The Coronavirus: Potential Treatments and Drugs to Potentially Avoid

Pharmacology and SARS-CoV-2

I have taught pharmacology, the science of drugs, going on thirty years. Several matters related to pharmacology have appeared regarding SARS-CoV-2. I will address two broad questions. First: do some drugs work against the virus? Second: do some drugs make the infection worse?



Let's start off with some perspective. All of this is new. Even a quick study rushed to publication takes months: and we are not many months into this infection. There is no definitive statement regarding any of these matters, just a handful of very recent publications along with too many anecdotal reports. In the early days of AIDS (of which I have some familiarity), a lot of the original information about treatment candidates proved to be born out of desperation rather than usefulness.

Coronaviruses, along with rhinoviruses and adenoviruses, are among those that cause the common cold. That's the bad news: common colds are common. They are readily transmissible and, as we all know, there is no cure for the common cold. Beyond that, SARS-CoV-2 is much more dangerous than a typical cold or flu.

On the other hand, treating the SARS-CoV-2 virus is not the same as curing the common cold. We are not targeting all of the potential "cold" viruses here: just one. That provides hope for vaccines, and perhaps, pharmaceutical agents. (Strictly speaking, vaccines are pharmaceutical agents, but for the sake of this piece, I'll only be talking about non-vaccine drugs.) Some of the drugs mentioned here were tested during previous SARS outbreak.

Potential Drugs to Treat Coronavirus

These are some of the drugs that have been put forward as to helping with COV-19 infection.

Oseltamivir (Tamiflu). This drug is taken orally to help curtail influenza disease course. It is useful only if the drug is taken within the first two days of symptoms. Even then, it will only briefly shorten the recovery time. Oseltamivir helps prevent newly-formed viral particles from escaping an infected cell and therefore infecting new cells. It does this by inhibiting the neuraminidase enzyme. It is available orally and that's probably why it is prescribed a lot: convenience. In contrast, zanamivir (Relenza) is an inhalant that also inhibits neuraminidase used for flu. It has less side effects than oseltamivir because it is an inhalant: less gets to the blood, more hangs around the lungs where it is needed. Perhaps the best thing about oseltamivir is that it can be used for prophylaxis of the flu, which is especially helpful in high intensity infection settings such as nursing homes.

I've never been a big fan of oseltamivir. Its window of use is brief, its maximum effect is limited, and its side effects are potentially problematic. When I was hospitalized for bacterial pneumonia I was started on oseltamivir -- six days after arrival. That made no sense to me unless there was a concern I was coming down with a secondary infection. I experienced hallucinations. I can't be sure it was the oseltamivir, but delirium is one of its side effects.

Oseltamivir has not been shown to be effective in the previous SARS outbreak, nor did it change long-term outcomes of previously infected SARS patients. It is unlikely that it will work for the current coronavirus.

Favipiravir (Avigan) is fascinating. It has been shown to have efficacy for a variety of RNA-viruses. It has been approved for use in China, Japan, and Italy and has made it through a pair of Phase 3 studies in the US for the treatment of influenza. (China and Italy approved it just this past week.) Its mechanism of action is similar to that of ribavirin and remdesivir (below): they all inhibit RNA virus RNA polymerase.

On March 17, China announced that they had completed clinical studies for favipiravir and that it was helpful in recovery from the disease. To quote:

"The Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen in Guangdong province conducted a clinical trial on 80 patients, with 35 receiving the drug. The results have shown patients treated with favipiravir took four days before being tested negative, whereas the control group took 11 days."

That's a pretty dramatic difference. It is said to not be helpful in severe disease. As I discussed in my pharmacology class, with severe viral diseases such as influenza, all the cells that are going to be infected are infected.

I am surprised by their description of "no obvious adverse effects," same source as above, however, Phase 2 trials in the US showed a low degree of side effects.

Phase 3 studies against influenza virus were finished in 2015. No results have been presented. That suggests the results were not good, at least against the flu virus. Good results get published and the drug is put in for approval.

Remdesivir is much like favipiravir, only earlier in being studied. It has the same mechanism of action. Studies are beginning now.

Lopinavir/ritonavir (Kaletra in combination). These are anti-HIV protease inhibitors. There is no reason to believe they should work on coronavirus and an initial study indicates that they don't.

Chloroquine (Araclen) and hydroxychloroquine are classical antimalarial drugs. For decades chloroquine was the drug of choice against malaria due to being effective while being safer than the others. Now chloroquine-resistant malaria dominates the world and, we have some newer choices that are more powerful, the artemisinins. Hydroxychloroquine is also an antiinflammatory and is used for rheumatoid arthritis.

When I said these are safer than other antimalarials, I didn't mean that they don't have any toxicities. Like quinine, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine can affect blood sugar. It can cause headaches, diarrhea, and hemolytic anemia in patients with G-6-PD deficiency.

There has been one smallish study that found that azithromycin (an antibacterial protein synthesis inhibitor, Zithromax) and hydroxychloroquine helped to dramatically reduce the length the patient carried the virus and the amount of the virus. The drop out rate was high (6 out of 26) among those initially treated with three of those going to the ICU and one dying. All in all, the study is open for interpretation as either hopeful or problematic. As is usually the case, more studies are needed.

Another study from China found efficacy from chloroquine and remdesivir, in vitro. 

So how does chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine help? That's unknown. Perhaps it is the anti-inflammatory effect. The azithromycin might be preventing secondary bacterial pneumonia infection or it might be due antiviral properties that azithromycin is claimed to have. Furthermore, azithromycin is also an antiinflammatory. On the other hand, since chloroquine has been shown to be effective in vitro, that suggests its effect is more than the antiinflammatory actions.

Concerns about what drugs not to use.

ACE inhibitors / Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARBs)

These drugs are standard care for high blood pressure and are used as adjuncts in congestive heart failure. Do they make coronavirus symptoms worse? There are three reasons why this is suspected.

