Community Sunday Favorites: The Yellow Fever Epidemic

Dr. Pelot performed an autopsy to try to figure out what was causing yellow fever.

PALMETTO- Prior to the late 1880s, not many people had died.  The warm sunny climate was considered therapeutic for a range of ailments, and a good number of pioneers came to Florida to take advantage of its healing benefits. But when one sick salesman from Tampa arrived at the wharf upon a steamer, the town would forever be changed.  A trail leading to the only cemetery was carved to accommodate a large procession of newly constructed coffins, and residents constantly watched houses on the outskirts of town for the telltale sign of circling buzzards.

Palmetto had completely escaped the yellow fever outbreak of 1887, which took place in Braidentown. One warm summer day in 1888, the town’s string of good luck changed the moment a drummer (term used for traveling salesman) arrived. He intended to visit James A. Howze about an order he’d placed for his store, but before business could be addressed, Howze noticed he salesman was acting strangely. He kept wiping has brow, which was common for a hot day, but he also complained he felt dizzy and nauseous. Howze took him across the street to his brother’s home to rest until he could catch the return trip to Tampa. A few days later, word traveled back to Palmetto alerting residents that the salesman had died of yellow fever.

Yellow fever is a horrific disease that takes place in three states. The first few days after contraction, a victim’s body becomes feverish, their temperature rising beyond 104 degrees. They become shaky, their body gets achy and they develop queasiness. Then the bleeding starts, usually from the nose, then the gums. Their eyes become bloodshot and that isn’t the worst of it.  Infected children start to have seizures. Three days after the symptoms start, the remission stage takes over. The fever will break and the victim may feel a little better. However, they usually continue to bleed and often experience anuria. Then the fever returns and the heart rate slows, a sufferer’s complexion becomes jaundice, (which where the origin of the name comes from), they start to vomit blood and their organs begin to shut down; the fever can lead to delirium, coma and death.

Because of the salesman’s visit, the entire Howze family was stricken -- the epidemic was inevitable.  Palmetto was not prepared for such a tragic event. At that time, there were no practicing doctors. Brave neighbors nursed the infected but the attacks were so erratic, no one knew what was causing the disease to spread. Every night huge bonfires of the victims’ sheets, clothing and personal belongings lit up the sky.

Yellow fever is thought to have originated in Africa when it was passed from monkey to mosquito -- once disease-ridden, a mosquito will remain infectious for life. It was brought to the New World on slave ships in the 1500s. Coastal towns and settlements in the United States were particularly vulnerable to the disease in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. After the virus is injected into human skin, it spreads to the lymph nodes then to the liver, spleen, heart, kidney and foregut.

The townspeople sent for Dr. John Pelot, of Manatee. Pelot rode his horse up river to a crossing near present-day Rye Bridge, then all the way to Palmetto whenever he was summoned.  A child living in a boarding house located on Lemon Avenue (8^th Ave) died of the fever. Pelot decided to do an autopsy. Saw horses were set up on a vacant field near the corner of Eight Avenue and Seventh Street, were the small cadaver was placed on the sawhorses and dissected. No one came near for fear of contracting the disease, but six-year-old Oliver Courter watched the entire procedure through a window of her home across the street.

At the time, Palmetto was composed of approximately 25 families, many still residing in their original Palmetto huts. Anyone with the means to leave town did so, in order to escape the dreaded epidemic.

When Mrs. Howze died, the first victim of yellow fever, a trail wide enough to fit a coffin was cut northward from the road to the ”old cemetary“ on Fifth Street. Up until this time, there were only two deaths. No trails lead to the plot, which is now known as the yellow fever cemetery.

Once word spread of the epidemic, the Florida Department of Health assigned Dr. Joeseph Porter to address the increasing situation in Palmetto.  Porter ordered the families who’d relocated on the outskirts of town to return. He wanted to observe them to determine if quarantine was necessary. 

In the pouring rain, Porter may have seemed like death himself as he approached the Harllee residence wearing a long black slicker. He didn’t enter the home, just called Mrs. Harllee to the window. Her bloodshot eyes were enough to convince him that she had been infected. ”You have it,“ was all the cloaked man said as she stood stunned behind a rain-soaked window – she was nine months pregnant and due any day. Ten days later the entire family had the fever.

Porter contacted Dr. H.B. Harrison of Oak Hill (now Parrish) to help him in Palmetto. Anyone who had become infected was under specific instructions. They weren’t allowed to drink water, only tea made from orange leaves.

Mrs. Harllee went into labor the day after she was diagnosed. Peter S. Junior was born with yellow fever, but he, as well as the rest of the family survived.  (Peter would go on to become Palmetto’s first mayor).

Summer became fall and the scourge was still taking its toll on  area families. The dreaded disease came into Olive Courter’s home.  As their mother and sisters lay moaning in bed, Olive and her brother Martin overheard a neighbor say their parents wouldn’t last out the night.

”What will happen to us, ” asked Martin, age 8.

”There are sweet potatoes in the cupboard,“ answered Olive. As if a bag of potatoes were enough to keep them alive.

Olive’s father died too, but as most reports said he died of the fever, one claimed the cause of death was a broken heart from having to watch his wife and daughters as they lay suffering. Olive and Martin became sick too, but lived to receive their yellow certificate signed by Dr. Porter. The slip of paper was given to all survivors, stating they had been victims, and were now immune.

During this period, there was no sawmills in Palmetto, coffins had to be shipped in. But Olive’s sister Carrie was buried in beautiful coffin lined with white satin. It had been a gift from her teacher, Mrs. Houghton, who had recognized the need for coffins and ordered his one ahead of time, in case there was a need.

The family living across the street from the Courter’s had adopted a Seminole child whose parents were driven to the Everglades during the Seminole Wars. Having been taught about certain herbal medicines, he was often called upon to soothe the suffering of the fever’s victims.

There were many stories of buzzards circling homes on the outskirts of town. There are tragedies related to this fever where whole families were found dead, huddled together for support. As the cold weather approached, the fever subsided.

For the first time, Palmetto had permanent doctors. In only a few months, the yellow fever cemetery was full of coffins.  Although an outbreak would never again occur in Palmetto, the need for physicians became very apparent to all and finally the first permanent doctors established their practices.