By KIRBY ROSS
Phillips County Review
PHILLIPSBURG — The bitter mudslinging, fist fights and even murders taking place in April and May 2020 regarding wearing protective Coronavirus Pandemic Masks might seem like it should be unusual. In fact, the issue of wearing protective masks descended to such a low spot just last week that the two major presidential candidates were actually calling one another names over it.
And while this feels like it should be unusual, it is not -- not by a long shot. During the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918-1920 the same bitter conflict including extreme violence took place relating to wearing masks -- took place not just in isolated incidents, but as a regular and pervasive aspect of that pandemic among police, civilians, doctors and lay people alike.
During the early days of Spanish Flu in 1918, the Washington State Board of Health issued a public health order requiring the wearing of flu masks in an attempt to slow down the spread of one of the deadliest epidemics the world had ever known.
Two Walla Walla attorneys, arguing their civil rights were being violated, decided to challenge the order. Both appeared in public without the masks, and were promptly arrested and charged.
A similar order was put into place in Iowa that same month. Upon being challenged the order was modified from requiring masks to be worn whenever out in public, to requiring them only when groups of people were assembling.
“This provision applies to all churches, theaters, and public gatherings,” required the modified order. Failure of any establishment to enforce the mandate resulted in a total closing of the facility.
In late 1918, three people were shot and a bombing was attempted in California, with the incidents being directly related to wearing/not wearing flu masks. The gunplay resulted when an armed deputy public health officer, H.D. Miller, attempted to enforce a San Francisco order requiring the wearing of masks. The incident began when James Weiser was standing in front of a downtown drugstore without wearing the required face covering, and was loudly telling others they should refuse to wear one too. The confrontation escalated, during which Weiser allegedly approached the officer and struck him over the head with a bag of coins. Officer Miller then opened fire, spraying bullets and wounding Weiser in the hand and the leg.
In Miller’s fusillade, two innocent bystanders were also hit in their arms, with both receiving minor wounds. Weiser was transported to the hospital. He was subsequently placed under arrest for failure to comply with the order to wear masks while Officer Miller was charged with assault with a deadly weapon.
Six weeks later, a mailbomb was sent to San Francisco Senior Public Health Officer, Dr. William Hassler, after he had persisted in his campaign to require residents of the city to wear flu masks.
Said a report on the incident, “Doctor Hassler has appeared before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors several times within the last few weeks with a recommendation that the board re-enact an ordinance making compulsory the wearing of gauze masks as a precautionary measure against the spread of Spanish Influenza, which is epidemic here. He told police he had received several threatening letters protesting against his insistence that the wearing of masks be resumed.”
The bomb consisted of three pounds of gunpowder with a fuse in it surrounded by shot and broken glass, all of which was encased in a metal pipe 5 inches in diameter and 10 inches long. Attached to the bomb was an alarm clock with a match on the striker, which was positioned to light the fuse when the alarm went off. The bomb failed to explode because the manual winder on the clock had run out.
In another legal case an elderly man in California refused to wear a flu mask in violation of public health orders because it hindered his ability to smoke. Upon being issued a citation he appeared in court, paid the five dollar fine, and tossed mothballs into the courtroom gallery in retaliation for his trouble.
The scofflaw, one E. Piercy, stated “I am 75 years old and have been living in this state for 67 years, and of all the fool laws ever passed this god darned flu mask ordinance is the limit. Here are a few mothballs to clarify this courtroom. I claim that tobacco will kill flu germs with a greater degree of efficiency than any blamed flu mask ever invented. I must have my smoke, and I’m not going to give up my tobacco for a cheesecloth muzzle.
As these types of cases proliferated the pushback from some segments of society continued. When taking their animals for walks in Pasadena, California, pet owners began appearing in public not only wearing the required masks themselves, their dogs also had them on. In addition, automobiles wearing masks also became a common sight around town.
With 2020 presidential candidate’s looks being judged while wearing a Covid Mask during the present election season, men’s appearances were also mocked back in 1919. One article from the Gardner (Ks) Gazette noted, “During the influenza epidemic in southern California the spectators and players at a ball game presented a ludicrous appearance. All were swathed in flu masks, even the umpire shouting his decisions through one. A fine of $5 was the penalty for removing the masks, even when the game called for enthusiastic rooting.”
Then there was Henrietta Lockwood of Chicago, Illinois, who rode the train cross country to Los Angeles in January 1919. Not knowing there was a mandatory flu mask order in place, when she emerged from the passenger car and went on into the train terminal, she saw hundreds of people wearing them. Thinking she had stepped into a massive cesspool of disease she ended up, according to the Associated Press, “in the county hospital here today suffering from insanity when she alighted from an overland train at Pasadena and beheld the station crowds encased in masks. Doctors say there is no doubt that sheer fright at the sight of the masked throngs caused insanity.”
Republished with permission. Images courtesy Phillips County Review.