1) SARS-CoV-2 uses the angiotensin coverting enzyme type-2 as a cell receptor for infection.
2) ACE inhibitors, in particular, have been shown to upregulate angiotensin converting enzyme. 
3) Among the co-morbidities for death in Italy in one study, 74% of patients had high blood pressure. This might simply be because high blood pressure and age have a strong association. Age also presents a strong association with SARS-CoV-2 lethality.

In a recent commentary, it was strongly suggested that patients do not stop using these popular blood pressure medicines: the evidence for bad outcome with SARS-CoV-2 infection is not clear. The authors disclosed pharmaceutical ties. Nevertheless, the advice is generally sound.

Ibuprofen / NSAIDs / Acetaminophen.

Ibuprofen in particular was mentioned as something that might be avoided. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, suggests that this is an alarmist extrapolation from aspirin in viral infections causing Reyes' syndrome in children. Others have suggested that fever has a place in the body's fight against infections, and that NSAIDs and acetaminophen lower fever.

Let's take these one by one. The Reyes' concerns should not carry over to other NSAIDs and should not affect decisions in adults. For children, for pain and fever, it is generally recommended to avoid aspirin. Some physicians recommend acetaminophen. Acetaminophen overdose is so common, I would go with a non-aspirin NSAID.

Is lowering the fever in the case of a viral infection a bad strategy? Is the body fighting the infection with fever? In the case of bacterial infections this makes more sense to me. When culturing human pathogenic bacteria, the classic temperature of the heating device is 98.6 F (37 C). This concept to  doesn't pass over to viruses. Viruses in the blood are not going to affected by a fever. Viruses perform their main functions, including replication inside of cells, which I suspect are less susceptible to overall body temperature changes. That said, there is an argument that the induction of heat-shock proteins is protective. In the cited study, the temperature was raised to 40 C (104 F), which is a fairly heavy duty fever, the upper range below emergency.

Asthmatics are advised to avoid NSAIDs. This is because NSAIDs block the production of prostaglandins and the action of blocking the production of prostaglandins shunts the precursors over to leukotrienes, some of which mediate inflammation, and, in particular, mediate inflammation in asthma. If those leukotrienes are exacerbating symptoms in coronavirus patients with compromised respiration, this may be a concern. Of course, some asthma patients will have coronavirus. Perhaps using a leukotriene synthesis blocker such as zileuton could be helpful to overcome this.

The FDA is stating that there is not enough evidence to exclude the use of NSAIDS in coronavirus.

So, what's the bottom line? This is my take. If you have mild symptoms of fever and aches and you don't know if you have coronavirus, and you are over 12 years of age and don't have asthma, take an aspirin or other NSAID. The most significant exception to that rule is if you are allergic to aspirin. In the same situation if you're under 12, then try acetaminophen or ibuprofen. If you have coronavirus and you are not actively have problems breathing, then the NSAIDs are okay. For asthma, acetaminophen will not cause the problems with peripheral leukotrienes.

NSAIDs may be contraindicated if the infection is severe and with active respiratory problems. Even then, the evidence is out.

My primary sources in putting this together were (a) Anthony Fauci's March 18 podcast with the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, and (b) Derek Lowe's In the Pipeline blog as part of Science Translational Medicine, his March 6th and (c) March 19th entries.

(a) https://youtu.be/EXY76TKNy2Y
(b) https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/03/06/covid-19-small-molecule-therapies-reviewed
(c) https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/03/19/coronavirus-some-clinical-trial-data

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Who Topped the New York Times Adult Best-Selling Ficiton List, 2010-19, Men or Women?

I have made a number of posts regarding the nature of the books and authors that have made it to the top of the New York Times Best-Selling Adult Fiction List. These include the age of the authors, the length of stay on top, the length of the books, and the sex of the authors.


In the past, men have dominated that list. For example, in the years 1958 to 1961, and as recently as 1993, no woman author made the top spot on the list for even one week.


Things started to changed in the late nineties. The reason was J.K. Rowling. Her Harry Potter series started dominating the list. The New York Times would not allow this. Kids fluff? Beginning with the fourth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, July 2000, they banished her works from the Best-Selling Fiction List and created the Best-Selling Children's Fiction List.

The exclusion of Rowling was one of the two main reasons why, during the period between 2000-2009, women faired poorly. The other reason was The DaVinci Code, which topped the list for 59 weeks spread out over four years, 4 of those weeks in 2006, 7 in 2005, 28 in 2004, and 20 in 2003.

So, was it really a blockbuster to beat all blockbusters? J.K. Rowling, sold more books in 2003 than did the Da Vinci Code, with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and again won in 2005 with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Yes, Dan Brown has been seen laughing all the way to the bank.

So, let's look at the just-finished period of 2010-2019. Who topped the New York Times Adult Best-Selling List for the decade?

The contest was close. From the period of 2010 to 2018, men were leading, by one week.

In 2019, Delia Owens began a remarkable run with the book, Where the Crawdads Sing, 25 weeks at number one in 2019 and still dominating the list in 2020.

With that bolus, the women won the decade, 268.5 weeks to 253.5 for men. (Books with male and female co-authors, i.e., James Patterson and Maxine Pietro received one half point.)

With so close of totals, I went over the figures of the period 2010 to 2019, raking them to find errors. I did find some, but now am satisfied my tabulations are correct.

Congratulations women!

Female authors were atop the list 268.5 compared to 253.5 for male authors.

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Francis Valencia Ortiz

My grandfather is the subject of a piece of flash fiction that I wrote and which now appears in the October edition of Rendez-Vous Magazine. My mother also makes a guest appearance.

Our family called my grandfather Gee-Gee (hard Gs). We tended to adopt pet names for extended family members.

As it says in the story, Frank spent his life in a war with the willows. His ranch located a few miles from up into the cold mountains Santa Fe.

He bought Rancho Pancho in the 1930s when he had a steady job in spite of the depression and the landowner was desperate to sell.

Since he was my grandfather, I only knew him later in his life. He lived to 96, fighting with the willows into his nineties. In his seventies he had more vigor than me or my visiting college friends.

Frank Ortiz showing off an oversized pine-cone. The piñones inside were the size of a thumb. Unfortunately, they didn't taste good.

