The Plague in San Francisco | The Year of the Rat | 1

0:00American scandal uses dramatizations that are based on true events. Some elements, including dialogue, might be invented, but everything is based on historical research.

0:24It's late December 1899 in Honolulu, Hawaii. A group of doctors walks briskly through the deserted city hall, their kerosene lamps flickering in the darkness. They're members of the Honolulu Board of Health, and they're meeting tonight to confront a growing crisis. Earlier this month, one of the city's residents of Chinese descent died of bubonic plague. The board acted swiftly and quarantined the city's Chinatown, where the man had lived. But the measures didn't work, because within days the disease claimed other victims. And now cases are being detected outside the quarantined area. Fear of an epidemic is gripping Honolulu, and the Board of Health must decide how far they're willing to go to contain the outbreak.

1:12The men file into a large room with chairs arranged around a long wooden table. But the doctors are too restless to sit. A senior member of the board speaks first. Well, gentlemen, I regret to say it, but our efforts to contain this plague have failed. In my view, we have only two options. We either expand the quarantine area or we maintain the present restrictions around Chinatown, but we must deploy more officers to police its borders. There's a murmur of discussion among the other physicians. One man remains silent, though. At 60 years old, Dr. Nathaniel Emerson is the oldest member of the Board of Health.

1:47Raised by Protestant missionaries, he's deeply devout. So now, as the other men debate, Emerson closes his eyes and prays. Eventually, the others take notice. Dr. Emerson, what are your thoughts? Slowly, Emerson opens his eyes. Fire, yes. It may be the only way to contain the spread. We must raise the infected houses. I'm sorry, what are you suggesting? That we destroy Chinatown? I'm suggesting a controlled fire in the affected areas. We tried quarantine, and it didn't work. But Dr. Emerson, how many more must we lose? Gentlemen, think of your children, your wives and mothers. This cruel disease could kill them all in a matter of days.

2:28But what if the fire spreads? You've seen the buildings in Chinatown, how closely packed they are. One gust of wind and the entire district would go up in flames. We're talking about people's homes, Doctor. People's livelihoods. And if we fail to contain the plague, then it's only a matter of time before it spreads to the mainland. And what will the consequences be then? Hundreds dead? Thousands? Or even millions? Dr. Emerson, how can we be certain this would even work? What evidence do we have that fire might stop the spread? Certainty is a luxury we cannot afford. Gentlemen, we have already delayed too long.

3:01I know this. And if Chinatown burns to the ground, will you take responsibility for that? I'm willing to do whatever is necessary. This is nothing more than a gamble. No, it is a prayer. One by one, the other officials on the Board of Health fall in line behind Emerson. And at dawn the next day, a column of jet black smoke rises above Chinatown. For the next three weeks, it becomes a common sight in Honolulu as plague-infected houses are burned to the ground. But then, when the winds predictably shift, the authorities lose control of the fires. By the time the blaze finally dies out, Chinatown has been reduced to ashes and over 6 ,000 people have been left homeless.

3:45And as these residents are forced into temporary camps, The Honolulu Board of Health waits anxiously to see if the disease has been wiped out along with people's homes. But they are already too late. A steamship carrying plague-infected stowaways sailed out of Honolulu Harbor in late December and headed across the Pacific. Its destination was San Francisco.

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5:38From Wondery, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American Scandal.

6:03At the dawn of the 20th century, the United States found itself under siege by an invisible threat, bubonic plague. This disease is most commonly associated with Europe in the Middle Ages. There and then, millions died from an illness that left its victims' bodies disfigured by dark, swollen lumps. Symptoms that gave the plague its terrifying name, the Black Death. The Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, wiping out over a third of Europe's population. But after that, the plague seemed to recede. Centuries passed with no new pandemics, and many came to believe that the Black Death was a thing of the past.

6:41But in the 19th century, the plague returned. not in Europe this time, but in China. And from there, it spread through Asia and the Pacific, claiming tens of millions of lives. But in this newest resurgence of the disease, the world's top scientists were almost as powerless as their medieval predecessors. There was no known cure for the disease and little understanding of how it spread. It seemed inevitable that the bubonic plague would eventually reach the United States, and health officers were stationed at ports along the West Coast, tasked with inspecting ships for infected goods or passengers.

