"Caged Up at Crescent" - - 1918 - 1920 - - Part Two

 

Fundraising poster from World War I

 "Caged Up at Crescent"

1918 - 1920
Part Two

 by Rebecca J. Becker

"Again?!" 

While the girls at Crescent College may have chafed at being penned up in quarantine, the reason for their confinement was clear.
 
The second wave of influenza was much, much worse than the first.

In fact, most of the deaths from the pandemic occurred during this second wave.

Information which had been carefully controlled during the first wave was impossible to hide this time.  The horrors of the outbreak were all too evident.

 Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia –
showing the severity of the influenza pandemic across the nation. 
In Philadelphia, the city could not keep up with the number of deaths
and was forced to have workers dig mass graves. 
Soon they were using steam shovels to dig the trenches required for the task.

But with less to occupy themselves, Crescent College students had more time to worry about loved ones serving in the military both at home and abroad. 

They'd heard nightmarish stories about more soldiers dying of influenza than as a result of battle wounds, and they wanted to know the truth.

What was going on?  What was life like for soldiers who caught influenza abroad?  Was anyone looking after them? 

Mary James
1909 Crescent College yearbook

Colonel Charles Dexter James, whose daughter Mary (pictured above) had been among the very first students at Crescent College, wrote poignant letters home - - letters published in local newspapers, and avidly read by those hungry for news from the troops.

The Star Progress [Berryville, Arkansas] 03 January 1919, Page 1:

LETTER FROM FRANCE
Eureka Springs Man Writes Interestingly of Army Life

“The following very interesting letter was received by Postmaster John Bridgford at Eureka Springs, from Col. C. D. James who has been in France since last August:

“DEAR JOHN:  

“Your welcome letter of the 18th of October reached me yesterday and I was certainly glad to hear from you. Well, John, thank God the war is over and the boys can soon go back home. For my part I am certainly glad it is over. I was very much disappointed I did not get on to the fighting line, but I guess I did my share for I trained over 6,500 men and sent them to the front...

20 September, 1918.  Temporary shelter in a bombed-out church in Neuvilly, established by the 110th Sanitary Train, 4th Ambulance Corps in France.
Photograph by Sargent J. A. Marshall (Army).

“We colonels were sent to school. 

"After I had been here a week I was taken sick with influenza, as the doctors call it, not the Spanish, and came to this hospital where I have been ever since and will be here some time yet, or will be sent to Nice to a big hospital there for recuperation.

“I was pretty badly worked down.

“Nice is in the southern part of France on the Mediterranean sea. I will be there at least thirty days the doctors say. I am held here on orders and may have to go to Germany with the army of occupation.

American Hospital at Nice 1915 - 1918
Illustration by Reginald Cleaver 1918

“This is quite a compliment as it is understood only the officers considered the most efficient are sent forward for that work.

“I am disappointed for I want to come home. I am sure homesick.

“Don’t know where Richard and Charles are. [These were the Colonel’s sons, and Mary’s brothers, ages 24 and 20, respectively.]

Journée nationale des tuberculeux anciens militaires
Cover Illustration

“...Both of my boys have made good and God bless them. I am so proud of them. Charles is a first lieutenant and is a fine young officer. Richard is a corporal….

“I heard from Mrs. James [the Colonel’s wife, Mary’s mother] today.… God bless her; she is the bravest woman I know of. She gave up her two sons and me and without a murmur.

“…I am writing this letter by a candle; this is the only electric light we have in this hospital....

“Well, I must close for I am very tired tonight. Give my love to Mrs. B. and any others and with the best of regards to you I am,

“Your friend,

“COL. CHAS. D. JAMES”

Colonel James had minimized his condition, which he revealed in his next letter, published with the one above. 

From The Centennial History of Arkansas, Volume 3 by Dallas Tabor Herndon
(Arkansas: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company), 1922

"DEAR JOHN:

"Was delayed in getting letter off to you…

"I am expecting to leave here on Monday, the 9th of December, for Nice, in southern part of France for an indefinite stay there in the hospital. 