Frank Ortiz and my sister, Claire at the ranch.

Frank was very influential in my youth. His energy, positive spirit, and hard work inspired me.

I wrote this cowboy poem about him a time back which first appeared in Rope and Wire. It's in my cranky cowboy voice which possesses me from time to time.

The Nod

I know this might just start a fight but I never liked John Wayne.
It wasn't war or politics, if you'll just let me explain:
Now movie stars always are larger than life and taller than time,
With a dimpled smile in Panavision, they trip the light sublime.
They cast shadows out of sunset that stand grander than any man.
But you don't measure a real cowboy by the life he's larger than
Or how he towers above the Alamo like Widmark with his knife.
You see a cowboy, a true cowboy, is the exact same size as life.

Life fits him well, it's a riding glove he's mostly broken in.
Its favors and tangled pains are a tongue he's always spoken in.
And taller than time? Well, sir, the minute-hand lost its fingers
While roping calves. It oughta know, a minute's too long to linger.
He's not so phony as to hawk colog-ne or ever stoop to rave
Undying zeal for some lame smell: he's more "during grizzle" than after-shave.
He's a side of beef left on the grill well after the cookout's done.
A walking wrinkle, all-caked with clay, and baked by too mean a sun.

In Hollywood what they call "Rodeo" is one long bastardly boutique.
A drive you can't rightly drive, a place where oily leather squeaks.
In LA-LA land you can measure a man by the kind of truck he keeps
Out there a broncobuster is an SOB who broke into their Jeeps.
And when they cruise down Sunset their pickups are anything but Chevies.
(I hear they send their stuntmen in when the kissing gets too heavy.)
It’s all those Hollywood lies that have set their souls off-balance.
They all get told "You're beautiful, babe." (Well, maybe not Jack Palance.)

Which brings me to my grandfather (I'm sorry for the delay).
More a rancher than a wrangler, with less cattle than he had hay.
His sunbaked days meant yanking stumps and ditches to be dredged.
He paid his dues, he lost his teeth from a wild recoiling sledge.
He told me, "We're only visiting here as we toil this rocky land.
We're all just migrant workers, and never more than hired hands.
When laborers do their chores, they don't look for people to applaud."
And when I'd done a good day's work, he gave me a gentlemanly nod.

Death will tarry for the stubborn but still eventually it arrives.
When I last saw my grandfather he had just turned ninety-five.
We spoke of football and then he asked as he took me in his eyes
"Will I see you again?" I wished right then, I had a Hollywood lie.
I voiced some words at his service that really weren't inspired
Then I helped carry out the casket of the man I most admired.
So now I tell my tales before the crowds and bow when they applaud
And yet I'd trade their praise for just one more gentlemanly nod.


Here is a photo of my mother at 16 in a classic Latina dress. (In the story she is referred to as "Sister.")

Finally, here is a photo of my mother, later in life. She died in 2014.

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The Best Jane Marple / The Best Hercule Poirot

Poirot and Hastings. I definitely need to start a finger puppet collection.

The Best Miss Jane Marple.

Miss Jane Marple, Dame Agatha Christie's matronly detective, sleuthed her way through twelve novels and twenty short stories.  A new series is in the works, set to premiere in 2020.

Back in April of 2019, the website Britishperioddramas conducted a readers poll asking which actress did the best job of portraying Marple.

I am personally fond of Margaret Rutherford who appeared in four movies in the 1960s and solidified my vision of the character when I was young. I love Angela Lansbury in whatever she's in. I remember an episode of Murder She Wrote where a man about 30 years younger than Jessica Fletcher had a crush on her. I thought the episode was about me.

A Miss Marple car decal. Only 37 Norwegian krone.

So, here are the top five vote-getters for the best Miss Marple.

5. Angela Lansbury
4. Julia McKenzie
3. Geraldine McEwan
2. Margaret Rutherford
1. Joan Hickson

I have to confess that I haven't seen Joan Hickson's Marple. I suspect that it is very good. This was the period when the BBC was making the definitive Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes. I have a fondness for Helen Hayes, who did not make the list.

The Best Hercule Poirot.

A year earlier the same website ran a poll for the best Hercule Poirot. I am glad their commentary mentioned the too-much fidgeting and too-much foppishness of some portrayals. In my opinion, with all of his ticks and quirks, and with an improbable accent, the Poirot character is a minefield where many great actors have exploded. They leaned into his mustache and never escaped. I've seldom seen a sad side of Poirot, and yet this is an impression I get from reading the books.

Their top five list.

5. Alfred Molina
4. Albert Finney
3. Kenneth Branagh
2. Peter Ustinov.
1. David Suchet.

The top vote-getter had to be David Suchet. He is seared into my mind as Poirot. 

In 2015, Vulture magazine produced a list of the top Poirots as determined by critic Kyle Turner.

9. Andrew Sachs
8. Tony Randall
7. Satomi Kotaro
6. Peter Ustinov
5. Alfred Molina
4. Ian Holm (Poirot argues with Agatha Christie for the right to live)
3. Kenneth Branagh
2. Albert Finney.
1. David Suchet.

The Best Christie Film Adaptation.

As a bonus, here is a list from Taste of Cinema curated by film critic Ryan Anderson as to the best Agatha Christie adaptations: my comments added.

9. Ten Little Indians (1965)
How did this get on the list? I remember stiff acting and no tension. Starring, among others, Fabian.

8.  The Mirror Crack'd (1980)
Full of crackling wit. Probably my favorite color film adaptation of Christie.

7. Murder at the Gallop (1962)
Another great Margaret Rutherford/Marple film. I kind of like the idea that they took a Poirot novel and fitted it for Marple. I think Marple would be a great choice in The ABC Murders. 

6. Evil Under the Sun (1982)
I've seen it. But I can't remember it.

5. And Then There Were None. (1945)
Great wit, great acting, great directing. Should be in the number two spot.

4. Death on the Nile (1978)
I remember knowing whodunnit the moment the murder happened. This movie jaded me as to Christie's plots, at least for a while.

