In the summer of 1902, Knightstown, IN had an outbreak of smallpox. It was considered severe enough by the board of health, and the county commissioners, that the entire town and vicinity was quarantined. No one was allowed to enter or the leave the town for any reason. Despite the drastic measures, the disease continued to spread. Where twenty-six cases had been reported in June, fourteen more were added to the toll the first week in July. People panicked as they saw the silent killer stalk their friends and neighbors. Everyone wondered, "Who will be next?" By mid-July the Knightstown toll had shot to 81 cases. During the epidemic Knightstown was like a city of the dead. All business in Knightstown was paralyzed, weeds, corn and other vegetation grew up all over town, hitching racks in the town square were overgrown with weeds as tall as six feet. Hardly any business was transacted for nearly two and one-half months.
     By early August the epidemic seemed to fade. One by one the quarantines were lifted and normal life resumed.
     An amusing incident occurred at Charlottsville, a little village just west of Knightstown in Hancock County. By early August, Greenfield, the county seat of Hancock county, had lifted its quarantine against Knightstown allowing normal rail service through the county by the Indianapolis and Eastern Traction Company. The people of Charlottsville decided that since the county commissioners had not yet acted, the quarantine was still in affect. As an interurban car came into town its wheels suddenly began to spin on the greased tracks, stopping in front of an angry mob of 200 Hancock county citizens, some armed with revolvers and shot guns. A deputy of the Hancock County Board of Health boarded the train to arrest the crew for violating the quarantine, but the angry passengers who were getting their first contact with the outside world in quite awhile, mobbed the officer, forcing him to jump from the car. After the tracks were sanded, the rails were sanded they proceeded on. The rail company contacted the constable to have the health official arrested for interfering in their business. The Charlottsville residents summoned the sheriff to arrest the constable and a deputy prosecutor. The enraged traction officials appealed again to the courts and within a short time the sheriff was taken into custody by the county coroner, the only man empowered to arrest a sheriff. At this point the round robin of arrest was stopped, there was no one left who could arrest the coroner. There were several deaths caused by the disease. The list of names that follow were taken from the New Castle Democrat, a newspaper that was in publication at that time. The names that have an *asterisk in front of them are some of those who died from the disease. Others died later from complications from the disease. The following story was taken from the July 18, 1902 issue of the Democrat.