A headline on October 11, 1918, in Westminster’s Democratic Advocate read, "The Grip Epidemic: Disease Spreading, But No Occasion for Panic." The article mentioned the outbreak had begun about ten days before, and "drastic steps throughout the nation are called for" – a statement conflicting with the optimistic headline. Also, it disclosed the flu was "unchecked" in army camps where the country's youth were being trained for the fight overseas. Hospitals in Washington, D.C., became filled.

The disease was spreading at an alarming rate, especially in areas where large numbers of people assembled to support the war effort. Everyone was urged to give complete cooperation to public authorities and "exercise unusual care as to health."

Soon Carroll newspapers were not just publishing the obituaries of combatants but dozens of local men and women dying in the prime of life. In contrast to the typical U-shaped graph of deaths from most diseases that showed high mortality among infants and the elderly, a chart of deaths from Spanish Flu was W-shaped. People between 20 and 45 were especially hard-hit. Children were orphaned, or a parent left to raise them without the help of a spouse. Just a week after the October 11 article appeared, death notices filled four columns in the Advocate.

The October 11th Advocate is also the first to mention the effects of influenza on Taneytown. Included in the Taneytown section of the paper are the following selected lines:

"Our schools in town and the county are closed Tuesday for an indefinite amount of time. We hear that the churches will be closed on account of the Flu."

"The sick at present writing are Mrs. S.R. Downie, Miss Katherine, and Master Richard Downie, Estella Essig, Edgar Essig, Ralph Sell, Norval P. Shoemaker Jr., Mrs. Frank Crouse, Mrs. Walter Crapster, Mrs. O.T Shoemaker, and Clotworthy Birnie."

Also appearing in the paper for that date was information regarding the return of Second Lieutenant John Alexander to his parents' home in Taneytown from Georgia to fight influenza. Lieutenant Alexander would later succumb to complications brought on by the illness. Also mentioned is the return of the remains of Private Howard Frock from Camp Meade, whose life was also taken by the flu.

Other Taneytown residents who died were:

Mary Elizabeth Null (October 4, 1895 – March 22, 1918) - Mary was one of many Taneytown civilians who died of influenza although she was not living in Taneytown at the time of her death. She had moved to Hutchinson, Kansas, to work as a stenographer at the International Harvester Corporation. Elizabeth's parents traveled to the home of Mr. and Mrs. J.E. Solenberger to bring Elizabeth's body back to Taneytown where she was buried in Trinity Lutheran Cemetery.

Corporal Raymond Luther Hesson (October 31, 1893 – October 6, 1918) - Raymond graduated from Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, in 1917. He spent one year as principal of a high school in St. Petersburg, Pa, before being inducted into the Army on April 30, 1918. After completing training at Camp Meade, he left for France on July 6, 1918. Hesson was assigned to Headquarters, 313th Infantry Company, while in France. Promoted to Corporal, Hesson died in a French Field Hospital after contracting influenza in the field while performing his duties. Corporal Hesson is buried in Trinity Lutheran Cemetery.

Second Lieutenant John Alco Alexander (July 19, 1894 – October 15, 1918) – John graduated from Western Maryland College with a B.A. in Pedagogy on June 8, 1917. (Pedagogy is the study of how knowledge and skills are imparted in an educational context, and it considers the interactions that take place during learning.) Following graduation John enlisted in the Army Air Corps, and entered the School of Military Aeronautics at Cornell University in Ithaca. Graduating from the School of Aeronautics, John was then assigned to the Headquarters Cadet Detachment in Souther Field, Georgia. John was honorably discharged on September 27, 1918, and commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Air Service. By October 11 he was back at his parents' home on Taneytown and Harney Rd. Four days later, he died from complications as a result of contracting the Spanish Flu. John is buried at Trinity Lutheran Cemetery.

Private Howard Arthur Frock (March 26, 1895 – October 16, 1918) - Arthur died from complications associated with the Spanish Flu; his cause of death is listed as broncho pneumonia. Broncho pneumonia was the leading cause of death during the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918 -1919. Private Frock was sworn into the Army on June 26, 1918, and assigned to the 49th Ambulance Company. Six weeks before his death, Howard had married Nora Baker (1884-1949); there is no evidence that she ever remarried. Nora and Howard were buried together in Taneytown’s Grace U.C.C. Cemetery.

Private William David Hess (September 23, 1893 – December 24, 1918) – William worked as a farm laborer just outside of Taneytown before he entered the Army. At age six, he went to live with his aunt, Mary Fogle, after the death of his mother. Willie's father was Richard Nicholas Hess. Willie had three brothers, Thomas, Lloyd, and Jacob plus two sisters, Bertha and Mrs. Maurice Utermahlen. He also had a stepbrother and a stepsister. He enlisted in the Army on July 24, 1918, and lost his battle with complications of the Spanish Flu on December 24. According to an article that appeared in The Carroll Record he battled influenza for approximately two weeks. He developed asthma and pneumonia from which he died. He is buried at Trinity Lutheran Cemetery with his mother, Mary C. Hess, who had passed away seventeen years earlier.

These five individuals are just a small sampling of the town’s death toll. Taneytown sent 72 men off to war, four were lost and three of those were a direct result of influenza. It is very difficult to gauge the effects of the Spanish Flu of 1918 on the small town of Taneytown whose 1920 population was only 800 people. From a sustainability perspective, the low population and the predominantly agricultural nature of the community probably lessened the stress on the infrastructure, while the loss of life must have been more devastating and felt throughout the community.

I would like to thank the citizens of Taneytown who took ownership of this writing. Many people are responsible for the information and pictures that made this piece a joy to write!

David Buie is a Taneytown Resident who has a passion for
Carroll County and its place in history.

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