3. Murder, She Said (1960)
Why I love Margaret Rutherford.

2. Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
Very good. I wasn't that crazy about Ingrid Bergman's performance though.

1. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
All of Billy Wilder's films from this period were perfect.

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The Curse of The Apprentice

I enjoy curses. I don't believe in them, that is, not in the supernatural sense. But I do find it fascinating when a statistical blip delivers karmic justice.

In a previous post, I argued that Donald Trump's The Apprentice was never popular. Although it ranked in its first season among the top 10 TV shows, it did this while sandwiched between Friends and ER, both juggernaut series. Other series that were boosted into the top 10 by being in the Thursday night time slot when Friends and ER reigned included forgettables such as Fired Up and Boston Commons. 

When Boston Commons moved from Thursdays to Sundays, it dropped from 8th place to 52nd. None of the stars of Boston Commons or Fired Up have attempted running for president, although maybe Sharon Lawrence should. Or else Jonathan Banks.

With Donald Trump as the grumbler in chief, The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice lasted for 185 episodes. Of those, on only six occasions did it win its time slot against the three other networks (ABC, CBS and Fox). On several occasions it fell below the top offerings of cable, and in one case placed sixth.

Beginning with the season after the debut of The Apprentice, NBC's fortunes tumbled. This is the curse I wish to present here.

Below is a graph showing how many Top Ten TV shows (total viewers, all ages) ran on NBC during the years prior to The Apprentice, during the runs of The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice, and in the time since.

Each year leading up to the debut of The Apprentice, NBC had at least three shows in the Top 10. During the years after the debut of The Apprentice, it never had three. When Trump's Apprentice was no longer on, NBC returned to having three or more.

 After the debut of The Apprentice, NBC lost its mojo. For three years it had no Top Ten TV Show. This was followed by four years with exactly one: Sunday Night Football. Although Sunday Night Football was a genuine hit, it only lasted for the fall, half of the television year (The Celebrity Apprentice took over in its spot in the spring.) In 2011, NBC debuted The Voice, a reality competition series that expanded to two nights, sometimes with both of its nights in the top 10.

In 2013-14, The Celebrity Apprentice took a hiatus. NBC bounced back with four top ten shows, including its first drama or sitcom series in the Top Ten since 2003-04: The Blacklist. In 2014-15, Trump's Apprentice returned for its final season and NBC returned again to two top ten shows: football and one night of The Voice.

Since the end of the scourge that was The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice, NBC has bounced back. In 2018-19, NBC had five top ten TV shows, although three of these were football.

Often what seem like chance curses are due to more than just randomness. With the debut of The Apprentice, NBC concentrated on reality programs while abandoning their strength: scripted comedy and drama series. In 2016, after Trump's reign had ended, NBC debuted This Is Us, its first comedy-drama series to consistently appear in the Top Ten since the end of Friends. In 2018-19, three NBC drama series, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, and Chicago Med helped fill out the spots between 10 and 20 and NBC had eight shows in the Top Twenty.

In recent years, NBC has added Thursday Night Football to its schedule. The Sunday Night pregame show also scores well in ratings. Nine years before Apprentice, average 5.1. The year The Apprentice debuted, 3.0. The ten years of The Trump Apprentice, 0.2. The years after The Apprentice debuted without a Trump Apprentice show: 1.75.

 

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What the Voters Want Vs. What They Get

The representation in Congress is rigged against the will of the voters.

First: The United States Senate.

The United States Senate is currently divided with 53 Republican Senators, 45 Democratic, and 2 Independents (Bernie Sanders, VT, and Angus King, ME) who caucus with the Democrats.

All but one of the Senators have been elected; McSally of AZ was appointed.

I put together an Excel sheet with the vote counts for the winners and losers for each of the United State Senators in their most recent election, i.e., the one that got the current sitting Senator elected. I only looked at the top two vote-getters. On occasion, Democrats and Republicans scored third or even fourth place with Independents, and in one instance, Libertarian filling in the top two spots. Narrowing the count to the top two vote-getters did little to change the numbers and percentages and saved a lot of work. Yes, there would have been independents and libertarians coming in third place.

First question: How many votes did the candidates of a particular party receive (as winners or losers)?

A total of 217,371,702 votes were cast for the top two vote-getting candidate in the elections that decided the current Senate. If two-hundred million plus votes sounds like a lot, it is due to the fact that the two senators mean each state votes twice, doubling the total.

Of the 99 elected members of the Senate, the cumulative votes that the Democratic candidates received in their last election (2014-2018) is 121,697,598 (56.0%). The corresponding number for the Republicans is 94,686,683 (43.6%). The Independents (two winning and two losing) received an additional 896,596 votes (0.4%). One second-place Libertarian candidate (AK) received 90,825 (0.04%).

The discrepancy between the numbers of Democrats receiving votes and the number elected is due to the fact that in populous states Dems either win large (California, New York), or lose small (Cruz in Texas (50.9%) and Scott in Florida (50.1%). Republicans win big in many of the low population states.

A slightly different question is: How many votes did the winners get among those who currently occupy the Senate? The Republicans received 57,432,949 (45.5%) and the Democrats 68,240,158 (54.1%). The Independents received 528,244 (0.4%).

 
A Different Analysis.

Using 2017 Census Figure estimates, the fifty states have a population of 325,025,206.

District of Columbia and U.S. territories (with no voting representation) have an additional 6,100,189.

The Senate has 18 states represented by two Democrats (2D). Total population: 143,129,375 (average state pop: 7,951,631)

There are 22 Republican-only states (2R). (22 of them) Population: 129,312,117 (average state pop: 5,877,826)

There are 8 Democrat-Republican split states (1 D, 1 R): Pop: 50,624,150

There is 1 Democrat-Independent state (Vermont) (1D, 1I): Pop: 623,567

There is 1 Republican-Independent split state (Maine) (1R, 1I): 1,335,907

Giving Republicans, Democrats and Independents 1/2 the population of split states and the full population of non-split states:

Democratic Senators represent: 168,753,234 (51.9%)

Republican Senators represent: 155,292,145 (47.8%)

Independent Senators represent: 979,737 (0.3%)

The Independents caucus with the Democrats, so that makes an adjusted 52.2% Democrats and 47.8% Republicans.

