musical Association announced it was postponing a five concert series until the flu crisis was over. October 22 it was announced that the regular Collegiate Alumnae luncheon at the Hotel Oakland was “indefinitely postponed on account of the influenza…The luncheon will probably be merged with the November affair.” The Washington School PTA canceled all meetings “until the ban is lifted on public gatherings by the health officers.”
The Red Cross unit of the Berkeley Women’s Temperance Union, the Red Cross unit of the Hillside Club, the women of the Twentieth Century Club (on Derby Street above College Avenue) and the women of Trinity Methodist Church continued meeting, but the gatherings were to sew gauze masks, not social affairs. The Twentieth Century Club, one of Berkeley’s more exclusive women’s organizations, noted in its announcement on October 23 that “The club extends a hearty invitation to any woman who may find this a convenient place of work to come and help with the masks.”
Some Berkeley families continued to have social gatherings. “Society News” in the October 24 Gazette noted “Yesterday was the eighteenth birthday of charming Evod (sic) Geraldine Lumley, daughter of Major and Mrs J.C.W. Niemeyer of Thousand Oaks, and despite the ‘flu’ and other unfavorable conditions, the day was not allowed to pass by unnoticed. In the evening Mrs. Niemeyer gave a very small Victrola dance for her daughter, about half a dozen of the young girl’s most intimate friends being asked to enjoy an hour or so of relaxation with her.”
But other families decided it was not time for social gatherings. October 25, 1918 Mr. and Mrs. H.B. Purcell of Dana Street announced they were postponing their golden wedding anniversary. “A reception had been planned in their honor, but because of the war it had been decided to send out no cards, merely verbal invitations. Now, on account of the epidemic, the reception will be postponed one month, to take place November 26, at their home…”
There were still some public events planned. October 23, a Wednesday, it was announced that the next day Professor Arthur Falwell, acting head of the department of music, would hold a “song mass meeting” in the Greek Theatre. “The chorus will learn both simple songs and the great chorus of the masters, and from time to time free public performances will be given. The people of Berkeley and the Student Body are especially invited to take part in this movement.”
The next day, however, a terse article said the meeting “will not assemble, according to word given out at the office of President Benjamin Ide Wheeler today.
The postponement of the Community Chorus meeting is taken as a precautionary measure in view of the Spanish influenza epidemic and because of the fact that it is considered inadvisable to hold even outdoor meetings at which residents of Berkeley and students of the university would come in contact, one group with the other.”
(One wonders what words might have passed between Wheeler and the Music Department acting chair if they discussed this in person? In 1918 Wheeler was winding down his career. Worn out by full-time service—except for some periodic sabbaticals—as UC President since 1899 and battered by wartime insinuations he was not sufficiently patriotic, Wheeler would retire in 1919. But he was still a strongly hands-on administrator and his critics claimed he often led like an autocrat. He would have been quite capable of calling a professor on the carpet and ordering plans to be immediately changed.)
Interestingly, on October 25 Wheeler did allow another mass event, one of the regular “University Meetings”, to go on in the Greek Theater. On these occasions all students were invited to a central gathering place—usually either the old Harmon Gymnasium, or the Greek Theatre—to hear University officials and visiting speakers.
This time two speakers, both doctors, admonished the crowd to “Get into the fresh air if you get it” (the flu). The doctor who offered that advice, Dr. Woods Hutchinson, then spoke to “The history of the disease.”
“The world has known five pandemics of Spanish influenza. The first was during the Napoleonic era, when the army was attacked and forced into retirement. The second was in 1830; the third, in 1860s; the fourth in 1889, and the fifth one at present.
The disease has always come out of the great unwashed portion of Central Asia, and has proceeded westward along the lines of travel. This time it is appearing in the same old way. It appeared in Spain in April and May of this year, and the reason for it first becoming known there is that Spain was the first country it hit which told the truth about it. The other nations were at war and suppressed news of it. Now we know that it was in Germany in February, and, thank God, it was responsible for holding up the spring drive of the Germans three weeks, giving this country just that much more time to rush reinforcements to the allies. But it the European countries it was not in the virulent form that it has been in this country. In France there were only about 2,000 deaths, and in England about 3,000. It was little more than a cold or the ‘grippe’. It was brought to the United States by returned sailors, and was first noticed at Boston. It spread to the naval schools about Boston and finally reached Camp Devon. There was where it showed up in its virulent form, the worst that was ever known. It has developed into a dreadful plague. Out of 45,000 soldiers at that camp, there were 14,000 cases with 900 deaths. To date, there have been 17,000 deaths in the army. It has killed more men than Hun bullets. ewer have found that it attacks people between the ages of 20 and 40 years. That was because it developed in this camp, where the men were of about the same age, and the germ developed to work on people of that age.
We have found that the germ is easily killed—is a frail sort of animal—and must be kept at human temperature to live. A variance of five degrees either way will kill it. So it is not dangerous unless you breath the germ directly from some one who has it. That is why the mask is effective…
An epidemic of this kind usually affects about 10 percent of the population. We figure that one out of every fifteen will get it. Of this number, we figure out of of every six will develop into pneumonia, and also that one out of every six who develop pneumonia, will die. The efficiency of the mask will be tested by the number of cases less than 300,000 which you have in California. That number would be the average if the epidemic went unchecked.”
(Note: we now know that the worldwide impact of the ‘Spanish influenza’ was much higher than Doctor Hutchinson projected. It is now believed about one third—500 million—of the people then living were infected and between 20 and 50 million died.)
