What Mr. and Mrs. Thomas C. Freyer experienced near Marshall’s Lake was alarming. In the middle of the night, a skunk entered their camp and attacked them as they slept, biting Mrs. Freyer on the cheek and Mr. Freyer on the hand when he tried to pull the animal away.
Within days, another traveler near Flagstaff was bitten by a skunk as well.
In an era when rabies was still called hydrophobia and often carried a terrifying death sentence, none of the victims were willing to wait and hope for the best. They packed up and headed for the Pasteur Institute in Chicago, where treatment offered their best chance of survival.
The 1906 report is brief, but it captures the fear that once followed animal bites in rural America.
Skunks Bite Three Persons Near Flagstaff
FLAGSTAFF, Arizona. — Three people were bitten by skunks last week near Flagstaff and they were hastily sent to the Pasteur Institute at Chicago.
On Wednesday night at their camp near Marshall’s Lake, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas C. Freyer, while sleeping, were bitten by a skunk. Mrs. Freyer was bitten on the right cheek, and the animal had to be pulled away by Mr. Freyer, who was bitten on the left hand.
They came to Flagstaff, and left on Thursday night for the Pasteur Institute, Chicago, for treatment for hydrophobia [rabies]. The skunk which bit them was captured and taken to Chicago.
The skunk is not known to be what is called a “hydrophobia skunk,” and it is hoped that this may be determined at the Pasteur Institute.
Friday night of last week, E.J. Fuller of Pine, Gila County, who was on his way to Flagstaff, was bitten on his right hand by a skunk. The animal was caught and killed. Whether the skunk was of the hydrophobia kind or not is not known, but Mr. Fuller decided he would take no risk and left on Monday for the Chicago Pasteur Institute for treatment.
In the past, a number of persons have been bitten by skunks, and in a number of instances those bitten died of hydrophobia at the Pasteur Institute.
Source: Weekly Arizona Journal Miner. Prescott, Ariz. June 13, 1906.
