by Pat Bourke
The new killer was named the “Spanish Flu” because people thought it had started in Spain. Historians now believe this form of influenza first appeared in the midwestern United States in the spring of 1918. It quieted over the summer, but in August a new, more deadly form appeared on a military base near Boston, Massachusetts. It spread to Europe as troopships delivered American soldiers to the war. It quickly infected the tired, undernourished soldiers fighting in the trenches, and then spread around the world.
Before it died out in 1919, the Spanish Flu killed an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 people across Canada, and 50 million to 100 million people worldwide. Historians estimate that one in every forty people who caught the Spanish Flu died from it. If a similar outbreak occurred now, estimates are that between 110,000 and 190,000 Canadians would die.
Influenza viruses are crafty survivors. They mutate easily into new forms and find new ways to infect people. Influenza causes aches and severe tiredness, and the mucus that builds up in the lungs can cause pneumonia. Before antibiotics were invented, severe pneumonia usually killed its sufferers. Even today, between 4,000 and 8,000 Canadians die each year as a result of influenza.
The Spanish Flu was different from “regular” seasonal influenza. Once infected with the virus, people became sick very rapidly, and the resulting pneumonia was particularly dangerous. Some accounts tell of people who died within twenty-four hours of showing the first symptom.
Toronto newspapers reported on the high numbers of sick and dying in cities such as Boston and Montreal, but medical personnel and city officials couldn’t agree about whether the Spanish Flu would reach Toronto. When it did arrive, it was at first confined to the nearby army camps and to the city’s military hospital. But once it entered the general population, it spread like wildfire. On October 2, 1918, the newspapers reported the second death from the Spanish Flu. By October 8, just six days later, Toronto hospitals were full and city workers were preparing two abandoned hotels to serve as hospitals. The Spanish Flu or its associated pneumonia caused seventy-two deaths on Friday, October 11 alone. By Friday, October 18, the total number of confirmed deaths in Toronto had reached 392; one week later, it had climbed to 1,023.
Confusion contributed to the high number of deaths, since many people who were sick did not seek medical attention because they thought they just had an ordinary cold or the regular seasonal flu. Historians believe that many deaths from the Spanish Flu went unconfirmed.
Symptoms varied, too. The Spanish Flu generally began with sudden weakness, pain, chills, headache, and fever. Delirium was common. Sufferers coughed up quantities of bloodstained mucus. The tongue could become dry and brown. A bloody froth might come from the nose and mouth. The pneumonia could turn faces and fingers blue, a sign that the lungs were not getting enough oxygen.
For about six weeks, the Spanish Flu affected every aspect of life in Toronto. Schools and churches were closed. Bowling alleys, billiard rooms, dance halls, and theaters were shut. No library books were circulated. The telephone company asked people to use the telephone only in emergencies because so many operators were ill themselves or nursing family members at home.
Wage earners in Toronto faced a difficult choice: should they go to work and risk catching the Spanish Flu, or stay home and lose wages? Those caring for the sick faced a more agonizing choice: help the sick and possibly bring the illness home to their own families, or keep away. Retired doctors were asked to help and women were urged to take basic nursing courses. Volunteers from churches and community groups prepared food in soup kitchens set up to help feed families stricken by the Spanish Flu.
It wasn’t clear how you could avoid getting sick. Doctors didn’t know whether people who had the Spanish Flu could infect others before they showed any symptoms. They advised staying away from infected persons and crowded places where you might be exposed to the airborne germs thought to cause the disease.
People were told to wear a mask and wash their hands if caring for someone who was ill. Aspirin powder, the only modern remedy available at the time, was helpful to bring down fever. (The pill form had been introduced during the war, but many people preferred to stir the powder into water.)
“Folk” remedies abounded. People mashed together such things as mustard, onions and hot lard, and then wrapped the mixture in a cloth and applied this “poultice” to the throat or chest. Others believed that drinking coffee mixed with mustard, or warm milk mixed with ginger, sugar, salt and pepper, would kill any germs! Goose grease, garlic, oil of cinnamon, and toxic ingredients such as camphor, sulfur, turpentine, carbolic acid and creosote (a black, tarry substance) were all rumored to be helpful.
