other family members of the “medicine man”, including his youngest daughter, aged 16,
followed by his oldest daughter, aged 20, his oldest son, aged 23, the next oldest son,
aged 21 and his widow, all became ill. A 4-year old son escaped illness. The onset of
these illnesses in the family probably occurred in November, December and January.
During the illness of the first case (the “medicine man”), the family hosted the
customary “sing.” A brother-in-law of this case and his wife attended and remained
throughout the ceremony, probably 15 days. The husband became ill 3 days after their
return to Shipwreck, New Mexico in December. He died January 10, 1921. From the
original episode, the disease spread to a total of 63 known cases with 27 deaths. Spread
from these earlier cases was usually traced to the association with “sings.” The last case
developed June 13,1921, and the last death occurred on June 27, 1921.
The chronology of the development of cases was estimated to have occurred as
follows: November, 1; December, 6; January, 8; February, 2; March, 3; April, 21; May,
10; June 12 for a total of 63. The chronology of deaths as determined by Agency records
occurred as follows: December, 2; January, 4; February, 2; March, 2; April, 2; May, 11
and June, 4 for a total of 27. Thirty-seven males were involved with 19 deaths (51.4%),
and 26 females were involved with 8 deaths (30.8%) for an overall mortality rate of 42.8
percent. The cases occurred unevenly in the three epidemic locales.
The Eradication Campaign.
Several factors helped to limit the extent of the epidemic. The Navajo families
were separated widely from one another, living in groups of one to three hogans often
many miles from their nearest neighbors. The Navajos customarily did a limited amount