100 years ago in The Record
Saturday, Oct. 26, 1918. Under pressure from public opinion stirred up by a Record editorial, some Troy churches are voluntarily cancelling Sunday services as a precaution against the Spanish flu.
As the number of flu deaths increases while the number of new cases reported daily decreases, Trojans are concerned that the city government hasn’t done enough to prevent the flu’s spread. Only yesterday did the city ban public funerals, a step taken weeks ago in some places. While neighboring communities have ordered churches closed, Troy’s churches have remained open on Sundays.
“Though officials are of the opinion that conditions are at a standstill, reports of new cases are being filed every day with but slight decrease being shown,” our reporter writes. Erratic reporting by local doctors has made it difficult to get a reliable count of flu cases.
“With eighty doctors in the city, it has been found that a very small percentage has reported at any time during the epidemic. One doctor waited until [the] day before yesterday and reported over fifty cases in one lump. Such reports are considered useless.”
Rev. Paul R. Hickok announces today that Second Presbyterian Church has postponed all services indefinitely. “The reason for this action is an earnest desire to assist in checking the further spread of disease in the city,” Hickock writes.
The pastor doesn’t want his action interpreted as endorsing criticism of city government. “It is believed that the health officer deserves the confidence and encouragement of good citizens in all that is being done to meet the existing condition,” he states.
While “the churches, of course, cannot possibly be regarded as so dangerous a source of infection,” Hickock calls on other churches to “take similar action as an encouragement to the issuance by the city authorities of orders which will reach all classes of citizens.”
Four more churches take similar steps, while First Presbyterian has delayed the opening of its vesper service “until such time as the danger has been passed.” Other pastors “do not feel at liberty to close their churches unless all others do likewise.”
Hickok believes that if the churches are expected to close, saloons should be made to close as well. They’ve been “summarily closed in many cities of corresponding grade with Troy,” he notes, “A similar order should be issued here at once.”
Arrests for public drunkenness have increased during the epidemic. “A majority of the prisoners have pleaded guilty,” our writer notes, “with the further plea that they were drinking heavily in order to escape the influenza, they having heard that whiskey was a safeguard.”
—Kevin Gilbert