Armstrong – Table of Contents

presented an unforeseen dilemma inasmuch as the experimental work started by
Armstrong was still far from completion. In a rare display of leadership, courage and
responsibility and over the objections of other Laboratory staff members and family, Dr.
George McCoy, the Director, joined Armstrong down in the dank basement rooms and
assisted him in the duties normally performed by the ailing Shorty Anderson.
Anderson’s condition continued to deteriorate with the massive involvement of
his left lung by psittacosis, persistent high fever, and “toxicity” from uncontrolled
infection. Armstrong would visit Shorty as often as he could in the hospital. During the
latter stages of his illness punctuated by fluctuating periods of delirium and mental
clarity, Shorty, who scrupulously and compulsively was in the habit of personally paying
his bills each month, asked Armstrong, as a dying request, to make sure that all his bills
were paid. Shorty died on February 8, 1930, was autopsied, and buried with full military
honors (He had been in the Navy.) in Arlington National Cemetery. Almost the entire
staff of the Hygienic Laboratory attended the funeral with one notable exception. On
February 8, the day Shorty died, Charles Armstrong was admitted to the Naval Hospital
with a temperature of 104F and a diagnosis of psittacosis. Dr. McCoy was the person
who had to carry out Shorty’s wish to have all his debts paid.
On February 6 Armstrong noted a little chill and skin tenderness shortly after
coming into the Laboratory. The next day he lost his appetite completely. He stole away
to a remote area, took his temperature surreptitiously and noted a fever of 102F. The next
day he was in the hospital. A chest x-ray showed a white shadow enveloping the lower
half of his left lung, and serial x-rays showed progression of the pneumonia gradually
filling up the lung. When Dr. McCoy saw the rapid spread of the disease in Armstrong,