7:15But their efforts failed. In early 1900, San Francisco became the epicenter of a deadly outbreak that would overrun the nation if it wasn't contained. But as the death toll in the city rose, San Francisco's leaders would downplay the threat. Warnings would be ignored, health officials would be vilified, and blame would be deflected onto the city's Chinese community. For the health authorities tasked with saving lives, San Francisco would become a battleground between science and medicine on one side, and greed, ignorance, and fear on the other. This is Episode 1, The Year of the Rat.

7:54It's May of 1899 at the Surgeon General's office in Washington, D.C. Dr. Walter Wyman sits at his desk, pretending to look busy. His pen moves, but his thoughts are elsewhere. Wyman is head of the Marine Hospital Service, a precursor to the modern U.S. Public Health Service. It's taken him decades of hard work to reach this position as Surgeon General, and he intends to keep it. Wyman knows the service is full of ambitious younger doctors, none more so than the man he's called into his office this morning. Dr. Wyman, you asked to see me? Ah, Kenyon. Yes, come in. At the age of just 38, Dr. Joseph Kenyon is already one of the most respected bacteriologists in the country.

8:35Wyman gestures for him to take a seat. Yes, this won't take long. I assume you're aware of the worsening plague situation in the Pacific? Yes, of course. I've been following the reports closely. Well, it's spread to 12 countries now, over 10 million dead. And we can't afford to let it reach our shores. So the president has authorized me to establish new quarantine stations along the West Coast. This is a major operation, and we'll need someone experienced on the ground. Someone sharp. That someone I've decided is you. I beg your pardon? You're being reassigned immediately. You'll be heading up to our quarantine station on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay.

9:09In California? Yes, in California. That's where San Francisco is. Two weeks should be enough to get your affairs in order, ISU. Sir, with respect, I have ongoing work here. The lab, my team, my research. And all of that can continue without you. You are not irreplaceable, Kenyon. None of us are. But I'm not a port inspector. I'm a scientist. Surely my expertise is of more use to the service here in Washington in the lab. Not, what, standing on a dock? Sniffing cargo? And yet, in my estimation, there is no one better suited to recognize the signs of infection. Your skills are precisely the reason I've chosen you.

9:44You're the best man for the job. Well, respectfully, sir, I have to question the wisdom of this. You may question it all you like, but you will do it from Angel Island. I'm the Surgeon General, Dr. Kenyon. I will decide where you are needed to help this country. Kenyon purses his lips and nods. Understood, sir. Good. Travel arrangements will be made and you'll have a support staff waiting for you in San Francisco. I suggest you begin your preparations immediately. Wyman turns back to his papers and doesn't look up again until he hears the door to his office slam shut. Then he lets out a sigh of relief.

10:20Medical journals have been hinting that his days as Surgeon General may be numbered, and with a certain young bacteriologist named as a likely replacement. Wyman had to nip those rumors in the bud, and that meant getting rid of Joseph Kinion.

10:36After a long trip by train across the country, Dr. Joseph Kinion, his wife Lizzie, and their three children reached San Francisco in June of 1899. They then take the ferry to Angel Island, a rocky, isolated outcrop five miles out in the middle of the bay. While seagulls cry overhead, the travel-weary families led to a windswept wooden cottage overlooking the gray ocean. This will be their new home. For Kenyon, this does not feel like a new work assignment. It feels more like an exile from everything that has given his life meaning. From a young age, Kenyon was always certain that he was destined for greatness.

11:13He had a brilliant mind and was determined to become a doctor like his father. At the age of 21, he graduated from Bellevue Medical College in New York. But he soon found that treating patients like any other doctor didn't appeal to him. Instead, Kenyon was drawn to the emerging field of bacteriology, the study of infectious diseases, and the microorganisms that caused them. And by the age of 25, he was leading the United States' new bacteriology lab on Staten Island in New York. Soon after, he became the first scientist in America to isolate and identify the bacterium that causes cholera, an achievement that made him one of the most respected physicians in the country.

11:51In 1891, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he became director of the National Hygienic Laboratory, and his career seemed on an endless upward trajectory. But then came a short meeting with Surgeon General Walter Wyman and his reassignment to California. The quarantine station on Angel Island is a vast complex of ramshackle, low-slung buildings arranged around a harbor nicknamed Hospital Cove. It's here that ships from foreign ports dock for inspection before they're allowed to travel on to San Francisco. Cargo and passengers are checked for any sign of disease. Suspicious-looking vessels are fumigated, while those on board are taken inside the quarantine station, where isolation rooms and disinfection await.