Makers of patent medicines—medicines sold in drugstores without a doctor’s prescription—claimed that their products could prevent or treat the Spanish Flu. Many of these medicines contained toxic ingredients like those listed above. They were often sold door to door or advertised in the newspaper, sometimes on the same pages where public health authorities warned readers against using them.
A typical ad from The Toronto Daily Star in October 1918 for Dr. Chase’s Menthol Bag, manufactured by Edmanson, Bates and Company Ltd. in Toronto, reads:
These bags are pinned on the chest outside of the underwear, and the heat from the body causes the menthol fumes to rise and mingle with the air you breathe, thereby killing the germs and protecting you against Spanish Influenza and all infectious diseases.
Imagine being surrounded by people who stank of menthol (a mixture made from peppermint or other mint oils), mothballs, turpentine, garlic, onions, and tar!
The Spanish Flu generally struck adults between the ages of 18 and 45. However, the epidemic drastically affected many children in Toronto. In families where one or both parents were sick, children could go hungry because there was no one to prepare food, or no money to buy more. Coal deliveries were suspended because the drivers were ill, so many houses went unheated as winter approached. Many children became orphans. Often children needed care because their mother had died from the Spanish Flu and their father was serving in the armed forces overseas. The Children’s Aid Society and the public health nurses worked hard to meet the needs of these children.
The Spanish Flu continued well into 1919 in Canada and other parts of the world. In fact, the epidemic halted hockey’s 1919 Stanley Cup series at two wins each for the Montreal Canadians and Seattle Mariners, making 1919 the only year that the Cup was not awarded.
The custom of the time called for a black sash to be hung on the door of a house where someone had recently died. Black sashes on hundreds of Toronto doors served as grim evidence of the power of the dreadful disease. In all, more than 1,700 Torontonians died from the Spanish Influenza.
Author’s Note
Meredith’s story is made up of many different aspects of life in Toronto in 1918. The Waterton family was lucky to have a household staff. The occupations open to young women were growing—nurses, clerks, telephone operators, sales staff and, of course, teachers. As a result, jobs as domestic servants in Canada declined steadily after World War I.
Shea’s Palace was a popular vaudeville theater on Yonge Street, but I invented Galligan’s, the grocery store on Yonge Street that Meredith and Tommy visit. It would have been similar to Higgins and Burke, a successful store there at the time.
In 1918, Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management was a respected source of information on cooking and housekeeping even though it was written in 1861! A cook like Mrs. Butters could well have had it in her kitchen. It’s available online.
The airplane industry was just beginning during World War I. The war offered an opportunity to use this new technology. The book on airplanes that Jack browsed was written by John B. Rathburn and published in 1918.
The 1916 book of poetry by Lucy Maud Montgomery that Tommy gave to Meredith was a wonderful find.
Air Marshall Will
iam Avery Bishop—Billy Bishop—was Canada’s number one air hero from World War I. He flew patrols with his squadron of planes and conducted solo flights behind enemy lines, winning 72 “dog fights”—battles in the air—in 1917 and 1918. For an entertaining look at his extraordinary life, you can visit www.billybishop.net.
A collection of headlines
from The Toronto Daily Star
from October 1918
Dr. Chase’s Menthol Bag
ad from 1918
Acknowledgments
Toronto’s history is filled with terrific stories. The City of Toronto, through the Toronto Arts Council, generously provided financial support during the writing of this one.
I would like to thank Second Story Press and editor Jonathan Schmidt, who saw the potential in Meredith’s story and worked with me to bring out the best in it.
Karen Krossing, Patricia McCowan, Karen Rankin and Sarah Raymond provided unflagging support, astute observations, and wise advice over many cups of tea. Peter Carver and many participants in his Writing for Children workshops rooted for Meredith and provided insightful feedback.
My children, Kathleen and Harrison, and my husband Barry, cheered me on word by word, chapter by chapter. Their love and support made traveling the long road to a first novel easier.
About the Author
PAT BOURKE is a freelance business writer and editor whose previous careers included strategy consultant and high school math teacher. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Tippet Foundation, a charitable foundation that funds not-for-profit arts, education, and community organizations primarily in the Greater Toronto Area. She lives in Toronto with her husband, and children. Visit her at www.patbourke.com.
