SeanPaulMurphyVille: My Family: Vincent Klima and the Spanish Influenza

Vincent Klima, standing, with my 2nd
great-grandfather Jan Kostohryz, seated.

Vincent Klima was my first cousin three times removed. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on May 7, 1891, the son of Vaclav Klima and Maria Kostohryz. Maria was the sister of my 2nd great-grandfather Jan Kostohryz. I always imagine Maria being bolder than her brother. While still a single woman, she emigrated to Baltimore from their home in Bernartice, Bohemia, years ahead of him. She met her husband Vaclav here. They married and had five children. Three girls and two boys. Vincent was the oldest son.

Maria Kostohryz Klima, left, with my great-
grandmother Maria Anna Kostohryz Rosenberger

Sadly, Vincent's father died when the boy was only eight-years-old, which left the family in a precarious situation financially. Being the oldest son, Vincent was expected to take financial responsibility for his mother and siblings. The moral responsibility also had civic repercussions. When the United States entered World War I, Vincent was exempt from the draft.* His younger brother James John Klima, however, was sent to France.

James, sadly, would die in France of lobar pneumonia on December 8, 1918**, after the fighting had stopped. Ironically, his older brother Vincent, who was exempted from service to provide for his family, was already dead. He died on October 17, 1918 from the global pandemic we commonly call the Spanish Influenza. The deadly flu swept through the crowded East Baltimore neighborhood where my family lived. My great-grandaunt, Josephine Kolman Rosenberger, died the previous day. The devastation wrought by the disease is clearly revealed on their death certificates. Over three hundred additional certificates were issued between the two of them, each one representing a family that was irreversibly changed.

Young Vincent Klima

To get an idea of the scale of the disaster, I copied stories from some of the local Baltimore newspapers on the days around their deaths. The facts are harrowing, but, in stark contrast to today's reporting style, the press wasn't being sensational or hysterical. They were accurately reporting the facts without trying to panic people. If anything, the classified ads, one of which from C&P Telephone I included below, gave a grimmer perspective.

Below is an excerpt of a story from the October 16th Baltimore American about the national implications of the epidemic that took Josephine's life:

INFLUENZA HOLDS WITH FIRM GRIP

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Death Toll Is High in Most Parts of the Nation

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SUBSIDING IN ARMY CAMPS

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Epidemic Unabated In District of Columbia

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Treasury and Interior Departments Issue Orders That No New

Employees of These Departments Be Brought to Washington

Until Further Notice -- Practically Every State in the Union

Suffering Under Sway of the Disease -- Pneumonia's Heavy Toll.

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Washington, October, 15. -- Spanish Influenza now has reached epidemic proportions in practically every state in the country, and only in three has it been reported as stationary, with some improvement in the situation in Massachusetts. In spite of all efforts by federal, state and local authorities, the disease has spread rapidly and the death toll has been high in most parts of the nation.
In Army camps the epidemic is subsiding, a further decrease in the number of new cases being noted today at the office of the Surgeon General of the Army. The total of cases reported was 6,498, a decrease of 773 from yesterday. Pneumonia cases were 1,916 against 2,523 the day before, but the number of deaths increased, being 889 against 716 yesterday.

Reports made public tonight by the Public Health Service show that outside of Massachusetts the epidemic is severe throughout New England. Not a single state east of the Mississippi is clear of the disease, and in most of the coast states from Maine to Florida conditions are serious.

The number of cases reported also is increasing in Oregon, Washington and California, while the malady has appeared in all mountain states and is epidemic in most of them. Minnesota is the only West Central State reporting the disease stationary, while influenza is epidemic in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois. It also is epidemic in all the Southern States as well as in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

In war-crowded District of Columbia the epidemic continued unabated. As a further precautionary measure, the Treasury and Interior Departments today issued orders that no new employees of those departments be brought to Washington until further notice. Similar action is expected by other government departments, which still are in need of additional help.

