Quarantine in the Time of Cholera

The true story of a deadly disease, forced isolation, and a daring getaway

In 1851, Philippe and Marie Cardon and some of their children emigrated from the Piedmont Valley in modern day Italy to the United States. After selling everything they owned, they traveled from their Alpine home to London, where they boarded a ship for New Orleans. After a seven week voyage, many of the passengers disembarked at their destination to venture through the famous port city before they headed up the Mississippi River by steamer to St. Louis.

Little did they know that a terrible wave of cholera plagued New Orleans. Inevitably, some of the passengers came down with the disease as they continued upriver. The city of St. Louis had an ordinance that required all incoming visitors to report to a quarantine station on Arsenal Island for examination. The Cardons’ entire ship had to go into quarantine. You can imagine how that went.

From the Autobiography of Philippe and Marie’s daughter, Marie Madeleine Cardon Guild:

Despite the precautions taken some of the passengers were seized by the disease. Our ship was placed under quarantine immediately and they located us on small island up the river, not far from St. Louis. The disease spread rapidly throughout the company. We were pain stricken. Our camp was made hideous and sorrowful by groaning and agony.

Others recounted that some people would feel great in the morning, only to be dead from cholera by the afternoon. Marie Madeleine and her sister spent three days treating people until Philippe came down with the disease.

Upon the return of myself and my sister … we found our dear father nearly dead. Cholera had seized him and had acted so severely that by this time he was not able to speak. My mother and brothers had been doing all in their power to save him. In a few moments we had a tub of hot water in which we placed him. We arranged hot blankets around him and the tub so as to keep out the cold air. We rubbed him with all our might. My brother did all that humans could do, with the help of their Redeemer. Peppermint, ginger, composition, and all that could be had of a similar description were given him. Presently he became easier. The first sentence he spoke was "Take me away from here or I shall surely die."

Philippe could see the writing on the wall. Luckily, Marie Madeleine found a local fisherman who at great personal risk agreed to help them escape from the island. They had to be very careful. Anyone caught assisting travelers in breaking quarantine was subject to imprisonment or fines. Quarantine officers were also known to take the law into their own hands, and it was not uncommon for them to beat perpetrators to death.

Fortunately, they made it safely to shore. Philippe suffered another spell of the disease upon reaching the banks of the Mississippi, but he eventually recovered and the entire family was able to proceed on their journey.

Philippe was my great-great-great-great grandfather. When I first came across this story, I grimaced and thought to myself, “I’m glad we don’t do that anymore.” It wasn’t until a few years later during the days of forced isolation, masking, and contact tracing that I thought back to this story of my ancestors.

Strict measures to contain disease have been used throughout history. It is only in the past couple hundred years that people have understood the importance of respecting individual rights despite the presence of terrifying diseases. St. Louis may have stemmed the influx of cholera cases coming into their city, but the policies did not seem to actually save many lives. During its time as a quarantine camp, Arsenal Island had a reputation as a death sentence for many whose traveling groups were forced to isolate there.

As years went by, scientists and health officials came to realize that the spread of cholera was due primarily to unsanitary water. Improvements to sanitation, and not forced quarantine, were what quelled the disease. There is of course wisdom in quarantining and isolating sick individuals, but such isolation should be voluntary. In this context, the word “voluntary” may sound like something someone should do but that they won’t. In practice, however, voluntary quarantine is something we do all the time. Sick people prefer to stay at home away from others. Healthy people prefer to stay away from sick people, unless the sick person is a loved one that needs care.

Rather than implementing forced quarantines or restrictions on individual rights, people should be left alone to make their own personal health decisions with assistance from their healthcare providers. No one is better positioned to make such decisions than the individual.

Sometimes those decisions may be drastic, such as breaking the law to escape Quarantine Island.

You can learn more about the Cardon family’s amazing story by reading Marie Madeleine’s autobiography.