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Mr. Swearengen Goes to Washington

My previous posts regarding newspaper accounts of Deadwood in the 1870s are available at these links.


#I  Introduction. Deadwood, the Series and Contemporary News Accounts.
#II Sheriff Seth Bullock in Old Deadwood Newspapers.
#III Seth Bullock on the Trail of Stagecoach Robbers.
#IV 1876 in Deadwood.
#V Seth Bullock and the Stolen Election. 
#VI Some correspondences and dispatches from early Deadwood.
#VII Ten Surprises I Encountered When Researching Deadwood.  
#VIII Starting a Graveyard in the Black Hills

Today's entry looks at the transition days for the Black Hills gold find. Originally, the government pushed the line: this is Indian territory and we must follow the treaty. Prospectors were rounded up and told to go home. Soon it became: hands off, the miners can come. Finally, it became: the treaty is abandoned, the remaining Native Americans must leave.

Swearengen was sent as a representative to Washington, D.C. to lobby to help this transition take place.

Bismarck weekly tribune, January 12, 1876, p. 5.

THE BLACK HILLS OPEN.
The Black Hills are practically open. Men go and come without molestation or interference from the military or Indians. Indeed it is understood that commanding officers have been directed to suspend all action in relation to miners until further orders, while all but the hostile Indians, who have no rights anyway, are ready to sell, and the Hills are filling up with miners who expect to stay.

Claims are a city being developed; a city is being built up, and improvements of a permanent nature are being made; and it is well for those who think of going to get themselves ready business with the opening of spring.

Mr. Swearengen who was sent by the miners, at the Custer City meeting, as a delegate to Washington in the interest of the opening of the Hills, has returned to his post, confident that things are working, and that the Hills will soon be proclaimed open to all, as they are now open to those who do not hesitate to defy ordinary dangers.

Elsewhere will be found an interview with Gen. Custer, had by the writer immediately after the return of Custer's Black Hills Expition [sic] in 1874.

He speaks of tho necessity of opening the Hills, looking at the question from a military stand point, and sees the difficulties to be met in keeping back the hardy minters; he details the character of the miners, and shows that dirt yielding two dollars to the pan was examined by him; he refers to a richer region than the French Creek mines, (Custer Park or Gulch) not examined by his miners, being the Rapid Creek mines of which Jenney speaks so favorably. He mentioned, also, the Belle Fourche mines, which are claimed by the miners to be still richer. These are still nearer Bismarck. Finally he speaks of a route to the Black Hills, leading in a southwesterly course from Bismarck.

This route has since been travelled by Capt. Fisher and others, and has been proven to possess all of the advantages claimed for it by Gen. Custer. He speaks of the agricultural wealth of the Hills,
and insists that nature could not have done more for any region.

But enough on this point. The General speaks for himself, elsewhere.

Mr. Swearengen, speaking of the Black Hills to a Sioux City reporter, says he was in the mining business on the Pacific coast for 30 years, and he believes—forming conclusions from actual observation—that the Black Hills region affords the richest mineral fields extant. The Black Hills afford a good country for the poor man, for they abound in placer diggings, which can be worked with little means, while quartz mining requires large capital but there are extensive and valuable quartz leads in the Hills, which capital will develop sooner or later. He speaks, also, of the rich agricultural resources of the Hills, confirming all that has been said by
Custer and others.

But on they points there has long since ceased to be doubts. The only question now is, will the Government permit the occupation of the Hills? We reply, they are permitting such occupation, and advise those who want to go to come on, for the Black Hills are now practicaly [sic] open.

Jack McCall, Hickok's assassin

Kelly Company, makers of metal detectors and all things for modern prospecting, have written an article regarding the Black Hills Gold Rush. 

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Starting a Graveyard in the Black Hills

Previous entries in my series regarding accounts of Deadwood in newspapers.

#I  Introduction. Deadwood, the Series and Contemporary News Accounts.
#II Sheriff Seth Bullock in Old Deadwood Newspapers.
#III Seth Bullock on the Trail of Stagecoach Robbers.
#IV 1876 in Deadwood.
#V Seth Bullock and the Stolen Election. 
#VI Some correspondences and dispatches from early Deadwood.
#VII Ten Surprises I Encountered When Researching Deadwood. 

The story presented below first appeared in a St. Louis paper and was reprinted in newspapers across the nation. It came out about two months before the Black Hills Pioneer began printing. I encountered it while searching for Swearengen articles, although this story only mentions him in passing.

STARTING A GRAVEYARD.

The First Inquest and Funeral in the Black Hills -- A Traveler's Story of Burial in the Wilderness.

Death demanded a sacrifice. A graveyard had to be started in Custer City. No one had volunteered to die and no ruffian had offered a sacrifice. Fate led Charley Holt and John Picket across the plains from Sioux City, and hope and ambition led them to "drive their stake" upon the southern slope in the suburbs of Custer. Poor boys! they were not yet men and their combined fortune and early effects would not reach $5 in value. They selected a town lot upon a grassy knoll, close to a small grove of straight, tall pines, and being unable to chop large logs or buy lumber with which to construct a habitation, dug a cave. These boys made their deadfall eight feet squared, covered it up with pine brush, propped this up with eight small poles, threw on several tons of earth, and went to bed to dream of home, of mother, of father and of the fortune they, in their boyish imaginations, had already carved out of these golden realms.

When morning came a sad sight was revealed to the young man who went to the dugout to borrow a shovel. The angel of death had been there in the night and buried the sleeping boys alive. A faint piteous beneath this living grave broke the icy stillness of the frosty morning, crying out: "In God's name, pull me out! I am dying." The boy who had come to borrow a shovel from the fatal spot, calling loudly for help, which came from all directions, from fifty cabins in the gulch. A dozen yeoman arms delved down and tore away the cruel earth which had already clasped and claimed one of these boys as its own, and which had hugged and pressed in its icy embrace, for eight long hours, the struggling survivor. The story told by the mangled and mutilated youth is a brief one. He told it to me while gasping in agony and pain, stretched upon a couch of pine boughs on the hill side.

