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Tuesday, February 1, 2022

People May Sue Stokes County Because Family Members Contracted Rabies From Dog, Feb. 1, 1922

Want Damage from County. . . Number of People in Quaker Gap Township Being Treated for Hydrophobia

Mr. Charlie E. Pyrtle of Quaker Gap township was a visitor here yesterday. Mr. Pyrtle stated that the dog which recently bit his little son, an account of which appeared in our last issue, also bit about six other people in his township. Mr. Pyrtle killed the dog and sent its head to Raleigh and was immediately notified that the dog was mad. Only to of the persons bitten went to Raleigh for treatment, the necessary medicine having been sent to Dr. Flippin at Pilot Mountain, who is administering the medicine. Mr. Pyrtle’s little boy was able to take only one treatment, this making him deathly sick.

Mr. Pyrtle stated that he heard some of the parties who were bitten state that they would file claims for damage against the county. One case of this kind is now pending before the commissioners of this county, a committee having been appointed at the last meeting to assess the damage in the case.

From the front page of The Danbury Reporter, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 1922. Hydrophobia is rabies, and sending the head to the state capital for examination was the appropriate procedure for discovering if an animal had rabies. If the animal tested positive, people who were bitten traveled to Raleigh for treatment of this fatal disease, as counties didn’t store the drug for this rare disease. If a larger number of people had been bitten, Raleigh sometimes sent the drug to a local doctor, who would then administer the shots, saving the family the stay in Raleigh.

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