A letter has recently been received by Bishop Stringer from Rev. W. H. Fry, the missionary at Herschel Island, giving news of that place up to Mar. 26th.
When Inspector Tupper of the R. N. W. M. P. came out by the police patrol, he reported that Stefansson was ill with a high temperature indicating influenza
or perhaps pneumonia. He had arrived from the Mackenzie delta and was unable to proceed on
his proposed journey. He had planned to start out on the Arctic ice with the intention of making his way, aided by the ice drift, to Siberia, thus anticipating a proposed voyage which he heard was being planned by Bartlett and Amundsen. For this purpose he had bought up many dogs on the Mackenzie delta and had engaged many natives and the few white people he could obtain.
Stefansson's illness seemed to have developed intu typhoid fever, and, indeed, some think it may be typhus. A great many of the natives were taken ill and also a number of the few white people living there. Stefansson at first lived in the police
barracks. Const. Lamont was taken ill and died, much to the regret of all.
Stefansson then requested that he should be removed from the barracks, and Mr. Fry fitted up a little store house near the mission into a hospital and at last reports he was comfortably located in this house. The prisoner, Wittenberg, volunteered to nurse him.
Inspector Phillips, of the police, and Mr. and Mrs. Harding of the H. B. Co., and Mr. and Mrs. Fry are doing all they can to help in the epidemic.
Mr. Fry writes that there are so many natives ill that he spends the whole day, from early morning till late at night, visiting and seeing after them, and is
often called at night. It was difficult to get anyone to nurse the sick as there are so many ill. The white people have taken every precaution but the disease has spread among the natives and several have died. More than half the Eskimos of the Mackenzie river have been down with it and several deaths were reported. Some Indians had arrived at Herschel Island from Old Crow river and Inspector Phillips had arranged for them to take a message to Ft. Yukon, asking Dr. Burke, of the Episcopal mission, to go to Herschel Island. According to reports from Ft. Yukon he had left soon after the middle of April and expected to reach Herschel Island in ten days by traveling night and day as long as physically possible.
