Cold Open

It’s February 7th, 1900, in the Chinatown district of San Francisco.

41-year-old lumberyard worker Wong Chut King hurries out the door of a Chinese herbalist, clutching a paper package to his chest. It’s so bright on the street that it hurts his eyes.

But as Wong squints in the sunlight, he can’t see where he’s really going—or what he might be treading in.

He jerks his foot back in disgust as he realizes he just put his boot through the swollen carcass of a rat. He’s used to seeing rodents on the streets, but usually, they’re scurrying around, feeding on trash. Over the last few weeks, though, there have been dead rats everywhere and there’s a growing unease that there is something wrong in Chinatown.

Wong senses that there is something not quite right about himself either—his skin itches, his head pounds, he’s feverish, and he’s feeling weak. He hopes the package he’s just bought from the herbalist will help. It contains a remedy that's been used for centuries to combat fever and fatigue. He’ll try to take them while on a break later—but for now he must hurry to the lumberyard, or else will be late for work.

The more Wong hurries, however, the more he struggles.

Despite the cool San Francisco air, he’s soon sweating through his clothes. His light jog turns to a walk, the walk turns to a stagger, and before long, he needs to lean against a wall just to support himself.

As he tries to regain his strength, the busy street around him begins to darken, then blur. His eyes roll back, his legs go out from under him, and Wong Chut King collapses to the ground.

Wong Chut King will be carried to his bed and, after four long weeks of suffering, he’ll succumb to a raging fever. But he won’t be the last to die of the sickness that’s infected him. One of the great scourges of humanity has come to the United States. And the battle to defeat it will be more than just a fight against disease. California’s racist underbelly and the corruption of its politics will all be exposed as the bubonic plague spreads beyond its first victim, Wong Chut King, who fell ill on the streets of Chinatown on February 7th, 1900.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is February 7th, 1900: The Black Death Comes to America.

Act One: The Looming Threat

It’s April 27th, 1899, at the U.S. Hygienic Laboratory in Washington D.C., ten months before Wong Chut King falls ill.

Dr. Joseph Kinyoun slides back the last empty drawer in his desk which rattles loosely into place. Joe’s papers and books used to fill the desk, as well as the many shelves that line the walls of the office. But now, they’re all empty. After more than a decade of working here, Joe has cleared his things. And he’s leaving.

The Hygienic Laboratory is a division of the Marine Hospital Service, one of the first public health organizations in America. The laboratory was established in 1887 and has been on the frontline in the battle against contagious disease ever since. Every year, millions of immigrants enter the United States through its ports, bringing with them diphtheria, cholera, yellow fever and a host of other deadly illnesses and it’s the job of the Hygienic Laboratory to help ensure those diseases don’t spread.

Joe was handpicked by Surgeon General Walter Wyman to run the lab. Just 25 years old when he started, Joe is now a world expert in the emerging fields of microbiology, bacteriology, and immunology. In recognition of Joe’s achievements, Surgeon General Wyman has promoted him. But the new role means Joe must transfer across the country to take charge of another government facility in San Francisco.

Picking up the last of his belongings, Joe locks the door to his office for the final time. He has mixed feelings about this promotion. He’s heard rumors about the reason behind it—that Surgeon General Wyman feels threatened by Joe’s growing reputation and is just getting him out of the way. Still, whatever Wyman’s motivation, Joe knows that there is important work to be done in San Francisco. For years, he's been warning of a new threat growing from an old disease: the bubonic plague.

When the Black Death struck Europe in the mid-14th century, it killed nearly half the population. Now, Asia is in the grip of another epidemic of the plague. 15 million people have died already, and Joe knows it's only a matter of time before the disease reaches the continental United States.

It’s a prospect that might seem frightening, but Joe can’t help feeling a little excited as well. Despite years of study, the causes of bubonic plague and its transmission vectors are yet to be confirmed. And his move to San Francisco could be an opportunity for Joe to understand and even cure one of the most deadly diseases in human history.

He gets his chance even sooner than he expected. Only two months after Joe leaves the laboratory in Washington, a Japanese ship docks in San Francisco harbor. On its journey across the Pacific, two passengers on the Nippon Maru died of suspected plague. They were buried at sea, and everyone else on board seems healthy, but the harbor authorities in San Francisco don’t want to take any chances. The ship, its cargo and its passengers are all placed under a 15-day quarantine.

