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WALPOLE'S ANTHRAX EPIDEMIC,
1867-72 by Guy J. Ciannavei |
| As the current news
about anthrax developed, it brought to mind an echo of one paragraph in a
40-page booklet entitled "100th Anniversary - Blessed Sacrament Church -
Walpole, Massachusetts 1874 to 1974" by Rev. Bennet J. O'Brien and his
sister Mercedes E. O'Brien, Ph.D. " Parishioners of the day told of
Father Gillick's help and strength at the time an epidemic struck, a
mysterious fatal sickness brought from Russia in some badly cured hides, a
plague which felled worker after worker in the [curled] hair mill of
Manning, Glover and Cram on South St. [near Common St.] Day after day Father
Gillick toiled, side by side with Doctor Stone (for whom the street is
named), to save the workers' ves." [ page 17] Father Gillick remained as pastor to Walpole's Catholics [from 1866] until 1872. [pages 16 & 17] The earliest reference to the hair mill is found in the 1,000-page "History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts" edited by D. Hamilton Hurd, published in 1884. "... . May, 1852, Messrs. Gray, Shepard and Cary conveyed by deed the Union Factory and privilege to Charles Manning, Henry R. Glover, and Jerome B. Cram, styled Manning Glover & Co., who continued the manufacturing of curled hair mattresses, cotton batting and wicking until July, 1872. The copartnership was then dissolved, and the property came into the possession of Jerome B. Cram. ... Mr. Cram continued manufacturing curled hair and mattresses until 1880, ..." [ page 721, as reported by Beeri Clark, Town Clerk ] [Note: Hair mill buildings burned sometime after 1880. Photos of the mill are available for viewing at the Walpole Historical Society, 33 West St. Open to the public Wednesdays and Saturdays from 2 to 4 PM., and other afternoons by appointment. call (508) 668-3113] Biography and engraved image of Dr. Stone is found in the same volume: "...Dr. [Ebenezer] Stone died Aug. 13, 1869, in the seventy- second year of his age. During the later years of his life he was assisted in his practice by his son, Dr. S.E. Stone, [Silas Emlyn] who had also followed the profession of medicine and who succeeded to his father's practice. The son still [in 1884] fills at Walpole the place so long held by his father." [page 728] From non-Walpole sources we learn that pure cultures of anthrax bacillus were first obtained by the German researcher, and Nobel Laureate, Robert Koch in 1877, He demonstrated the relation of bacillus to the disease. That relation was later confirmed by Louis Pasteur who developed an anthrax vaccine in 1885. These scientific breakthroughs occurred after Father Gillick's departure and after Walpole's epidemic. Although the etiology and detailed identification of anthrax came later, the symptoms were already well known. Before the term anthrax came into medical use, there were several other names used to identify the syndrome: "Black Bane", "Charbon fever", "malignant pustule", "Septicaemia", "wool-pickers' disease", "wool-sorters' disease", and "Tanner's disease." Walpole death records during Gillick's term 1866-72 are on microfilm at Walpole Public Library: Those records are deficient, however, in that the majority do not show "cause of death" and even fewer show the decedent's "occupation". The following death record entries, nevertheless, leave little doubt that deaths by anthrax did indeed occur during the period of Father Gillick's service in Walpole.
Because of deficiencies in the death records, one can assume that Walpole's anthrax deaths in this period were at least twice as many as the seven cases listed here. Male population of the town was slightly over 1,000. The anthrax toll, therefore, may have produced premature deaths of as many as 2% of Walpole's males. For further information contact Guy J. Ciannavei, Vice President Walpole Historical Society (508) 668-3113 |