Show START OF SMALLPOX John Thompson Writes an Explanation of It HIS SON THE FIRST VICTIM The Young Man Did Not Bring it from Great Palls as Stated but was Exposed on the Train from a Man who Got on Board at Butte Trouble Mr Thompson Had in Getting Get-ting the Attention to the Matter that He Desired The Case of Dr Shopard in Emery is Reviewed Correspondence Tribune lidltor Tribune In view oC the many fsise and malicious reports thai have ben printed and clrculatjd regarding the spread of smallpox by the negligence negli-gence of myself and famll I I lake this method to place befote the puolle inc i facts in relation to the whole affair and tu show hint the spreaJ of the disease was not due lo our negligence Lust fall my sun Lester Thompson uas In Canada and beiner In ioor health lie determined to como honie He stopped on the w iyIn Montana about thirty miles beyond Gi < eU Falls and worked for a while on the ralload His health continuing poor he wrote ire for money to come horns with and I went him a money order which In itcelvcd on the 2Sth day of Seplombor He slarled tin name day He sot his money order cashed in Great Tails and left for homo Great lulls was not Quarantined at that Uirj and about 100 passengers left on th same train lie never jumped quarantine I at Great I alls or nny other place Now afiei having sen the disease my boy recalls that a mar whose lace uas broken out the samo as those i hc have had the smallpox hor got on the train at Butte about nine days allot that he believes he was exposed al that time There wero three miners from Great Falls bound for TJntlc li the same car and It Is mobable that they took the disease to that section of the State He was at home about five days v hen he began to break out 1 went immediately immedi-ately to Manli after Dr Olaton toiling him the boy had broken out with some skin eruption and requested him to come out and sec him But he could not go home with me having received a message calling him to go to Kph ralm Mrs Thompson went after him again next day and he could not come then but promised lo come out Sunday On Tuesday 1 went for him again and told him Just how the boy was He said It I might be smallpox and that I had better bet-ter get Dr Andrttws the county quarantine quar-antine officer for that district as it was his duty to look after such cases I went right lo Gunnlson and got Dr Andrews He examined the boy and i I pronounced It nothing more nor less < than chickenpox Having had contagious diseases In my family before I was afraid It might de elop Into something worse no I requested re-quested him to Hag us for fear it might spread Pic said that was entirely unnecessary un-necessary he said he would make us another visit In two or three days He did not do o however and after three days had passed I wrote him demandIng demand-Ing that he come and make another Investigation In-vestigation but he did not come We turned away the people who were boarding with us the day after 1r Andrewss first visit Three weeks after his first visit Dr Andrews wrote the Board of Health At Sterling to go up and sec how wo ere getting along and to see If any member of my family who had had chickenpox before was down with this disease Ono of my children had had chickenpox but that ono did not catch this disease During the time that had elapsed since Dr Andrewss first visit four members of my family had been sick with the disease nnd had recovered When Dr Andrews came again he excused ex-cused himself for not coming when I wrote for him by saying that one of Iho members of the Board of County Commissioners Com-missioners said It would be putting the county to I too much exnnese to make the trip when it was not necessary Dr Andrews told me he had had a great deal of experience with smallpox and itS thoroughly familiar with It This Is a true slatemont of the whole affair and I think It JustUIen me In writing Jn exoneration of myself and family JOHN THOMPSON lOphraim Ulah Jan Hli |