Here is an excerpt of a story from the October 16th Morning Sun emphasizing local conditions:

"FLU" TOLL STILL HIGH; 1,139 CASES REPORTED
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Increase In Number Of New Cases Believed
Due To Belated Reports Of Physicians.
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DEARTH OF NURSES SERIOUS
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Violators of Closing Orders To Be Prosecuted At Once --
42 Deaths At Camp Meade And Pneumonia Cases Jump.
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The number of deaths from Influenza and complications and the number of new cases jumped yesterday in the reports from both the city and the counties.

In the city there were 176 deaths from influenza, or influenza complicated with pneumonia, reported to the Health Department yesterday for the preceding 24 hours, plus 66 deaths from bronchial or lobar pneumonia, making a total of 242. During the day 1,139 new cases were reported, as against 954 reported on Monday. From the counties came reports of 1,075 new cases, which showed another large increase.

Nevertheless, at neither the city nor State Health Department was there any sign of alarm. Dr. C. Hampton Jones, chief of the Bureau of Communicable Diseases, of the State Board, who is in charge of the counties, said that he thought it very probable that the increase in the number of cases reported was due to physicians having found time in which to report cases several days old. If physicians have more time in which to report cases, it would appear that the calls upon them, due to the disease, are lessening. That is the situation which Dr. Jones is inclined to believe exists.

Verbal Reports Encouraging.

"Judging from the verbal reports which are being received here," said he, "I should say that the number of new cases is probably decreasing. Reports of decreases in cases are not uniform; we hear from a locality now and then that the physicians still are overwhelmed with the combination of old and new cases. But, on the whole, the verbal reports are encouraging and lead me to think it likely the increase in number of reports cases is due to the doctors beginning to catch up with their reports."
Practically the same view was expressed at the City Health Department. It was stated there that a number of doctors who had been in touch with the department during the day thought conditions in their localities much improved. One physician was said to have reported that his calls for new cases were not more than 20 per cent of those he received a week ago. The brisk, bracing weather of the last day or two was believed by the city health officials to have been distinctly favorable to the general situation here in Baltimore.

Here is the opening of a story from the Baltimore American, October 17, 1918:

EASTERN SECTION OF CITY HARDER HIT BY FLU THAN ALL OTHERS
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Unsanitary Conditions Are Declared To Be Responsible
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DEATH RATE HIGHER
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But Number of New Cases Is Somewhat Less
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A COMPARISON OF CITIES
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Table Showing That Baltimore Has Suffered Less In Proportion Than
Other Large Municipalities -- Additional Instructions Issued by the
Health Commissioner -- Closings Order Will Not Be Modified --
Reports Indicate an Improvement in the Counties.
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MORE DEATHS; FEWER CASES

There was an increase in the number of deaths resulting from influenza and pneumonia, but fewer new cases. One hundred and ninety-three succumbed to this disease alone, while 53 others were victims of pneumonia alone. There were 894 new cases.

Reports received by the Health Department show that while conditions are improving in the Western and Northern sections, there is no improvement in East Baltimore, where sanitary conditions are not up to the standard.

Dr. Blake advises against attendance at funerals and recommends that services be held in the open at the grave. He has also called in the Marshal of Police for plain-clothes men to watch for violators of the anti-spitting law.

The city bacteriologist is using serum sent him by the government, and which prevents pneumonia, on doctors and nurses in hospitals.

Conditions have improved in the cantonments, Camp Holabird having lifted the quarantine at that place.

Here are excerpts from a story from the Oct 18th edition of the Baltimore American:

COUNTY UNDERTAKERS NOW PERMITTED TO DO BUSINESS IN THE CITY

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Health Commissioner Suspends State Law Provision

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SHORTAGE OF COFFINS

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Government Has Commandeered Many Caskets

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SITUATION IS UNCHANGED

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117 Deaths and 954 New Cases of Influenza Reported -- Proprietors

of Apartment-houses Ordered to Furnish Tenants With Heat Regardless

of Any Contracts They Have Made -- Four Physicians Sent by the

Public Health Service -- The Red Cross Appeals for Volunteer Nurses.