"We finished out 'dug-out,' and I went down town to beg for work or flour. We had eaten up our last grub. Charlie --- that's my pardner --- stayed at home to fix up things and finish digging out the chimney. I went to the miners' meeting at the Swearenger's saloon, and came home about ten o'clock, and went to bed. When I woke up I was buried, but I had one had one hand free, with which I scratched away the dirt and brush and got air. Then all was dark again, and awhile, I woke up. I could see the stars and the moon, and I heard Charlie calling for me to help him. I tried to move, but the dirt came tumbling in on my face, so I quit. Then Charlie said: 'Johnny, I am dying; write to my mother.' I called out: 'Charlie, I can't get out; God help you; we must die!' then all got dark again. That's all I know, sir, till just now. Is Charlie dead?"

Yes, Charlie was dead! His crushed and mangled body was dragged out of the debris a few minutes afterward, and borne down the hillside to a deserted soldier's cabin, and laid out upon a plank place upon two logs.

Then came the inquest --- first held in the Black Hills. It was a queer scene. There stood the city marshal, a tall, rough, honest man, with bronzed-brown face and tear stained eyes, a pair of navies on his hips, but gentle as a lam in the face of a death like this.

The coroner, a miner with grizzled beard and hard, grimy hands, stood by the body with a book in his hand. Two doctors, just arrived that morning from Platte county, Mo., looking more like tramps than professional stood by. A reporter, a clothing dealer, a saloon keeper, a lawyer and two miners constituted the jury, which sat itself upon a log which insisted upon rolling over every two minutes. The inquest was brief, the reporter organized the jury, swore them in, elicited the evidence, made the verdict, and founded the first official archive for the city. The verdict was "accidental death from suffocation;" that was all, and material was ready to start a graveyard in Custer.

Then came the humane hands and kind hears and dressed the unfortunate stranger. One of the miners found a white shirt, the only one it the city, a sheet was converted into a shroud, and Charley Holt soon lay in a rough pine box upon a bier of logs. This was not all, a fire was built in the corner of that black, deserted cabin, the roof opened to allow the smoke to escape, and then a half dozen noble men sat and watched until daylight. They were bound to start a graveyard. With the rising of the sun came ladies --- yes, ladies; kind hearted pioneers who had woven a wreath of pine twigs, winter ivy, pine cones and four little fragments of white tarlatan and pieces of the black silk strings of a bonnet. This wreath was laid reverentially upon the unpainted pine box; it was all these five noble hearted women could do, and they did it well. But still the graveyard was not inaugurated. Here was a corpse neatly shrouded, wreathed and coffined, and no graveyard; but a site for a city graveyard was found --- a natural cemetery already planted with groves of trees, and laid out by nature into broad, irregular avenues, all sodded and half green. Cascades, ornamented with glittering icicles, lent their aid to the frosted evergreen foliage and snow white grotto of quartz to beautify the newly selected site for the city of the dead.

A half dozen brawny athletes, with pick and shovel, tore open the virgin soil, and made the grave. They were generous sextons, these amateurs, and sunk a hole like unto a mining shaft. It was at least twelve feet long --- this grave for the half-grown boy. But the trouble was only half over. There is no preacher in Custer, and a two hours' canvass of the city failed to find a professor of religion among three hundred people. Worse than that, a close search failed to find a prayer book. The mayor, honest man, appealed to one of the two lawyers in the city to "say a few words at the grave, to be Christian-like," but such pleading was not in his line; so the three doctors were appealed to, but with like success. Then came a committee of judge, mayor and marshal to the reporter. Surely a "paper man" knew something about funerals; and, said the mayor, "we want to put the poor lad away a king o' Christian like; not like a dog." Besides, a graveyard had to be started.

Then came Miss Ida Simms, like an angel of goodness, with a small gilt-edged Bible, the only one in the city, and the funeral cortege moved on through the main street of the city. It was a picturesque scene on this bright, sunny day. A wagon containing the unpainted coffin, upon which lay the ladies' evergreen wreath. Then the mayor, judge, councilmen, and marsh, rough, blue-shirted men in miners' boots and slouch hats. A dozen or two miners, merchants ad hunters brought up the rear, and the procession moved silently on.

Then a shallow grave on the hillside, sunk, as one of the amateur sextons said, "clar down to the bedrock, gentlemen, down what the dirt shows good color." Silently the body was taken from the wagon and tenderly laid in the golden earth upon the bedrock. Then every head was bared and every bronzed countenance bowed while on or two selections of Scriptures were read. The grave was soon filled and a white pine headstone set in the earth, and thus the city of Custer inaugurated its graveyard.

The saddest point about this affecting incident is yet to be mentioned. No letters, papers, or even the slightest clew to his home or friends have been found. All that is know is that walked all the way to the Black Hills to die and start a graveyard.

As reprinted in the Connecticut Western News, April 21, 1876, p. 2.

The Bismarck Weekly Tribune had this brief note about the new cemetery.

Custer City has started a grave-yard. A man killed his partner, and was fined for shooting in the city limits.

Bismarck weekly tribune, April 12, 1876, p. 3

Inside the Gem Saloon

 

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Ten Surprises I Encountered When Researching Deadwood.

General George Custer, the pestilence who keeps on pesting, was the one who first discovered gold in the Black Hills.

The discovery of gold lead to a huge influx of prospectors which led to the seizure of vast territories recently deeded to Native Americans in the Treaty of 1868. This in turn led to the displacement and starving of local tribes which led to the slaughter of Custer which led to the further slaughter of Native Americans. (With a few slaughters in between.)

Native Americans were referred to in the local papers as "the Indian problem." While in the 19th century there was a consciousness among many that took into account the Native American point of view, this was not true at the frontier level.

The rush to the Black Hills and Deadwood was enormous. Deadwood went from no one in 1875 to being the largest settlement in the Dakotas, Montana or Wyoming in 1876.

