On This Date in Minnesota History: June 4

June 4, 1903 – The Ramsey County grand jury this afternoon listened to evidence regarding the manner in which the detention hospital for smallpox patients is conducted. Some serious charges have been made of late regarding the treatment of patients, and the grand jury will probe the matter to the bottom.

¹Smallpox patient

One of the witnesses who will be called upon to tell what he knows about the treatment of patients at the hospital is John Welch, a steamboat fireman, who was released from the hospital two weeks ago. Welch speaks bitterly of his treatment, and when he was released he went to the health department to complain, but says his complaints were of no avail.

“When I was taken to the hospital,” Welch said, “I was placed in a room with many others and we were so crowded that the nurses could scarcely pass between out cots. The room we were in was filthy and the nurses who cared for us were incompetent.

“One day one of the nurses came along with a sponge with which to wipe of our faces. Before he reached me, he washed the face of a man who was covered with scabs and then without changing the water in the sponge, washed my face. It was something terrible. Food was placed before us., but if we were too ill to eat, no attention was paid to us.

“When a patient leaves the hospital he is almost forced to sign a statement that he was well cared for, and if he refused to sign any such statement, he is told that he cannot go. I refused to sign any such statement myself, knowing that I had not been treated right. The conditions are such that the authorities certainly should look into them.”

²St. Paul City Hospital was the Pest Hospital for many years

Mr. Welch says the hospital is altogether too small for its present needs and that as a result the patients have to suffer. Sheriff Justice and one or two of the others, he says, were given especially good care and were placed in rooms separate from the “common herd.”

Mr. Welch does not attach any blame to Supt. Weiss, whom he says is overworked and handicapped by lack of facilities.

It is stated that the grand jury was astounded at some of the stories told them of the hospital today, and a further investigation will be made Monday. Subpoenas were issued today for Sheriff Justus, Dr. Anker, health Commissioner Ohage, Health Inspector Sinks and Supt. Weiss, a number of whom who were before the grand jury today.

The charges regarding the hospital will be personally investigated by Health Commissioner Ohage, as well as by the grand jury.

The Saint Paul Globe; “Grand Jury Probes Tales Against Pest House; Officials and Former Patients Will Be Subpoenaed to Explain Charges—Matter Will Be Thoroughly Sifter and Any Abuses Righted.”; June 5, 1903; p. 2.

¹http://www.amnh.org/explore/science-topics/disease-and-eradication/countdown-to-zero/smallpox

²https://publishing.rchs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/RCHS_22-01_1987_Czerwonka.pdf

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