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EPIDEMIC STILL RAGING

There was a slight increase in the number of flu cases in the city, but fewer deaths. 117 succumbed in the past 24 hours, and during the 48 hours ending yesterday afternoon there were 954 new cases. 728 new cases developed in the counties.

Health Commissioner Blake has let down the bars to county undertakes. For the time being the law prohibiting these from doing business in the city has been abrogated and permission given to operate in Baltimore city.

Apartment-house proprietors are directed to furnish heat to tenants regardless of any contracts they may have made. Failure to comply with this order, issued yesterday by the Health Comissioner, will subject the owners to heavy fine.

Four additional physicians assigned here by the government have been distributed by the State Board to various sections. A call has also been sent out for Red Cross nurses, who are wanted in Wicomico county.

The Baltimore Chapter of the Red Cross has sent out an appeal to women to volunteer as nurses. Twenty-five responded at once, but many more are needed to assist trained nurses.

Below is the text of an advertisement from The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company found on the first page of the Baltimore American on October 15th:

DON'T TELEPHONE

The increasing overload of calls and shortage of operators compels us to urge a still greater reduction of calls. While the epidemic lasts it is vitally important that telephones be used only for the most urgent reasons. Avoid making long distance as well as local calls. Don't ask for reports on delayed calls. Our remaining operators, despite their increased tasks, are loyally giving their best endeavors.

THE CHESAPEAKE AND POTOMAC TELEPHONE COMPANY

For the period of the emergency, we urge every former employee with central office experience to REPORT FOR DUTY, if only for a few hours daily.

Here is a heartfelt remembrance his mother Marie placed in the Baltimore Sun a year after his death:

Here is his grave:

Grave of Vincent Klima

*This exemption, reported by family members, was a probably given by the local draft board rather than a national policy.
**I suspect James Klima's lobar pneumonia was also a result of the Spanish Influenza.

Click here for more of my genealogical blogs:

My Family: Christmas 1967

My Family: My Granddaughter Emma Renee Schwalm

My Family: The Diaries of Mary Elizabeth McLane, Part 1
My Family: The Back River Tragedy

My Family: My Three Nuns
My Family: The Murder of Adam G. Robertson
My Family: Uncle Buzzy and The Boys In Company B
My Family: 1st Lieutenant Charles Edward Farber, KIA
My Family: Cousin Tillie's Balcony
My Family: The Public Suicide of Carl "Ernie" Stark
My Family: The Public Suicide of Frank Kostohryz
My Family: Mary Marshall Mirfin, Hero
My Family: Rita Cecilia Rosenberger Protani Pollock
My Family: Vincent Klima and the Spanish Influenza
My Family: A Festival of Fathers
My Family: The Honorable George Farber
My Family: A Celebration of Mothers
My Family: The Mystery of Frank John Murphy
My Family: Kristina Bednar Kostohryz
My Family: Great-Grandmom Assunta's Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

Be sure to check out my memoir The Promise, or the Pros and Cons of Talking with God, published by TouchPoint Press. It is my true story of first faith and first love and how the two became almost fatally intertwined.

Here are some sample chapters of The Promise:

Chapter 1 - A Photograph

Chapter 2 - My Death

Chapter 3 - Childhood

Chapter 4 - Saved!

Chapter 5 - The Promise

Chapter 6 - The Mission

Chapter 7 - Mission Accomplished
Chapter 15 - Quarter To Midnight

Be sure to check out my novel Chapel Street. It tells the story of a young man straddling the line between sanity and madness while battling a demonic entity that has driven his family members to suicide for generations. It was inspired by an actual haunting my family experienced.

You can buy the Kindle and paperback at Amazon and the Nook, paperback and hardcover at Barnes & Noble.

Learn more about the book, click Here.

Watch the book trailer: