Men Employed at the Mill of the Rome Metal company Drank Water That is Used for Cooling the Rolls -- One of Them is Dead and Three Others are Seriously Ill -- Water Contaminated by Sewage From Oneida County Home -- Statement of Health Officer Mahady.
Edward Hanney, who died from typhoid fever at the Rome Hospital on Tuesday, was employed at the works of the Rome Metal Company, working about the rolls. There are two other cases of typhoid fever at the hospital and a third on S. James street. All are men. In making investigation of the cases, Health Officer Mahady has discovered that the three men who are now ill were fellow workmen of Hanney on the rolls at the Metal Works.
Following up his investigations Dr. Mahady found that the men who had been attacked with typhoid fever had been in the habit of drinking the water which is used to cool the rolls instead of the water which the Metal Company provides for drinking purposes. The doctor is satisfied that it was through the use of this water that the men contracted the disease.
The rolls alluded to are used for rolling hot metal and render them as cool as possible, small streams of water are dept running on them constantly. This water is pumped from the Mohawk River near by for this and other mechanical uses about the mill, but is not intended for drinking purposes. The company provides an ample supply of pure and wholesome water for drinking purposes and warns its employes not to drink the water that is used on the rolls. This warning is conveyed personally and by printed signs posted about the mill.
The water that is pumped from the river is contaminated by sewage, and this is the cause of illness of the men who have drank it. The Oneida County Home, on the river a short distance above the Metal Mill, runs its entire sewage into the stream, and the water thus contaminated is unfit for drinking at the pint where it is taken into the mill. The health officer says that these cases of typhoid are among the most severe in his experience. the three men who are ill are in a dangerous condition. He does not know of any authenticated case of typhoid fever at the County Home recently, but says there can be no doubt that the pollution of the water from that source has caused the illness of the men who worked on the rolls at the Metal Mill. He says that a person who has recovered from typhoid fever is liable to communicate the disease to others in this way years afterward.
Aside from the cases detailed above there are only two others in the city and they are very light, and are not traceable to this source. It is believed that one of the patients contracted the disease out of town.
Health Officer Mahady has sent to the state health authorities samples of water pumped from the river at the Metal Works and awaits the result of their examination.
Rome Daily Sentinel: November 17, 1908
Edward Hanney.
The death of Edward Hanney, aged 24 years, who reside at 929 E. Dominick street, occurred at 5 o'clock this morning. Mr. Hanney had been ill for the past five weeks with typhoid fever. He had been employed at the plant of the Rome Metal Company. Surviving are his father, one sister and one brother.
Rome Daily Sentinel: Nov. 18, 1908
DIED
HANNEY -- In Rome, on Tuesday, November 17, 1908, Edward Hanney, aged 24 years.
The funeral will be held at 3 p.m. on Friday at the home of his sister, Mrs. Maud Sollitt on Gansevoort avenue. Interment in Glenmore Cemetery.
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