In 1919, the Mayor of Oakland Was Arrested for Failing to Wear a Mask | History | Smithsonian Magazine

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Beginning in 1918, following the pandemic in the Bay Area, Californians made gauze masks. This is an open fabric. Even if folded into six layers, it may be difficult to suppress to prevent tiny particles. The Oakland Red Cross recommended it. As hubs for veterans, Oakland and San Francisco became targets for the flu. By the end of the 1920 pandemic,

Has died of this disease.

When the epidemic hit, the mayor of the city, John L. Davie, was in the last five minutes of the executive office. The walrus muscular gentleman (he looks like a monopoly in the photo) is already very excited. When he was young, he served as a ule driver on the Erie Canal, escaped from the fire in Chicago, and then worked as an opera singer (also rancher, butcher, Actor, lawyer and bookstore owner).

Dorothy Lazard, director of the Oakland History Center Library, said: "He has a very colorful life, which may have contributed to his arrogance because he has achieved a lot in life." Lazard said that David was "always likable" and usually wore red carnations on his lapel: the late wife's favorite flower. She pointed out that in 1917, the press praised him as the most handsome mayor on the coast, "like that is the category of life," she added simply.

To combat the flu that first arrived in Oakland in early October 1918, David was prepared to take strong measures on the advice of city health officials...but not too strong. On October 18, 1918, he announced the ban on all schools, churches, theaters and "public or private gatherings" until further notice. The cars were initially included in the closure notice, but Davie took the freedom to eliminate them, requiring only the use of paper cups and disinfection of all utensils. As all other entertainment venues were closed, the city had a record number of people arrested for drunkenness during the weekend after the closure.

A week later, the city council passed the mandatory mask ordinance with David's blessing. Everyone on the street is now ordered to wear a gauze mask or face arrest. At a special meeting the day before, the famous doctor Woods Hutchinson persuaded city councillors to point out two examples: a man from Fort Wheeler in Macon, Georgia. Put on a gas mask to prevent the "spread of flu". It sounds strange, so there is not a single case of flu. People in Massachusetts State Penitentiary, rehabilitated schools and homes of mentally handicapped women: "I believe these institutions have escaped because they are completely isolated from the outside world," Hutchinson said.

The city converted its magnificent municipal auditorium into a quarantine area. The painted background wall with the large Greek columnar interior provides the "wall". Above the sick patients, the thousands of empty auditorium seats increase their cognitive dissonance in public places where they have participated in circuses, sporting events, and concerts to fight the disease. (The Academy of Fine Arts building is a landmark of the city; Martin Luther King (Jr.) gave a speech here on the 100th anniversary of the Liberation Declaration in 1962;

)

On November 11, 1918, the Armistice Memorial Day, nurses piled up from the auditorium and took to the streets, still wearing masks to celebrate the end of the war. of

The title is "Thousands of People for Peace", and the story mentioned above mentioned that residents were awakened by red, white and blue fireworks and blew "every whistle" in the city. The report read: "Everyone is smiling under his mask, and their eyes are showing. It is the loud noise and the confetti is scattered on it."

The franchised hospital had received thousands of patients and was closed on November 15 because the virus appeared to roar out quickly after it arrived. Four days later, the Parliament lifted the mask decree.

However, the flu is not completely over. As the authorities in Auckland and neighboring cities met on New Year's Eve, the relief work was short-lived, fearing an increase in flu cases.

Some cities such as Sacramento have reinstated mask laws. Mayor David came to the capital of California and asked the legislature for money to build the port of Oakland. On January 16, 1919, when the plainclothes personnel entered the hotel, he relaxed in the lobby of a hotel in Sacramento. of

The police said: "The police cover up the mayor of [Auckland] sitting in a chair with his mask hanging gracefully over one ear. When they approached, David put on the mask and may have noticed that the two men were officers and soldiers. The breath." The three police officers advised him to wear it correctly, but according to the newspaper, when they turned and left, he took it off and restored the breath of his smoking cigar. The police officer looked back and found that the mask was out of fashion and arrested him.

David was sentenced to jail because the officer was unable to get change for his 20-dollar bill. The bail is $5. On the way-nine long blocks-he threatened to knock on the chief of the police of the capital and swore that "this kind of remark is too dirty to be repeated in printing",

. He condemned the hotel’s inability to protect its customers and caused harm to doctors who passed the Mask Act, and declared: “If a member of the Oakland Police does such tricks, I will shut him out.”