Deadwood was very isolated. Cheyenne, the nearest city of comparable size, was 276 miles away, and as Seth Bullock described it, between 5 to 30 days by stagecoach. Yankton, the second largest city in the Dakotas after Deadwood, was 395 miles distant.

Seth Bullock was never elected sheriff. He was appointed sheriff for one year and then lost in a crooked election.

Seth Bullock, according to a letter written by him, arrived in Deadwood on August 3rd, 1876, one day after Wild Bill Hickok was murdered. Elsewhere in this blog, I cite that he arrived one day before, which appears in other sources.

The television show winnowed down Deadwood to make it manageable. The city sprawled and had two voting precincts, Deadwood and South Deadwood. It had many physicians and lawyers.

Some personalities fit the characters in the show: e.g., Seth Bullock, Al Swearengen, and Calamity Jane. E.B. Farnum, the weaselly mayor in the series was, in fact, a good public servant and family man.

From the 1880 U.S. Census, a little after Deadwood's peak.
 
Deadwood, Dakotas, 1880. 3777.
Yankton, Dakotas, 1880. 3431.
Cheyenne, WY, 1880. 3456.
Sioux Falls, Dakotas, 1880. 2164.
Bismarck, Dakotas,1880, 1758.
Helena, MT 1880, 3624.

Previously:

#I  Introduction. Deadwood, the Series and Contemporary News Accounts.
#II Sheriff Seth Bullock in Old Deadwood Newspapers.
#III Seth Bullock on the Trail of Stagecoach Robbers.
#IV 1876 in Deadwood.
#V Seth Bullock and the Stolen Election. 
#VI Some correspondences and dispatches from early Deadwood.

Sol Star went on to become mayor of Deadwood.

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Some correspondences and dispatches from early Deadwood.

Many issues of the first months of the Deadwood newspapers are no longer around. In this entry I will look at stories from Deadwood as related in other newspapers, some of which reprinted articles from the Deadwood Pioneer. 

Previous entries in my series regarding news stories from early Deadwood:

#I  Introduction. Deadwood, the Series and Contemporary News Accounts.
#II Sheriff Seth Bullock in Old Deadwood Newspapers.
#III Seth Bullock on the Trail of Stagecoach Robbers.
#IV 1876 in Deadwood.
#V Seth Bullock and the Stolen Election.

For today, I will focus on Montana newspapers. The gold strike in the Black Hills drew many from Montana and the newspapers reported on it and printed stories from Deadwood. Helena, Montana is 527 miles from Deadwood, as Google flies. Bozeman, Montana is 430 miles away and Deer Lodge, Montana, 552 miles distant.

Many early stories dealt with how wonderful or how terrible it was to head to the Black Hills of the Dakotas to look for gold. 

Deadwood, circa 1876.

Avant Courier [Bozeman, MT], July 14, 1876, p. 3.

THE BLACK HILLS

The Independent and Madisonian, which claim to be NEWSpapers, have frequently charged the COURIER with publishing sensational reports regarding the richness of the Black Hills, and by such publications tending to depopulate the Territory [Montana]. In this matter we have done nothing but what we regarded as our duty as the publisher of a newspaper, and what should be expected from us as an impartial journalist by those who subscribe for and read the paper. We have given publicity to both favorable and unfavorable accounts from the Hills, eschewing both extremes, and leaving the reader to judge the merits of the mines. Unlike those papers, we have manufactured no false reports to encourage or deter men from going there. We are governed in all matters of this kind by the principle that is is the province of a newspaper to publish the news.

The question of depopulating the Territory never occurred to us and if it had, it would have been immediately dismissed. The fact has been demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt that it will be many years hence before we can get a railroad, and we regard the opening of the Black Hills as the quickest and surest of bringing prosperity to our Territory. It will no doubt be the means of settling forever the vexed Indian question, and while we are called upon early in the action to deplore the loss of the gallant Custer and his brave command, it can only be accepted as one of the results of war, and it were better to sustain the loss of a few hundred men in a decisive action against the Indians, than to have the frontier settlements of the West constantly harrassed [sic] for years by these savages, who have counted their annual crop of scalps, taken from pioneer settlers, by the hundred for the last decade or so, besides the wholesale plunder of the defenceless settlements. It will open to settlement the rich and extensive territory between the Eastern and Western settlements of the New North-west, and open to travel the overland routes from Montana to Cheyenne and Bismarck, and the population we have lost by the exodus to the Black Hills will be augmented twenty-fold by the influx of immigrants to our Territory within the next two years, over the newly opened country. 

Helena [MT] Daily Herald, July 24, 1876, p. 3.

NEWS FROM THE HILLS.

Trying to Organize a Party of 1,000 for the Big Horn and Wind River Countries.

Doc. Harding, of Radersburg, on a business visit here last week, was interviewed by a HERALD reporter Saturday in reference to late Black Hills news said to have been received by him. The Doc stated that he had a letter from John Hildebrand, dated at Deadwood, June 24, in which the prospects of the writer were cheerfully dwelt upon. John thought he had a promising claim in the gulch, and was employing nine men. With the week's clean-up he reported himself $400 "ahead of the country."

Hundreds of miners, pilgrims, and others, he states, are in the Hills, unable to obtain property or even work. Efforts were then making to form a prospecting party, 1,000 strong, armed and equipped for the undertaking, to go into the Big Horn and Wind River countries, and give those regions a thorough inspection. It was believed extensive and paying mines would be discovered in the sections named. It is evident that the time approaches when a strong column of adventurous men, disappointed in their expectations and ventures, will move in organized shape out of the Black Hills and into the reputed but comparatively unexplored gold sections of Eastern Montana.

The Hills, according to the best authorities, are already overrun, with not one in a score basking in the smiles of fickle fortune. We look for Montana to regain, before the year ends, more than she has lost by the irrational excitement growing out of the gold discoveries in the Black Hills.

Two items of interest in the Helena [Montana] Weekly, July 27, 1876, p. 7.