American Hospital--Neuilly-Paris
The morning rounds

"The climate here is fierce and the surgeon says none of us can get well who have had the flu, if we stay here, so about twenty-five or thirty of us are to be transferred to the hospital at Nice.

"I dislike to go and yet I want to go. 

"Help!"
Fund-raising poster from World War I

"I got my orders today and know what I am to do for the present at least…

"Col. Lampore, of Arkansas, is in the hospital too, and will go to Nice also.

"I am sure anxious to get home. War is not what it is cracked up to be.

"I want to get something good to eat and a drink of old Basin Spring water. Regards to all friends,

"Yours,

"COL. C. D. JAMES."

To everyone’s astonishment, Colonel James not only recovered, he was seriously considered as a contender for the Arkansas governorship - - in opposition to Claude Fuller, whose “large circle of friends in North Arkansas and his record as prosecuting attorney” made him a serious contender for the job. (1)

 And back home?
 

At first, no one at Crescent College was infected.

Mary Breckinridge Thompson and her husband (Crescent College's president) lost their son Breckie in 1918, although the little boy did not die from influenza.

Two of the youngest Crescent College students - - sisters Juliette and Mary Gertrude Franche, pictured below - - had been Breckie's constant companions.

Juliette Franche
from the 1916 Crescent College yearbook

Mary Gertrude Franche
from the 1916 Crescent College yearbook

While they were still reeling from their young companion's death, the papers announced the dreadful news:
 The Star Progress [Berryville, Arkansas]:

"D.C. Franche [the girls' father], a well known and much appreciated citizen of Eureka Springs, died at his home over there a few days ago from the effects of the flu."

Mr. Franche's death was one of the few to occur in Eureka Springs.
 

Bernice Root
Senior Portrait, from the 1913 Crescent College yearbook

Bernice Root, who had spent several happy years as a student here and was now a teacher herself, was desperately ill in 1919:

Iola Daily Register and Evening News [Iola, Kansas], 12 April 1919, Page 4: 

HIGH SCHOOL NOTES

"Miss Bernice Root, who has been ill with influenza for over four weeks, is able to be at her school for two classes each day. Next week she hopes to be able to teach all of her classes."

At Crescent College, the faculty found itself with dozens of restless girls on their hands.

The usual physical activities - - horseback rides, hiking and basketball games with neighboring schools - - were all forbidden.

Quarantine notice, 1918, from Quincy, Illinois, closing schools, churches, movie theatres...

Local churches were closed.

Movie houses were shut. 

[Modern-day visitors may be stunned to learn that Eureka Springs – which has no movie theatre today - - had more than one in 1919!  Both the Queen Photo Play House and the Empire Theatre (“Presenting Popular Players and Pleasing Pictures to Particular Patrons”), were Crescent College favorites.]

An even closer connection between Crescent College, the cinema, and influenza is found in the following article:

The Star Progress [Berryville, Arkansas] 01 November 1918, Page 3:

“Mrs. Bernice Gibson, who has been, and is still teacher of stringed instruments in Crescent College at Eureka Springs, has purchased the Ozark Theatre business here and will reopen same as soon as the influenza epidemic will permit.

Bernice Wood Gibson
from the 1919 Crescent College yearbook

 "In connection with the show she expects to organize a regular stringed orchestra, and add any other feature to the show that will make it attractive to the people of Berryville.

Bernice Wood Gibson, director of the Crescent Orchestra,
is also the cellist on the left, seen here with other members
of the orchestra, in the 1918 Crescent College yearbook

"She will handle none but the very latest and best films and insure a good clean show at each entertainment.

"Friends here who know her personally speak of her in the highest of terms both as a lady and a musician and we are sure she will meet with hearty support from the first.”

Students found various outlets for their pent-up energies - - some licit, some not quite so much!

You’ll learn about one particularly spectacular prank - - held on Valentine’s Day, 1920 - - when we conclude Caged Up At Crescent – 1918 – 1920 next time!