The following day, though, the bodies of two stowaways wearing Nippon Maru life vests wash up in the bay. Initial tests indicate that they have been infected with the plague and it seems despite all the precautions, the Black Death has found its way ashore.

Joe knows this threat requires bold action. So first, he tries to cut off all external sources of infection. He declares that any ship arriving in San Francisco from a known plague hotspot must fly a yellow flag, so authorities can inspect those onboard for symptoms before they dock.

But this doesn’t go down well with local businessmen, who depend on the cargo carried in those ships. They complain that the delays caused by Joe’s policy risk damaging the local economy—and the businessmen have friends in high places: San Francisco Mayor James D. Phelan and California Governor Henry Gage.

Governor Gage is especially desperate to dismiss any suggestion that the plague is in California. He even threatens to send in the National Guard to prevent Joe’s rules from being implemented. But Joe stands firm. All ships arriving in San Francisco from India, China, Japan or Australia must fly the yellow flags and submit to inspections.

For now, Governor Gage and Mayor Phelan back down. But Joe’s determination to stop the disease has made him some powerful enemies. And when the plague continues to spread despite his efforts, Joe will soon find that he won’t just be battling to save lives—he’ll be battling to save his career.

Act Two: War on Two Fronts

It’s early March 1900, at the Marine Hospital Service laboratory in San Francisco, eight months after Dr. Joseph Kinyoun moved to the city.

In the morgue, Joe carefully examines the body stretched out on the slab in front of him. Weeks after he collapsed on the streets of Chinatown, lumberyard worker Wong Chut King has finally died. Now, it’s up to Joe to confirm what killed him.

At a glance, Joe is almost certain of his diagnosis. The foul-smell of the skin rash is overwhelming, and there are swollen, blistering lumps on Wong’s armpits, neck and groin—the buboes that give the bubonic plague its name.

But the consequences of this diagnosis are so serious that Joe needs irrefutable proof. So, using a syringe, he draws fluid from an infected lymph gland. His plan is to infect several test animals with the fluid. And if they develop the plague too, then Joe thinks no one will be able to deny the truth.

But while he waits for his experiment to produce results, Joe receives a telegram from his boss in Washington D.C.. Surgeon General Walter Wyman has heard about the suspected plague case and instructs Joe to place Chinatown under immediate quarantine.

Joe is conflicted. He believes the order is unconstitutional as it seemingly targets Chinese Americans based on their race. But he doesn’t feel he can refuse his boss, so he reluctantly issues the order. The 12 blocks of Chinatown are roped off overnight, with police stationed at every junction.

The residents of Chinatown are furious at the new restrictions, but anti-Chinese sentiment has been building in San Francisco for years, so at first, there is little sympathy for their plight. But within just hours, however, local businesses start to realize how much they depend on labor provided by the people now trapped in their homes. They begin lobbying Surgeon General Wyman for the quarantine to be lifted. With Joe still waiting for conclusive results from his tests, it’s soon decided that the restrictions can’t be justified. The Chinatown quarantine is lifted.

But just two days later, Joe arrives at his lab to find that three of his test animals have died. He urgently studies samples from the animals under his microscope and sees plague bacteria in all three. There can now be no doubt what killed Wong Chut King—for the first time in history, bubonic plague is in America.

When Joe announces his findings, it causes a national panic. But localy he doesn’t get much support.

California Governor Henry Gage doesn't want any talk of the plague in San Francisco. So he flat out denying the existence of the plague, and then accuses Joe of deliberately misleading the Surgeon General and the public. Even as more people in Chinatown start dying, friendly newspapers spread Gage’s message far and wide. Their aggressive headlines either call the plague a fake or insist it’s no worse than any other common illness.

Without the cooperation of elected officials and with newspapers doing all they can to sow doubt among the public, it’s difficult for Joe to take effective action. By May, he has to admit that he's been unable to eliminate or contain the plague. There are now 11 confirmed cases, and Joe suspects that many more have been hidden from officials. So reluctantly, he informs his superiors in Washington that an epidemic is underway in San Francisco. He promptly receives a telegram from Washington. Once again, he is told to place Chinatown under quarantine. But this time, he’s also told to block East Asians from entering California at all.