And meanwhile, in Alameda? The Neptune Beach amusement park, mentioned in previous installments. was still going strong October 23. An article (which read like an advertisement and was probably a press release printed verbatim by the paper) said “Spanish influenza is unknown at Neptune Beach where thousands of people take sun baths daily on the sandy beach. Sunshine and salt water are the real antidotes for the influenza germ, it is claimed and it is noticeable that none of the Neptune “regulars” have been stricken with the imported malady. The dance hall and (swimming) tank have been closed in order to prevent people from congesting (sic) but the tide is ideal for surf bathing and present and last Sunday two thousand enthusiastic bathers paddled in the shallow channel.” Picnics, “Shipbuilder’s Day”, tug-of-war and water polo contests and dances were touted.
Meanwhile, well-known local figures were coming down with the flu.
October 22 it was reported Professor Charles Mills Gayley, dean of the faculties, “was confined to his home by illness yesterday, and it was reported today that he is suffering from Spanish influenza.” (Gayley lived at Durant and Piedmont, in a house that has since been converted and expanded into a sorority.)
October 23 a Gazette article reported “J. Stitt Wilson was stricken with Spanish influenza at Fresno last Saturday, while enroute to his home in this city, from Los Angeles, where he has been on a lecture tour. Wilson was making the trip in his auto and expected to reach here Sunday. Sunday morning Mrs. Wilson was summoned to Fresno by a phone message from a physician at that city, to the effect that her husband was quite ill at Hotel Fresno. She left at once for Fresno. Wilson is much improved according to a telephone message received this morning by his brother, B.F. Wilson of this city. Mrs. Wilson expected to return within a few days and Wilson will remain in Fresno until strong enough to make the trip in safety.”
Wilson was a recent Mayor of Berkeley and a nationally known Socialist orator and activist. The October 24 Gazette reported him “in a favorable condition” and recovering with his wife and a doctor at his side. He would survive the flu and live another 22 years.
October 25, Dr. A.S. Kelley, “one of the foremost physicians of the east bay” and president of the Oakland Board of Education, died “of pneumonia following an illness of two weeks”.
San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts was closed to the public October 22, 1918. The Palace at that time, just three years old, still included art galleries in the building behind the grand rotunda. The closing was said to be “in conformity with the action taken by other public institutions”.
October 24, the Gazette ran an article entitled “Suggested Diet for Convalescing ‘Flu’ Patients”.
“The local chapter of the Red Cross has issued the following diet for influenza patients, which has been arranged by Dr. Agnes Fay Morgan of the home economics department of the university.”
I won’t reproduce the entire article here, but the basics were:
During the illness: “toast, starch and bread puddings, cereal mushes and gruels. Ice cream may be given two or three times a day if desired.” “No coarse vegetables or fruit fiber”, but purees were allowed. “Meat broths are of little value”. Fruit juices, eggnog (presumably non-alcoholic), and custard were allowed. Caregivers were told to encourage the patient to eat, since lack of appetite was a symptom, but “do not experiment with the patient’s digestion during the critical period.”
During convalescence: after temperature becomes normal, “egg dishes, simple vegetable salads, with plenty of oil dressing, broiled or boiled lean meats and fish, bacon, rice, baked and mashed potatoes, macaroni and fresh fruit may be added to the diet advised for the fever period.” A list of suggested daily menus was also provided.
(Professor Morgan would become a notable figure in both university and medical history. She was an accomplished chemist who came to Berkeley in 1916. Systemic discrimination against women in science relegated her to a position in Home Economics, not chemistry or another basic science. However, she would turn the Home Economics department into a respected research program, requiring high standards of training for her students, and conduct pioneering research and teaching in nutrition. She would remain on the Berkeley faculty for 50 years.)
Berkeley businesses were still open, but beginning to make adjustments. October 24 three of Berkeley’s leading merchants—S.H. Brake & Co., A.O. Donogh, and J.F. Hink and Son, Inc.—advertised that they were changing their procedures because of the influenza. Their announcement proclaimed:
“LADIES OF BERKELEY! Your dry good merchants are using every precaution to check the epidemic which is now in our midst, and therefore we respectfully request your further cooperation. UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE Merchandise will not be sent on approval or will not be exchanged.”
Presumably this was done to prevent possibly infected clothing and other goods from being returned to the stores.
October 23, 1918. “Discover Vaccine To Stop Influenza” the Gazette headlined. “A vaccine to prevent Spanish influenza has been discovered, and, beginning today, will be man fractured by the State Hygienic Laboratory on the campus at the university and distributed to the people of California, free of charge, as fast as it is possible to make it. This announcement was made this morning by Dr. W.H. Kellogg, secretary of the State Board of Health, upon his arrival in Berkeley.”
The article went on to say that the proposed vaccine at been discovered by Dr. Timothy Leary of the Tufts Medical College, of Boston and “during the past week he has vaccinated thousands of doctors, nurses and hospital attendants in Boston with the best of results.”
(Note: this was not the Timothy Leary known for his development of LSD. That Leary was born in 1920. This Leary was his uncle, a pathologist at Tufts. Leary’s supposed vaccine was sent to San Francisco, one of its major testing sites, by train and there was a lot of press attention to it. A bit of online research indicates that Leary’s vaccine is a whole story in itself, but I won’t go into it here since it’s only peripheral to Berkeley.)
(continue to Fourth Installment, Part C, for the remainder of Berkeley news from the fourth week of October, 1918.)
