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14
On October 13th, Mary Ann and James Mulverhill—Gaffney's sister and
brother-in-law—who had been at the Shelter since October 4th, were taken ill,
and the rash appeared on October loth. They were taken to the Small Pox
Hospital on October 15th. Both must have contracted the disease on
October 1st, when the rash first appeared on Gaffney.
On October 20th, Mrs. G-, of 134, Royal Mint Square, called at Dr.
B-'s surgery. She had no rash at the time. He gave her a bottle of medicine,
which contained bromide of potassium. A rash appeared soon after taking the first
dose. On October 22nd, she again called at the surgery, and Dr. B- said
the rash was due to the medicine. She was next seen by Dr. B- on
October 24th. On no occasion did Dr. B- visit Mrs. G-— in her own home,
neither did she mention the fact to the doctor that there had been a case of
small pox next door. On the evening of Saturday, October 30th, the Superintendent
of Royal Mint Square Buildings casually mentioned to another doctor-
Dr. M- that Mrs. G- had a rash on her face, and that she lived next door
to the place where the case of small pox occurred. Dr. M- called and
notified the case to me. I received the notification on Monday morning.
Mrs. G- was very indignant, and when I called, previous to the arrival
of the ambulance, she had gone to see Dr. B-. Dr. B- again assured
her that she was not suffering from small pox or any other infectious disease.
As Inspector Wrack and I waited for her, she kept away from her house,
purposely, in my opinion, until the afternoon. The ambulance had to go away
without her.
I saw her soon after she returned home, and I again telephoned her
removal. Mrs. G- was not laid up, but mixed freely with other people
during the twelve days that she had the rash, previous to her being removed
to the hospital. In addition to calling four times at Dr. B-'s surgery, she
was in the habit of frequenting four public houses. It will, therefore, be seen
how impossible it was to keep all the contacts under absolute supervision.
Mrs. G-'s husband, a stoker, was leaving London at 4 a.m on
November 2nd, for a three weeks' voyage. He was stopped and taken to the
Council's Shelter, where he was detained for 15 days.
It will be remembered that Gaffney called at Mrs. G-'s premises on
September 28th. He was removed to the Small Pox Hospital on October 4th,
and his relatives were taken to the Shelter on the same date. Their premises
were disinfected on September 28th, and afterwards closed. The clothing was
removed to the Disinfecting Station. Mrs. G- maintained that she did
not see Gaffney, or his relatives after September 28th. If she contracted