12:33And it's here that Kenyon now commands a staff of more than 100 health officers and nurses. But he's deeply unhappy. He worries about the health of his young children on this windswept island. He hates the pompous, gold-epauletted uniform he must wear. And he longs for his clean, modern laboratory back in Washington, and the sense of purpose he felt when he donned his lab coat every morning. But with the encouragement of his wife Lizzie, Kenyon tries to make the best of his new life in California, but his attempts to befriend other doctors are unsuccessful. Kenyon isn't a naturally sociable man, and many local physicians seem to resent that his job went to a man from Washington rather than one of their own.

13:11And even outside the medical community, the Kenyans find it no easier to make friends. One evening, they travel into the city to attend an opening night of a new play. The theater's lobby is bustling with San Francisco's elite, including all the big political movers and shakers. With the children and the care of a nanny, this is a rare opportunity for the couple to escape the isolation of Angel Island and enjoy a night out. But while Lizzie excitedly scouts the room, smiling and pointing out prominent figures, Kenyon broods in silence. He can't seem to relax. The shrill laughter echoing around the lobby almost feels like it's directed at him and his fall from grace.

13:50Trying to distract him, Lizzie nudges her husband and points across the room. San Francisco's mayor, James D. Phelan, stands in the middle of the lobby, glad-handing with executives from Southern Pacific Railroad. Lizzie thinks they should go over and introduce themselves, but Kenyon just sneers. He says that Phelan likes to style himself as a reformer who advocates ambitious public works, But while City Hall spends more and more of its budget on grand construction projects, the city's sanitation is in crisis, with open sewers and overcrowded hospitals. So Kenyon isn't interested in exchanging pleasantries with a man like that.

14:25Lizzie just rolls her eyes and chides her husband. They ought to at least make an effort. But Kenyon won't budge. He misses his old job, where the people actually cared about public health, not just appearances. So Lizzie tries a different approach. She suggests that it's not enough for him just to do his job well. If he wants to transfer back to Washington, having the right friends and allies here will help. But Kenyon hardly hears her, unable to bear it any longer. He takes his wife by the arm and steers toward the door. As the weeks pass, Kenyon seeks deeper into despondency. When he isn't conducting routine inspections, he's scribbling frantic letters to friends back home, bemoaning the injustice of his exile.

15:05And yet, for all his unhappiness, Kenyon is succeeding at the job he was sent here to do. Six months into his tenure, there have not been any reported cases of plague in the city. For now, at least, the defenses seem to be holding. But then, in December 1899, an urgent bulletin arrives from Hawaii. Bubonic plague is spreading in Honolulu. Suddenly, Kenyon's mission takes on a new urgency. San Francisco is the busiest port connecting the U.S. mainland with Hawaii. If just one infected passenger from Honolulu slips through the net, then Kenyon will hold himself personally responsible for the devastating epidemic that will surely follow.

15:43This makes every ship from Hawaii a potential threat. So on January 2nd, 1900, when the steamship Australia arrives from Honolulu, the vessel is immediately quarantined at Angel Island. Kenyon's officers check the ship for any signs of plague among its passengers. And after a rigorous inspection, the Australia is deemed fit for travel and continues to its berth at San Francisco's docks. But there, as the mooring lines are tied and the weary passengers disembark, no one pays much attention to the rats scampering down the ropes and vanishing into the city beyond.

16:20It's two months later, in March of 1900, in San Francisco's Chinatown district. Forty-one-year-old Wong Chut King limps along the busy street. Rickshaws piled high with fruits and vegetables clatter past. Red paper lanterns swing from balconies and lampposts, remnants of the recent Chinese New Year celebrations that mark the arrival of the Year of the Rat. Wong is a laborer at a nearby lumberyard, but this morning he wasn't able to report for work as usual. A painful dark lump has appeared on his groin, making it hard for him to move without triggering waves of agony. But Wong needs to work so he can send what little he earns home to his family in China.

16:59That's the reason he came to San Francisco. The city is known as Gold Mountain back home, an almost mythical land where fortune awaits for those willing to work for it. But the reality, as Wong now knows, is very different. No matter how hard he works, he'll never make a fortune here. But he's determined to do the best he can, so he has to get better as quickly as possible. Soon, Wong arrives at his destination, the house of a traditional Chinese healer. He shuffles inside and rings a bell. Moments later, the doctor calls Wong through to his office. There, Wong explains his ailments while the doctor listens.