This time, Joe pushes back. He says the best way to combat the disease is to clean up Chinatown and kill as many of the disease-carrying rats as possible. But his arguments don’t convince his boss, and eventually Joe decides he must follow orders once again.

Governor Gage, is furious. The plague is already costing the state thousands of dollars as tourism slows, and business leaders are complaining that the doctors’ cure is worse than the disease.

So Joe finds himself taking the brunt of people’s anger. Some locals try to bribe him to change the policy. Others simply try to kill him. Joe starts carrying a gun and staying in hotels under fake names. At one stage, the city even assigns a hundred police officers just to keep him safe.

Joe doesn’t meet any physical harm in the end, but his reputation is shredded. A group of residents in Chinatown take him to court, accusing him of overstepping his authority. And, in front of the California legislature, Governor Gage even suggests Joe has imported plague bacteria and injected it into cadavers to falsify test results.

Increasingly frustrated with this chaos, the Federal Government gets involved. Threatens to move a U.S. Army base out of California unless Governor Gage is more cooperative. This seems to bring him to his senses. As Gage promises to allow the Marine Hospital Service to work unobstructed upon one condition. He wants Joe Kinyoun fired.

By now, it’s become clear to Joe that his position in San Francisco is untenable. Still, he can’t help feeling disappointed when his boss fails to stand up for him. Surgeon General Wyman agrees to Gage’s demands and, in May 1901, Joe leaves San Francisco.

But Governor Gage has no intention of fulfilling his promise. As soon as Joe has left the city, he goes back on his word.

Despite the mountain of evidence, the governor will continue to deny that the plague is in California, and he’ll do everything in his power to prevent the Marine Hospital Service from stopping the epidemic. But while Gage plays politics in the Governor’s mansion, the bodies will continue to pile up in San Francisco.

Act Three: Vindication

It’s May 1902, in Detroit, Michigan, a year after Joseph Kinyoun was forced from his position in San Francisco.

Sitting in his office at a Marine Hospital Service facility, Joe signs his name at the bottom of a short resignation letter. He still feels the pain of events in San Francisco and, a year on, he’s decided there’s no future for him in public service. Despite the pleas of some of his colleagues to reconsider, he’s leaving for the private sector.

There, he’ll continue his life’s work against infectious illnesses. But meanwhile the disease that made him famous on the West Coast will continue its spread through San Francisco, and as more and more people sick, the criticism of California Governor Henry Gage only grows.

Increasingly, his denials and obstructive behavior are seen as a risk to the public and an embarrassment to his political allies. Gage is up for re-election in 1902, but his backers in the Republican Party refuse to support him. And he does not win his seat back.

In his final speech as California Governor in January 1903, Gage repeats his claim that the plague was concocted by Joe Kinyoun, and once again blames him for all the problems that followed.

So, it falls to Gage’s successor to finally bring the plague epidemic under control. The new Governor embraces the course of action that Joe advocated: better sanitation and the mass culling of infected rats. By 1904, 119 people in San Francisco are known to have died from the plague—with many more unconfirmed cases suspected. But from then on, the numbers decline. Fears that the Black Death would sweep the nation and cause mass suffering begin to subside.

Still, the U.S. Government knows it’s been a close call. The nation’s defenses against infectious disease have been tested—and found wanting. Reforms are needed, so the Marine Hospital Service is expanded with new powers, new responsibilities, and, eventually, a new name: the United States Public Health Service. Over the decades to come, it will transform healthcare and the treatment and prevention of disease in America.

But it will not eradicate the bubonic plague. The outbreak in San Francisco might have been brought under control, but the disease infected the local squirrel population and has remained a potential threat ever since. Even today, every year, an average of seven Americans still contract the deadly illness, more than a century after Wong Chut King fell ill on the streets of Chinatown and began a panic in California on February 7th, 1900.

Outro

Next on History Daily. February 10th, 1972. When his music career begins to stagnate, David Bowie reinvents himself with an alien alter-ego he names Ziggy Stardust.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Mollie Baack.

Sound design by Gabriel Gould.

Sound design by Matthew Filler.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Rob Cromwell.

Edited by William Simpson.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.