{"id":1991,"date":"2020-06-17T16:19:21","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T16:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/illinoisnewspaperproject\/?p=1991"},"modified":"2020-06-18T15:36:07","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T15:36:07","slug":"five-weeks-in-october-week-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.library.illinois.edu\/illinoisnewspaperproject\/five-weeks-in-october-week-three\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Weeks in October: Week Three"},"content":{"rendered":"

by<\/em> Kimberly Lerch\u00a0 |\u00a0 Published: June 17, 2020<\/p>\n

October of 1918, the third week.[1]<\/a> At the beginning of last week, \u201cplaces of amusement\u201d were ordered closed, only one church service was allowed per week, but residents\u2019 children were still expected to attend school. Folks were becoming increasingly concerned by the flu directly affecting their community; there had been some civilian deaths in the area. The campus of the University of Illinois had three emergency hospitals set up and the number of students coming down with the flu was rising rapidly. Surgeon General Rupert Blue\u2019s printed interview on the Spanish influenza was enlightening, but didn\u2019t tell them the one thing they wanted to know: when would this end?<\/p>\n

All of the information used below was drawn from the Urbana Daily Courier<\/em><\/a> archived in the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections<\/a>. The Urbana Daily Courier<\/em> was printed once every Monday through Saturday by the Urbana Courier Co. in Urbana, Illinois. It carried major international and national stories, but concentrated on local stories on local county and city governments, crime issues, farm news, sports, and some university news, right down to the \u2018personals\u2019\u2014 a section that would list by name who was currently sick, receiving visitors, et cetera.<\/p>\n

The epidemic never led the news; it was never the headline. The war had that distinction, closely followed by the status of the Liberty Loan efforts.<\/p>\n

\n

Monday, October 14 <\/strong>\u2013 <\/strong>The Alarm has Sounded: Urbana Schools to Close for One Week<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There were ten deaths in Champaign County over the weekend. Eight were from Spanish influenza: five listed as pneumonia (following the flu) and the other three listed as from the flu directly.[2]<\/a> They were:<\/p>\n

Baby Clyde Lindeman: 1 year, six months old; son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Lindeman.<\/p>\n

Little Robert Ross: son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Ross.<\/p>\n

Paul Dust: 23 years old; a musician, he left behind a wife and one-year-old son.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Ethel Snook: 26 years old; left behind her husband Orville and son Lawrence.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Nora Parker: 26 years old; left behind her sister and father.<\/p>\n

Cecil Eaton: a cadet at the U of I\u2019s military aeronautics school; his body was sent to Sumner, Illinois.<\/p>\n

Donald Miller: U of I student from Vincennes, Indiana. He was the second person in the last two days on the University of Illinois\u2019 campus to die. As many were going in (300) to the emergency hospitals on campus with the flu as were being discharged (300).<\/p>\n

William (Fred) Moller: an undertaker.<\/p>\n

Dr. E.J. Miller was reported as gravely ill with the flu. On October 10, it was reported that he had the flu (see October 10 entry<\/a>). He caught it by extended contact with many sick with the flu. His brother, Dr. L.C. Miller, had just joined the military and Dr. E.J. Miller took on his patients, in addition to those in his own practice.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

The Urbana School Board held an emergency meeting and decided to close the public schools for one week. Just last Wednesday, October 9, there was an article that ended with the hopeful sentence, \u201cThe situation in the school is not alarming yet.\u201d That was just five days ago.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\u201c…[closing the schools] was the most effective way to try to keep the flu in check.\u201d October 14, 1918\u2014members of the Urbana School Board, at an emergency meeting held that day<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Champaign School Board voted to keep their schools open.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

Busey Memorial Library closed until further notice after consulting with local health officials.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

Hanging about local confectionery shops was banned. Instructed by the health department, police told the shop owners they were to have their patrons get in and out quickly, to serve their ice cream in paper cups, and thoroughly clean their utensils.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

There were so many Daily Urbana Courier employees and members of their family sick from the flu that the newspaper apologizes for the newspaper not being \u201cup to its usual standard.\u201d[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

Postponed or suspended:<\/p>\n