The original Armistice Day arrived at 11 a. m. on Nov. 11, 1918. It was a 30-day temporary cessation of the horrors of World War I. Every 30 days, the Armistice was renewed until the signing of the Versailles Treaty.
The news of the signing of the Armistice reached Phoenix at 12:45 a.m., three minutes after word had reached Washington, D.C. The news was quickly relayed to the city of Phoenix and “the big whistle at the gas plant took up the joy scream and passed the word on to the cotton gin and to the Arizona Eastern shops and the Santa Fe round house. Every locomotive…joined in and helped the peace celebration with all the steam in their boilers. Church bells rang, guns and revolvers were fired, and the people who quickly filled the down town streets cheered and yelled and cheered again for the good news that ended the war…and the boys are coming home.”
After the raucous celebration, it was reported “there was no pest of blackbirds in the vicinity of Phoenix yesterday…the supposition is that these allies of the Huns were frightened by the racket in this vicinity…wherever the noise of the great whistles reached in the country it brought out responses in the discharge of revolvers, shotguns, sticks of dynamite and whatever else would make a reverberation.”
The war had lasted 1,587 days. More than 12,000 men from Arizona went into the military. Out of the Arizona population of around 250,000 at the time, 9,025 were drafted. Many more enlisted in the National Guard and the Marine Corps.
In March of 1918 at Fort Riley, Kan., a soldier reported to the camp hospital complaining of a fever, sore throat, and a headache. By noon, more than 100 soldiers were sick. What became known as the Spanish Flu had begun. The virus had moved from birds to pigs to humans and became a worldwide pandemic that ultimately killed between 10 million and 100 million people.
The Spanish Flu began arriving in Arizona by September of 1918. It rapidly spread to all areas of the state. “In Seligman, where a moving-picture theater was turned into an emergency hospital one afternoon, and by nightfall was filled with railroad men, cowboys and others who had been lying sick in rooming houses and even in box cars.”
Influenza hit the Indian communities hard. Reports indicated that the death toll among the Indians who contracted the flu was higher than other communities. There was no medicine to combat the flu. It was estimated that about six percent of those who developed the flu died. Most succumbed to pneumonia that was contracted as a result of a severe case of the flu.
The Department of Health of the city of Phoenix issued rules to stem the spread of the Spanish Flu. These included: “Do not assemble in crowds or groups. Remain three feet away from the person with whom you are conversing. Do not spit on the sidewalk, street or floor — use water-flushed gutters or spittoons. Hold a handkerchief before your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing. Stay at home if you have a cough… Wear a gauze mask…” Violation of the rules “…may mean a fine of $300 or 90 days imprisonment or both.”
John Minter, a porter on the Southern Pacific Railroad, was arrested for selling a pint of whiskey to a passenger who said it was a cure for the flu. Minter admitted he made a small profit on the whiskey. Minter was convicted of violating Arizona’s prohibition law. He was fined $200 or he had to serve one day for every dollar of the unpaid fine.
The sheriff put together a special group of deputies that were placed on all the major roads that came into Phoenix. Their job was “to stop all travelers and to ascertain (their) business…if the person…is merely coming to this city for a visit or on pleasure, he is to be turned back.”
Schools were closed. Events were cancelled. It was even difficult to deliver the newspaper since many of the carriers were sick.
Yet, even as the flu was creating a pandemic, the State Fair was entertaining the public. A Capt. Bennitt did a parachute drop from 3,000 feet. He also exploded a bomb as he descended.
Edward Dooley drove an Oldsmobile around the one-mile State Fair Racetrack at 45 miles-per-hour with his hands handcuffed behind his head. The State Hospital for the Insane had a display of the handiwork done by their patients.
The newspapers had many obituaries of people who died from the flu. Sometimes, most of the members of a single family were killed by the epidemic
From September to November of 1918, it was estimated 82,306 died in the Untied States from the Spanish Flu. In the nearly 1,600 days of war, only 40,000 to 45,000 Americans were killed in combat. Before the pandemic disappeared in 1919, it was estimated that some 500,000 Americans had died from the Spanish Flu
— Mike Miller. Photo courtesy of Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records, Archives Division, Phoenix, #01-1134.