One hundred two years ago, a mysterious killer came calling in Salem County about the time World War I was winding down. It started in remote corners of the county, in places such as Fort Mott, as a global pandemic, the “so-called Spanish Influenza,” spread throughout New Jersey.
The epidemic hit Fort Mott hard. Of the 210 men stationed there, 98 cases occurred, and six soldiers died. ((Report of the Surgeon-General of the Army to the Secretary of War, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1919 p., 1280)) Their bodies were shipped home, and an escort from the fort — pallbearers, a firing squad, and a bugler – accompanied the casket to the Pennsylvania Railroad Station in Salem. At the station, the military honor guard fired a volley over the casket, and the bugler sounded taps.
Meanwhile, countians braced for the battle with the deadly contagion as the Salem Standard and New Jerseyman warned the public not to get panicky. “These are days for calmness and courage. While the disease is distressing and occasionally is followed by fatal complications, most cases quickly recover. The public duty is to restrict the spread of the malady by observance of all the simple rules of health,” the editor noted.
Salem County Shutdown
As national newspaper headlines announced the retreat of Kaiser Wilhelm’s Army, local officials acted promptly, closing all places of entertainment, public assembly, churches, and motion picture houses. Normal life came to a sudden halt. ((“Many Influenza Cases in City . . . No Deaths Reported,” Salem Standard & Jerseyman, October 2, 1919, p.1. ))
The epidemic struck Pennsville “full blast” that October, with more than one hundred cases reported. No family in the Delaware River community was not stricken, and in some instances, the entire family was down. The local physician, Dr. James, was almost worn out as he attended the sick day and night. As the medical situation worsened, Dr. MacDonald at Fort Mott received permission to admit civilians to the post-hospital, causing one newspaper to announce that “Salem County Now Has a Hospital.”
The deadly outbreak tore through Carney’s Point. There were three deaths in one day on one street, and the federal government sent five doctors and five nurses to help, while the DuPont company sent ten physicians from Wilmington. Patients were treated at the du Pont hospital, but the number of sick workers who lived in barracks ran into the hundreds, so one of the girl’s dorms was converted into a temporary hospital. The Penn’s Grove Record noted that there had been so many deaths in Carney’s Point and Penn’s Grove that it was impossible to obtain accurate numbers.
The Du Pont Company was praised for being an “angel of mercy” during the flu of 1918 emergency. “The Company . . . established hospitals, furnished food, nurses, medical attention, organized an ambulance service, and delicacies for the sick without reference as to where they lived or were employed. They cared for hundreds of people without homes, and all were skillfully treated. (( “Du Pont’s Emergency Work,” Salem Sunbeam, October 18, 1918.))
In Elmer, the epidemic played havoc with farm work, with some having difficulty attending to livestock, let alone gathering crops. One farmer, his wagon loaded with milk cases, was about to take it to market, although his temperature was 104 degrees. Only after a physician told him he might not live to get to the train station did he give up and let the milk soar.
A pall dropped on South Jersey as the disease tore a path across the region, people realizing the fatal power of this invisible enemy. At the height of the public health crisis, so many people perished undertakers could not keep up. Hearses rolled along township roads and country lanes while a pathetic site occurred at Ashcroft’s morgue with fathers, husbands, wives, and children weeping for their loved ones. Within a half-hour, one Sunday, six corpses arrived at the morgue, and 30 bodies were waiting to be embalmed. At Gross’s Undertaking Parlor, there were six bodies without caskets to bury them in. (( “Penn’s Grove & Carney’s Point.” Salem Sunbeam, Oct. 16, 1918, p.1 ))
With entire households stricken, weakened families struggled to survive as there was no one care for the children and the sick. When the “death angel” appeared at the Sheppard family, all eight members were down. The Hallenger family, where the young daughter was taken, there was the added misfortune when one of the boys developed appendicitis. He had to be taken to the Bridgeton Hospital for surgery. In many families, there was no coal.
One of the saddest situations was at the farm of Clement Lippincott in Mannington Township, where both Mr. and Mrs. Warren Nixon passed away, leaving a family of six small children. The youngest was about six weeks old and the oldest was eight years. Never in the city’s history had there been such a death rate.
Salem City recorded up to 25 deaths as the weeks wore on. At this point, hundreds of people were down, and the doctors worked almost beyond endurance. Dr. N. S. Hires, a long-retired caregiver, volunteered his service when it became apparent that practicing physicians had more than they could do. Several doctors fell victim to the malady.
Hoping to control the influenza while also providing a place to care for the most severe cases, the Red Cross opened a temporary hospital in the Sunday School Room of the First Baptist Church. Placed under the charge of Mrs. W. H. Hazelton, she drew on Fort Mott for cots and homes and businesses for supplies to establish the hospital. At the curb stood the Red Cross supply truck, which had been commandeered to serve as an ambulance. (( “Influenza Cases Reach Height . . . Will Open Hospital Here,” Salem Standard & Jerseyman, October 9, 1918, p.1 ))
A Penn’s Grove policeman detailed to the post office door admitted only three people at a time. The officer arrested one hurried man as he insisted on going in and when he was searched he did not have a registration card. “He now gets his mail in care of Sheriff Mifflin.” (( “Penn’s Grove News,” Salem Standard & Jerseyman, October 16, 1918, p.1 ))
After a couple of weeks, the epidemic waned and the Board of Health lifted the quarantine while the Red Cross Hospital closed. (( “Quarantine Now Lifted,” Salem Standard & Jerseyman, November 13, 1918 )) Life was returning to normal, but the crisis highlighted a long-standing need for a community hospital. In Salem City, the Emergency Hospital in the First Baptist Church had rendered invaluable service. The highest number of patients in the hospital at any one time had been twenty-six, and these included desperately ill people who could not get property treatment at home. There had been four deaths in the hospital: Mrs. William T. Mifflin, Mrs. Isabel Davis, Benjamin Lawrence, and Norman Gallaher. (( “Influenza Is on the Wane . . . Hospital’s Fine Work.” Salem Standard & Jerseyman, October 16, 1918. ))
To relieve suffering, the women of the county had rendered a public health service that could not be measure as the Red Cross took charge of caring for those admitted to the institution. Near the end of the crisis, Miss Irene Moore of New York, a registered nurse, and Mrs. Charles R. Lloyd of Princeton were sent by the State Department of Health to the local board of health for duty at the hospital. (( “Influenza Is on the Wane . . . Hospital’s Fine Work.” Salem Standard & Jerseyman, October 16, 1918. ))
For more on the Flu of 1918, also see
In Salem County see part II of this article — When Death Came Calling Salem County Needed a Hospital
100 years ago, Spanish flu pandemic brought dread to New Jersey
The 1918 Flu Pandemic: Why It Matters 100 Years Later, from the CDC Blog
Note: Originally published in the Newsletter of the Salem County Historical Society, Summer 2019