17:34He instructs Wong to lower his trousers and then stoops to examine him. The doctor inspects the lump on Wong's inner thigh, gently pressing the mottled and blackened flesh. His brow tightens with concern, and then eventually the doctor stands and delivers his diagnosis. He says it's most likely a venereal infection of some kind. Wong's heart sinks. This is what he feared. The doctor prescribes some herbal remedies, then advises Wong to steer clear of the brothels along DuPont Street. Clutching the medicine in hand, Wong staggers back to the Globe Hotel, a dilapidated flophouse that's notorious for its filthy conditions.

18:13There, Wong descends a flight of stairs to the basements. Rats scamper around his feet as he shambles down the hallway to his room, which is a cramped, grimy space carved into the ground beneath the sidewalk. Fetid liquid drips from an exposed sewage pipe, pooling in the dirt floor. In the center of the room, an upturned crate serves as the only table where a burning stick of incense fails to mask the stench rising from the open pit latrine. Wong collapses onto the hard wooden mattress that he shares with four other men. He shuts his eyes and murmurs a prayer that the doctor's herbal remedies will help.

18:50But as the days pass, Wong's illness only gets worse. He grows a fever and loses control of his bodily functions, suffering violent episodes of vomiting, diarrhea, and delirium. When it becomes clear that Wong is close to death, his roommates carry his body to a Chinatown funeral home. Still barely alive, Wong is placed in an open coffin until on the afternoon of March 6, 1900, he draws his final rasping breath. Like many other Chinese immigrants in San Francisco before him, Wong Chut King passes quietly, without ceremony or mourning, an anonymous end to a life spent in the shadows. His death will not go unnoticed for long.

19:31Because as Joseph Kinyan and his colleagues will soon discover, Wong Chut King has just become the first victim of bubonic plague in the mainland United States.

20:04No, maybe just tell them about the guest stars like Richard Kind, Carrie Coon, Jimmy Fallon, at all. But they were in it. And if you don't listen to them, then I will cut off your tongue, then cut off your head, and then put the tongue in the head hole. Aw, you tried. Listen now exclusively on Audible and Donald the Audible app today, or off with your head! I'm kidding.

20:33I'm Alice Levine. And I'm Matt Ford, and we're the hosts of British Scandal. Yes, indeed. In this series, a Derbyshire couple are bored of their curtain-twitching, lawn-mowing suburban life. So they sell their house, build a yacht, and sail off around the world. Which sort of sounds idyllic until a sperm whale sinks their boat and they begin to starve. Oh, yes, and they didn't bring a radio, because real sailors don't use radios. Right? This is the story of Marilyn and Maurice Bailey. And the 117 days they spent lost at sea. Follow British Scandal wherever you get your podcasts or listen early and ad-free on Audible.

21:25Wong Chut King is far from the only immigrant in San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century. Over the past 50 years, the city has been transformed. In the late 1840s, a gold rush brought thousands of prospectors flooding into California. Few struck it rich in the gold fields, but many stayed nonetheless, making new homes and settlements up and down the Pacific coast, making once quiet villages bustling new towns. And no transformation was more sudden or dramatic than in San Francisco. In 1847, its population was under 500. But within just two years, more than 25 ,000 people were calling the town their home.

22:04And by 1870, the population had swelled to 150 ,000. Real estate developers, newspaper magnates, and railroad tycoons all swooped in to capitalize. San Francisco had many attractions for these businessmen. Fertile farmland, a temperate climate, and a natural harbor that was perfect for trade all across the Pacific. But as the city expanded, another group started arriving. Chinese immigrants. These were the people who did the jobs that no one else would. They built the railroads. They opened laundries. They worked in sweatshops. Their role was vital to the city's growing prosperity, but they were not universally welcome.

22:43San Francisco's emergence as a commercial hub hadn't made all its citizens rich. There was still widespread poverty, and union bosses told white working-class crowds exactly who to blame for their struggles, declaring that the Chinese must go. In response to the growing public anger, San Francisco passed a series of discriminatory laws targeting the Chinese community. Restrictions made it harder for Chinese residents to operate businesses, and local public schools were segregated, with Chinese children barred from attending alongside white students. Still, for some, these harsh measures weren't enough.

23:19Chinese immigrants were attacked and their homes burned. And soon, this hostility spread beyond the city limits and all the way to Washington, D.C. In 1882, the federal government took action. The Chinese Exclusion Act was signed into law, the first legislation in U.S. history to outright ban immigration from a specific country. This new law was welcomed by the white community in San Francisco. In 1897, the city elected the virulently anti-Chinese politician James D. Phelan as the new mayor. And almost three years on, Phelan still believes the Chinese should be forcibly removed from California altogether.