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| Illustrated Current News, Vol. 1, No. 788 18 October 1918 Photograph by Paul Thompson |
"Caged Up at Crescent" 1918 - 1920
by Rebecca J. Becker
by Rebecca J. Becker
Crescent College students had their own branch of the Y.W.C.A., and worked with others in the organization, providing hospitality and aid to young soldiers at Arkansas' Camp Pike during World War I.
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| Y.W.C.A. poster, 1919 |
We’ve written about their involvement in the camp before. Today, we're going to share a dark and potentially deadly corollary to their continued presence at Camp Pike.
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| Y.W.C.A. at Crescent College, 1918 - 1919 |
There were 52,000 men at Camp Pike.
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| Y.W.C.A. Hospitality House at Camp Pike, Arkansas (top) |
In early September, 1918 - - not long after Crescent College’s school year
began - - the camp was struck by the influenza pandemic.
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| "Pike Battles Spanish 'Flu"" - Headline, The Camp Pike Bugle (At this time, influenza was commonly called "Spanish Flu" because officials often prevented the publication of the high mortality rates in the United States and United Kingdom. Reporters were allowed to report about the impact of influenza in neutral Spain, leading many in the U.S.A. and U.K. to believe it was a Spanish disease.) |
By September 20, the hospital at Camp Pike was admitting up to 1,000 men a
day. The hospital only had 2,000
beds. Barracks and a hanger were cleared
out to handle the overflow, but the numbers increased far beyond nightmare
proportions.
At first, symptoms seemed to indicate patients were suffering from bronchitis. But victims rapidly - - terrifyingly rapidly - - got worse. In severe cases, patients' lungs filled with fluid, causing suffocation.
And unlike other epidemics, this one attacked young and healthy individuals as well as the very young and very old.
At first, symptoms seemed to indicate patients were suffering from bronchitis. But victims rapidly - - terrifyingly rapidly - - got worse. In severe cases, patients' lungs filled with fluid, causing suffocation.
And unlike other epidemics, this one attacked young and healthy individuals as well as the very young and very old.
In one month, 11,899 cases of influenza were reported - - including one-quarter of the medical personnel at the camp.
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| Another word used for Influenza was Grip (or Grippe) |
No one knows exactly how many people died from influenza around the globe.
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| Red Cross response to the Influenza Pandemic St. Louis, Missouri, 1918 |
Modern estimates? Between 30 and 50
million people, worldwide, who were infected, died. Roughly 650,000 – 675,000 of those deaths were in the
United States.
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| A-TICH-OO!! GOOD EVENING. I'M THE NEW INFLUENZA!! 1918 cartoon by Ernest Noble |
In other words, more Americans died of the 1918 influenza
than died in World Wars I and II combined.
The entire state of Arkansas was put under quarantine in October 1918.
The entire state of Arkansas was put under quarantine in October 1918.
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| Influenza in Arkansas Daily Arkansas Gazette, 19 October 1918 |
During that time, Crescent College girls were confined to campus. In nearly every town and village, schools were closed and classes discontinued.
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| 1918 Board of Health notice |
Not at Crescent College! Because everyone - - students and faculty alike - - lived on campus, classes did continue. Still, students were effectively trapped in the four-story limestone castle on the hill.
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| Elise Bergson from the 1919 Crescent College yearbook |
Students reacted in surprising ways both to this first influenza outbreak and to the
quarantine. Elise Bergson (hometown,
Shreveport, Louisiana) recorded her feelings about it all in a poem.
While not, perhaps, up to the standard of Boccaccio's Decameron (another literary work set in a plague-ridden world), Bergson's poem evokes the dread and horror of life at Crescent College during the epidemic.
THE INFLUENZA
While not, perhaps, up to the standard of Boccaccio's Decameron (another literary work set in a plague-ridden world), Bergson's poem evokes the dread and horror of life at Crescent College during the epidemic.
THE INFLUENZA
by Elise Bergson
(With apologies to Edgar Allen Poe.)
Once upon a school day dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a strange and curious way to reach the village store - -
And into the hall went snooping, suddenly there came a whooping,
As of someone gently coughing, coughing in the room next door.
“ ‘Tis some pepper,” then I muttered, “which has made her throat so sore - -
Only that and nothing more.”
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the blue October;
And the thoughts of Influenza made me shiver, shudder more,
So that then, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,
“’Tis some salt or else some pepper which has made her throat so sore - -
Something she has drunk or eaten which has made her throat so sore;
This it is and nothing more.”
Then I tried to listen sanely, I could hear words very plainly,
“You have caught the Influenza, you are sneezing more and more”;
This and more I heard them saying, as I sat, my ears then straining,
As I listened at the keyhole to the talk beyond that door - -
Talk between the village doctor and the girl who roomed next door.
“Influenza,” nothing more.
Then methought the poor girl muttered, as these words the doctor uttered,
“Take yourself to the Infirmary, for your throat is very sore,”
Then I shuddered and retreated, as I heard her moans repeated - -
As between her coughs and sneezes, she the doctor did implore - -
Then I waked - - and rubbed my eyelids, in the Study Hall once more - -
‘Twas a dream - - and nothing more!
