Yellow Fever at Miami 51


There was a wing "suitable for cooking purposes with range and all
conveniences provided."43 Mr. Flagler paid for immune nurses (male
and female; black and white), who were recruited in Jacksonville and
Key West, to staff the hospital as well as serve in the community.
He also reimbursed Mr. Prout for the cost of the hospital building
($1,000). The hospital accepted both black and white patients, chiefly
indigents who had no proper place to receive food, lodging and medical
care."
 Dr. Porter took charge of the Emergency Hospital and the four
doctors in the community gratuitously gave their assistance in the
care of indigent yellow fever victims, both in the hospital and in the
community. No deaths occurred at the hospital.45
 It appears that after the epidemic ended the Emergency Hos-
pital building remained empty. The Miami Metropolis, for December
7, 1900, carried an advertisement: "F. W. Hahn is authorized to sell
the hospital building on Avenue C [Northeast First Avenue]. Apply
quick [sic] for a bargain in lumber."
 After Hargrove died on September 26, and the Hotel Miami
was thoroughly fumigated, one of its three floors was used as a
hospital for yellow fever patients. On November 12, while five pa-
tients were convalescing in the hotel, fire broke out. Although the
patients and attending personnel were safely removed, the three-
story, Dade County pine building, hosting the fledgling city's first
hotel, was a total loss in just thirty minutes. The fire also destroyed
five surrounding buildings.46 Rumors spread that the hotel had been
torched by an arsonist to get rid of the contagion within its walls.
These rumors were promptly squelched when it was determined that
the fire began in the room of a yellow fever patient, Mrs. Pell, whose
attendant inadvertently upset a "blue flame oil stove."

 Treatments and Remedies

 In the treatment of yellow fever, the experts recommended first
a mild laxative Compound Cathartic Pills (colocynth, jalap, calomel
and gamboge). If no bowel movement occurred in six hours, the
patient was given Epsom salts or castor oil, followed by a hot bath
to induce sweating, after which the patient was given a coal tar
product (Antifebrin, Antipyrin), soda and caffeine to lower the fever.
For nausea, an attendant rubbed the neck and temples with ice or
gave one-quarter grain of cocaine in tablet-form. For sleeplessness,