There was no warning in the early September issues of the Boothbay Register that the flu epidemic of 1918 was a possible danger to the region. Measles had been a slight problem, but suddenly on Friday, Sept. 20, the paper was full of news of the Spanish influenza. “A wide sweeping epidemic of Spanish influenza, grippe, and colds has been raging in town this week and there have been several serious cases with many more much lighter. St. Andrews is full with the new ambulance called out every few hours.” Doctors Gregory and Stevens were unusually busy and several mackerel vessels in the harbor were infected. Schools were closed on Tuesday for a week.

Things deteriorated so fast that by Sept. 21, “The Board of Health printed sanitary practices advisories and ordered that the schools, churches, theatres, lodges, and other public gathering places be closed until further notice." Each week some of the sick were listed, such as Donald Blake and Florence Burnham of Back Narrows. The first death of 27-year-old Ethel Lewis, daughter of Albert and Emma, was listed Sept. 27.

Lester Barter of Sea Street remembers that his father Miles, and his uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. George Barter, talked over their wish to go down to the Brockton Fair as they did every year. They decided to go despite the epidemic. Lester recalled a long street, Pleasant Street, that went west out of Brockton heading to the cemetery below the Douglas Shoe Factory. Twelve-year-old Lester watched big high 18-foot drays (flatbed wagons) go by in a steady procession piled with caskets, four or five high. The September 27 paper reported the Barters back from their trip to Brockton. Nobody in Lester's family got the flu, but he remembers that a neighbor, Herman Pinkham, had it though not bad.

Things at a Standstill

The epidemic was everywhere. The Oct. 4 paper noted that Howard Carr, a clerk at C. J. Marr's, was drafted but told to wait because the army camps were overwhelmed with the epidemic. Hardie Pierce wrote from in the service that, "By the time I get home everybody will be dead. Every time I get a letter from Sister, it has a death." To escape the flu, summer residents came back to the region or stayed on. Eddie Childs, a motion picture operator from Melrose, returned since all public places were shut; Henry Cook of Brookline came up since the schools were shut; and the Damariscove Coast Guard boys were to have no liberty until "the Spanish influenza scare is over."

Many of the local people who died of flu did so while away. The week of Oct. 4, the only local death was Mrs. Harrie (Grace Carlisle) Smith, age 30. But Mrs Ralph Holton, 33, died in Massachusetts; Sidney Orne died in the service; East Boothbay's Charles Seavey died in Massachusetts; and Southport's Roland Gray, a 30-year-old machinist, died in Boston.

By Oct. 7 the Board of Health, including Wes Hyde and Benjamin Kelley, opened public buildings and the Harbor schools to those not exposed. However, principals and managers were allowed to order people out at will. The October 11 paper revealed that the opening was premature and clamped back down since the epidemic was "still raging with as much fury as ever." Not all schools in the region were shut; for instance, Southport, East Boothbay, and the Harbor were shut, but Back Narrows was open. Seriously sick the week of October 11: Owen Stover, Frank Tibbetts, J. R. McDougall, Harry Farmer, George Dunton, Walter and Mrs. Dunton, Lawrence Bennett, and Dewey Spofford.

Two Murray brothers died the week of Oct. 11 in Gloucester: Capt. Earl D. Murray, 25, captain of the mackerel steamer Nirvana; and Capt. Eugene Murray, 43, captain of the mackerel steamer Mary Ruth, "one of a famous family of sea captains." Others who died here were Merrill Burnham, 16; Abbie Brewer (Mrs. Arthur) Kelley, 32; Louise Lewis, 32; and Miss Babb.

By Oct. 18, Mrs. Walter Dunton, 31, died, and while many were very sick — such as Mrs. Ida Jones, Sherb Stevens, Richard Spofford, Mrs. F. C. Littlefield, Capt. Ben Coolen, Bert Orne, Walter Brown, Lewis Perkins, Raymond Farmer, Farley Gray, Louis Carbone, Emery Thompson, Mrs. Russell Holton, and Grace Farmer — many were being released from the hospital. Still the East Boothbay column related that all public gatherings were still prohibited. The paper bragged that Boothbay Harbor was one of the first towns to ban public gatherings.

The week of Oct. 18, the paper printed bulletins and circulars from the state and federal government, giving some background on the epidemic and providing health advisories and information on free masks. The last epidemic had been in 1889 and while the present one was called Spanish influenza, the government knew it did not originate there, but was unsure of its origin.

The Origin of the 1918 Flu

An excellent Sept. 29, 1997 New Yorker article provided information lacking in 1918. (All the following is drawn from that article.) Malcom Gladwell wrote that the first case of the deadly flu was March 4, 1918 at Camp Funston, Kansas. By April most U. S. cities and Europe were infected with the serious, but not disastrous, illness which was carried by waves of troops. It subsided in midsummer, but bounced back as a mutated killer in late summer. The first case of the second wave was August 22 in Brest, a major port for incoming American troops; by the time it reached Spain a few weeks later, it became known as the "Spanish flu." The strain then spread all over the world.

Normally flu killed the very old and very young, but 1918's killed mostly healthy young adults. Mild flus are usually more prevalent than deadly flus because people mildly sick continue interacting with others, while people infected with the worst strains stay home, more isolated. The war and the enforced movement of troops and refugees forced this worst strain of flu around the world; in peacetime that probably would not have happened.

Ducks are the reservoir for flu viruses. Gladwell wrote, “They carry most of the known subtypes of influenza without apparent ill effect and excrete them in their feces, thereby spreading them through land and water to the rest of the animal kingdom.” Gladwell theorized that a migrating duck left virus-laden waste in Kansas that was converted into a human-friendly virus. It is thought that ducks can't directly infect humans (though in May 1997 a boy in Hong Kong died of an avian flu virus), so the virus probably combined in another animal, such as a pig. For instance the 1968 Hong Kong flu consisted of seven genes from a human flu virus and one gene from a duck that combined inside a pig. China is now where many of the flus originate since there is a high likelihood of interspecies virus movement because of the number of wild and domestic ducks and farm pigs.

Though the epidemic was called the Spanish influenza, it was American in origin. By mid-October, the Boothbay region was only a quarter of the way through the 1918 epidemic.