(With apologies to Edgar Allen Poe.)
Once upon a school day dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a strange and curious way to reach the village store - -
And into the hall went snooping, suddenly there came a whooping,
As of someone gently coughing, coughing in the room next door.
“ ‘Tis some pepper,” then I muttered, “which has made her throat so sore - -
Only that and nothing more.”
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the blue October;
And the thoughts of Influenza made me shiver, shudder more,
So that then, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,
“’Tis some salt or else some pepper which has made her throat so sore - -
Something she has drunk or eaten which has made her throat so sore;
This it is and nothing more.”
Then I tried to listen sanely, I could hear words very plainly,
“You have caught the Influenza, you are sneezing more and more”;
This and more I heard them saying, as I sat, my ears then straining,
As I listened at the keyhole to the talk beyond that door - -
Talk between the village doctor and the girl who roomed next door.
“Influenza,” nothing more.
Then methought the poor girl muttered, as these words the doctor uttered,
“Take yourself to the Infirmary, for your throat is very sore,”
Then I shuddered and retreated, as I heard her moans repeated - -
As between her coughs and sneezes, she the doctor did implore - -
Then I waked - - and rubbed my eyelids, in the Study Hall once more - -
‘Twas a dream - - and nothing more!
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| Zelda Davis from the 1918 Crescent College yearbook Her favorite phrase was "Dad-sap-it!" |
There were real cases of influenza at Crescent College, however. Zelda Davis of Pine Bluff, Arkansas was the
first victim of the flu. She reported to
the infirmary on October 8th.
(Thankfully, she recovered, as you can see from the article reproduced below! In fact, being at Crescent College may have saved her. The Arkansas Democrat [Little Rock, Arkansas] reported on 21 October 1918, that Eureka Springs had so far suffered no deaths and the epidemic was light here, while Pine Bluff had already experienced 34 deaths and the outbreak there was severe.)
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| "Three Pine Bluff Girls Who Attended Crescent College" from the Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, 28 June 1918* |
By October 13th, the infirmary was reported to be “exceedingly
popular - - everybody sneezing and coughing."
Two students, Phyllis Hartley and Sara Avery, were overheard on October 15th:
Two students, Phyllis Hartley and Sara Avery, were overheard on October 15th:
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| Phyllis Hartley Junior Portrait from the 1919 Crescent College yearbook |
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| Sara Avery Junior Portrait from the 1919 Crescent College yearbook |
Sara to Phyllis: “Girls, I believe I
have the 'Flu.' How did you feel when you
had it?”
“Ache all over?”
“Well, so do I. I am just scared to death.”
“Ache all over?”
“Well, so do I. I am just scared to death.”
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| Influenza in Arkansas Daily Arkansas Gazette, 26 October 1918 |
By the next month the scare seemed to be over. The state-wide quarantine was lifted, and the girls were no longer confined to campus.
Still, influenza had some startling and unexpected consequences. Christmas in 1918 looked vastly different than it ever had before:
The Star Progress
[Berryville, Arkansas], 27 December 1918, Page 4:
"This is the first Christmas in memory of Berryville that flowers could not be had for decorations. The editor of the Star phoned to Eureka Springs to find that none could be had there.
"A dispatch from St. Louis says they are very scarce and very high in price.
"Carnations that usually sold for 75 cents a dozen are selling for four and five dollars a dozen, while American Beauty Roses sold for $1.50 to $2.50 each. (To help you understand how expensive that single rose was, $2.50 in 1918 was equivalent to $41.75 today.)
"The reason for the high price and scarcity of the flowers is the unusually large number of funerals this fall, caused in the main from influenza which depleted the supply."
"This is the first Christmas in memory of Berryville that flowers could not be had for decorations. The editor of the Star phoned to Eureka Springs to find that none could be had there.
"A dispatch from St. Louis says they are very scarce and very high in price.
"Carnations that usually sold for 75 cents a dozen are selling for four and five dollars a dozen, while American Beauty Roses sold for $1.50 to $2.50 each. (To help you understand how expensive that single rose was, $2.50 in 1918 was equivalent to $41.75 today.)
"The reason for the high price and scarcity of the flowers is the unusually large number of funerals this fall, caused in the main from influenza which depleted the supply."
But the influenza pandemic hit in three successive
waves, and the school was quarantined again the next year.
What happened at Crescent College during the second wave? The answer will surprise you!
But you’ll have to wait until next time for the
answers, when we continue with Part Two of Caged
Up at Crescent - - 1918 – 1919.
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| Graph showing the successive waves of the influenza pandemic |
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Special thanks to Elizabeth Cooksey, for her eagle eye and her very fine suggestions - - all of which made this a better article. Many thanks, also, to Robert L. Meeks (without whom so many students would still be in the dark!), to William Winsbury for his suggestion of just the right image, to Stephanie Byrnes for her interest, her excellent questions, and her time, and to Keith Scales for his untiring championing of this project and its mad progenitress! And to everyone who follows the Crescent College History Project and reads these words - - Bless you all!
