This article is from the Quincy (IL) Daily Journal, Tuesday March 13, 1900. In 1899, a boat entered San Francisco harbor containing two cases of the plague on board. Seven days before this article below was written, a Chinese male was autopsied and was found to have signs of the plague in his body. At this time, anti-Chinese feelings were rampant in the city and Chinatown was quarantined. High level political figures overrode health officials and denied its existence. The governor made it a felony to publish its existence as well. More than 100 people had died of "syphilitic septicemia," the official name of plague in 1904. In 1906, an earthquake of giant proportions devastated San Francisco making many of the cities rats without a home. More cases were discovered in 1907, however after a campaign to rid the cities of rats, the plague came to an end in 1909.
Please visit these sites for more information on the San Fransisco outbreak:
- The Barbary Plague: The Black Death in Victorian San Francisco, California
- Whatever Happened to the Bubonic Plague?
- Lessons of the Barbary Plague
- Top 10 Worst Plagues In History
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