Under the heading of this smirk, "Mayor David becomes "angry" when pinched."

According to reports, he became angry that he would stay in jail for one night before bail, but changed his mind once at the police station.

Another paper

According to reports, David said that during the walk to the station, David and the police officer passed several people who did not wear masks. These people were not detained: "I think they don't look prosperous and can be fined."

He chilled his heels in Sacramento prison until another man was arrested and brought enough cash for change. As it happens, some police officers in Oakland are also lobbying in Sacramento, demanding an amendment to police salaries. Oakland Police Captain FJ Lynch said: "When we reached the mayor, he was very angry."

He added that David further angered all police officers in Sergeant Sacramento’s office for not wearing masks. David told

"And I will write to Mayor Carmichael to pay the police in cash so they can change the banknote."

Davie failed to appear in court the next day. "These five points were added to the city's Ministry of Finance."

. Facts have proved that he is not the only government agency arrested. Alameda’s state senators Edwin Otis and Davie were arrested that night,

Known as the "mask raid". Sacramento police chief Ira Conran told

For lawmakers in other cities, he is no exception. The official who noticed the high fine said: "Yes, is Regulation No. 373 an income regulation or a health regulation?"

During David’s absence, the Auckland City Council passed a mask ordinance, which will take effect on January 22.

The irony was happily pointed out under the heading "Poor Mayor David-He Cannot Escape the Flu Mask". David was provoked, and the members of the Council took actions that they knew he opposed, and pointed out that they would read newspaper reports about the Sacramento arrest. "Mayor David announced that when the decree is finally sanctioned, he will do his best to prevent it from becoming a law" and "undertook to read the riot law to the committee members,"

.

"Davie loves to fight and he has gained a lot during his tenure," Beth Bagwell said in

. "He survived multiple recall attempts and various court efforts... He angered the enemy as much as the enthusiasm of tying wild horses on the ranch..."

The Auckland City Council met again on January 21 to finally pass the Mask Act, where Mayor David fulfilled his commitment to the Mask Act. "The mayor leaned back and sarcastically called Sacramento Jay Town (an insult, calling someone an idiot or a countryman) because the officer who pinched him had to go out and arrest another man in exchange for $20 Mayor David’s change. Offered to pay his fine,"

Other newspapers will not call him "meditation." of

He said that he had a “violent protest” with Christian scientists, labor representatives, and others crowding the hall outside the hall. The mayor undoubtedly caused damage to his self-esteem, which can be remedied by Oakland’s rejection of the mask decree. "His character is bigger than life," Lazard said. "He always wanted to see his name in the newspaper."

That night, Davie was "the first person to put his nose in a flu mask" and said "with a lot of emotion" that he was arrested and was waiting for another thief carrying cash.

. City health officer Daniel Crosby (Daniel Crosby) was the only person wearing a mask in the council chamber. The timid council succumbed to pressure and voted to shelve the decree for emergencies.

After the incident, diplomatic relations between the two cities’ police departments were strained, and the city’s documents sparked a fire. of

There was an op-ed saying that David’s indignation was “completely justified” and called on the mayor of Sacramento to “punish his police” and apologize to Oakland. "The behavior of the police is like a national police officer who is a homeless man because he has no clothes to cover abroad. It is primitive, high-ranking and unpopular."

. but

Defending the defense of the city and even Oakland, he said that Mayor David “insulted his mayor’s good men and women because of his outspoken stance on the health supervision of the sister community.”

Mayor David's strong rejection of the mask seems to be thoughtless. Across the bay, San Francisco public health officials pointed out that in his city, usually within three weeks of using masks, the number of cases has been reduced by more than half, and the number of cases has been eliminated within a week after the disease has almost disappeared, beginning to increase significantly. Sacramento also reported that after the mandatory use of masks, the number of cases dropped to a minimum.

Paul Burnett, a historian at the Bancroft Library Oral History Center at the University of California, Berkeley, said that the 1918 gauze masks “may be of little use to users, but they are really good for people around you. Protection is provided." During the current COVID-19 pandemic, Americans everywhere are accustomed to the idea of ​​wearing masks in the uncertain future. Moreover, although some politicians wear masks to convey public information, other regimes, such as Mayor David, rejected this opportunity more than 100 years ago.

For Burnett, in the 1918 experience and lessons, in addition to the protection that masks can provide, masks also "serve as a social signal to remind people that there is an infectious disease and contact with others is dangerous."

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Best effort

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