Armed guards once surrounded a small mountain region of Virginia to keep smallpox from escaping.
In February 1900, the Denmark area near the headwaters of Kerr’s Creek was placed under strict quarantine after the disease appeared there. The infected district covered about twenty square miles of mountains and hollows, and guards were posted along the borders to make sure no one entered or left.
Inside the sealed-off region, Dr. H. Rud Morison vaccinated residents under the direction of the local health board.
About forty cases had already been reported, including ten in a single family, but officials hoped the armed quarantine would keep the outbreak from reaching Lexington, twelve miles away.
Armed Smallpox Guards
LEXINGTON, Virginia. — The Denmark region, at the headwaters of Kerr’s Creek, where smallpox is located, in this county, is under strict surveillance.
An area of about twenty square miles is patrolled by armed guards, who are so located that no one can enter or leave the infected region. The area embraces mostly mountains and hollows.
Dr. H. Rud Morison is vaccinating all the inhabitants under the direction of the health board established there.
There are now about forty cases, ten of which are in one family. So far, no cases have been discovered in any other locality.
The nearest line of the infected region is twelve miles from Lexington.
Source: The Evening Times. Washington, D.C. February 23, 1900.
