Headlines from 1918

Boston – Pneumonia caused more than 70 deaths in New England within the 24 hours ending tonight. In this city there were 35 deaths from influenza, including three Navy men, and 27 deaths from pneumonia.

Sept. 28: Many cases of influenza in Lewiston and Auburn

Lewiston – As many as 20 confirmed cases of influenza reported, with estimates that twice that many are unreported. Mayor of Lewiston closes dance halls and requires local theaters and street cars to be cleaned and fumigated daily.

Oct. 5: Fr. Gill declares services will be held

Lewiston – Reported 140 cases of influenza in Twin Cities. The Catholic Archdiocese in Portland announced that all church services statewide on Sunday, Oct. 6, should be held outdoors. Services at Saints Peters and Paul were moved to the local Dominican monastery.

Oct. 5: All public places in Rumford close

Rumford – Estimates place number of cases in Rumford at 200, but cases are not considered severe. Churches, pool rooms and the Mechanics Institute are all closed, and soda fountains and schools are to remain closed.

Oct. 11: Eight deaths and many new cases reported here

Lewiston – Forty-three new cases reported, bringing the total to 255 in Lewiston and 150 in Auburn. Whole families have been reportedly stricken.

Oct. 15: Local chapter Red Cross urges quarantine influenza

Lewiston – Disease continues to spread, but local officials call alarm unnecessary. Ste. Marie’s Hospital closed to visitors and visitors to C.M.G. Hospital are under restrictions. Both are reportedly full.

Oct. 18: Closing orders to be enforced

Lewiston – City Board of Health declares epidemic in city and orders all churches, schools, theaters, pool rooms, dance halls and public assembly halls and lodge rooms closed. 14 new cases reported in Auburn, and similar number in Lewiston.

Oct. 25: Ban raised in Lewiston, remains down in Auburn

Lewiston – 35 new cases, 279 active cases reported in Lewiston. In Auburn, 13 new cases were reported in addition to 113 active cases. Bates College remains in general quarantine. Auburn keeps public spaces closed until conditions are better.

Nov. 14: 457 influenza deaths

Augusta – Reports indicate statewide cases of 25,836 cases of influenza and 457 fatalities.

Health experts look at 1918 to plot future pandemics

“457 influenza deaths.”

That was a headline buried on Page 5 of the Lewiston Sun on Nov. 14, 1918.

Looking back on it now, it seems like a small headline for a pretty big story: In less than two months, the Spanish flu had swept through Maine, infecting more than 25,000 and killing more than 450.

Of course, people in Lewiston and Auburn were used to reading about the Spanish flu or the “grippe,” as it was called, by then. It had been in the headlines all fall as the illness made its way around the world.

The Spanish flu wasn’t the first flu bug to sweep the world – similar epidemics occurred in 400 B.C. and as recently as 1890. The Asian flu swept the world in 1957 and the Hong Kong flu caused problems in 1968, but neither caused the sickness and death of the Spanish flu.

By the time it had run its course in 1919, an estimated 20 million people around the world and an estimated 500,000 in the United States had died.

Compared to the rest of the country, Maine got off easy. While city health officials and Lewiston church leaders battled each other over whether to cancel services to stop the spread of the disease, 191 people in Boston died in one day.

The city finally forced churches to close on Oct. 18, less than a week before the disease hit its Twin Cities peak of 963 cases. About 100 from Lewiston and Auburn died overall that fall because of the flu or complications caused by the disease.

It went away quickly from there, virtually disappearing by November. A milder form made the rounds later in December, but didn’t cause as many problems. By the time it was finished, it had killed between 2,000 and 5,000, according to state health officials today.

Paul Kuehnert, deputy director for the Maine Center for Disease Control, said computer programs are great for predicting another flu pandemic, the Avian flu.

But they have nothing on history.

“We’ve looked at 1918, and what they did,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to keep from happening.”

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