--The steamer Carroll arrived at Bismarck on the 17 inst., with 2,000 sacks of silver ore. Seth Bullock, Sol Star, and Rev. Harris were among the passengers. The Carroll, loaded with troops and supplies for Terry's command, and left for the Yellowstone on the 21st.

[The first leg of Bullock and Star's trip to Deadwood took place using a steamship down the Missouri River.]

--Al. Merrick, an old Montana typo, and a mighty good one, is editorially at the head of the Pioneer, published at Deadwood. He is associated with a Mr. Gardner in the ownership of the paper, a tastily printed, twenty column quarto sheet, published every Saturday morning. Success.

Montana papers, at times, published letters from former residents who had resettled to Deadwood. 

Helena Weekly, August 10, 1876, p. 3.

THE BLACK HILLS

Interesting Letter from a Helenaite

His Views of the New El Dorado.

DEADWOOD CITY, July 19, 1876

FRIEND TED: -- I have been here ten days, but up to the present time have not succeeded in getting into any business. Of all the motley crowds ever seen in a new camp, this beats them all. Men that were lost to sight and almost to memory, turn up here. Of course, a country with no greater extent of mines than this has yet developed, cannot furnish all with occupation, consequently everything is fearfully over done [sic]. Most of our Montana people are too late. All the good diggings and eligible town locations are in the hands of men who know their value. The mining region of this section is confined to about six miles, and the town (Deadwood) is situated about in the center. The country is claimed to a much larger extent for mining purposes, but I think (and I have done nothing but travel around since I came here) this space will cover all that has yet been developed, including side gulches and hill diggings. 

There are a number of very rich claims worked here. The amount of money taken out of one claim, owned by Wheeler and two other Montanians, is said to be enormous. All their hands are Montana men, Alex DeLong among the rest, who claims that is the best piece of ground that he ever saw. This claim pays the best wages on the creek -- $5 for day hands and $5.50 for night. The owners are prudent men and spend nothing, and this is the rule with the principal claim owners. Money does not circulate as it used to in a Montana gulch that was paying well.

Among the old Montanians doing business here are Red Clark, who has a livery and sale stable; Billy Plater, who has a few saddle horses and a hay corral. Boggy has a large stable built, but is doing nothing.

I have very little hope that this letter will ever reach its destination. We appear to be cut off from all communications with the outside world, and all kinds of wild rumors reach us concerning Indians. Whether we shall be kept penned up here, with no chance to prospect the country, remains to be determined.

Under the existing circumstances, I would not advise any one who has employment elsewhere to come here at present.

Yours truly,
H. HEALEY.

[Also in the same paper, same day, a news article reprinted from the Black Hills Pioneer that chiefly talks of flora and fauna:]

Black Hills News.

We have the Black Hills Pioneer for July 22. Among its local news items of the week are the following:

Beautiful wild flowers fragrant as the rose are found in the Black Hills.

The sap of the box elder, which grows in great abundance here, is quite saccharine. We have sampled box elder molases [sic] made in the Hills last spring, and find it very palatable.

There is an incessant cracking of rifles and revolvers in the camp--shooting mark, of course. Save your ammunition boys, until things become a little more pacific in regards to the Indian question.

The mountain rat has a bush tail, broad upright ears, with head configured like that of a mouse, grows as big as an eastern black squirrel, and, next to the magpies and Sioux Indians with letters of endorsement from post-traders, is the most impudent and audacious creature that lives. We give the description so our pilgrim friends will know what kind of an animal it is when they see one.

Whoever thinks it is an easy matter to go out in the midst of a thousand different rumors on the same subject and get the exact facts for publication, would find out how badly they were mistaken were they to try the experiment. The reported massacre of the Dunn party, on the Pierre route, was at first narrated to us by so many different parties, and with such a string of little details, that is seemed impossible that it could be false; but now we have good reason to believe there is not a word of truth in it.

In the Black Hills are  found bright green snakes -- just as pretty as it possible for any snake to be. We never before saw or heard of such reptiles; think they have not been found elsewhere in the United States. There are different kinds of the same species, some having orange-colored bellies, while the remainder is green. The probability is that they are not venomous, as rattlesnakes are not found in the Hills, though they abound in the foot-hills. These green snakes attain about the size of the common garter-snake, and do not seem tenacious of life, a slight blow usually being followed by instant death.

Helena Weekly Herald, August 24, 1876, p. 8.

From the Daily Herald of August 22.

Arrived in the Black Hills.

The Helena party, composed in part of Seth Bullock, Sol Star and Doc. Carter, arrived safely at their destination -- Deadwood City. Carter bought a large, new building, 28 x 40 feet, shingle roof, wainscoted inside and handsomely painted, for the moderate sum of $1,400. Bullock & Star and McPherson & Miller secured and jointly occupy a building suitable for their wants, and opened up merchandising. Carter writes to Dan. Floweree that kinds of business is greatly overdone, and that a large number of idle people are scattered in the several towns along Deadwood, unable to get work and without visible means of support.

Hildebrand, Sutherland, and several other Montanians, have very rich claims, and are taking out big money. The majority of the diggings opened are wages and below. A large amount of ground along the gulch is still unopened. Jim Matkins has a good piece of property in a mining ditch. Carter thinks the camp promises to be a fair one, from all the information he could gain in the few days he had been there.

The following letter from Seth Bullock was printed in several papers, including in my source: 

Helena Weekly Herald, October 12, 1876, p. 13.

THE BLACK HILLS.

Letter from Seth Bullock.
Mr. Charles Warren, of Butte, received the following letter recently from the ex-Sheriff of Lewis and Clarke, familiarly known as "Bishop Bullock:"

DEADWOOD, Sept. 8, 1876.

"I arrived here August 3d, and found a 'red hot' mining town, situated at a point where Deadwood empties into Whitewood. The gulches are very rich; claims are all taken, and sold at high figures. Deadwood is the best gulch so far as known. Claims are 300 feet up and down, and extend from hill top across -- about as large as a ranch. The country is overdone, or rather men have come here too fast for the amount of work that can be done in one summer. A great many are here idle and broke. The Indians will not permit a man to go out side of the gulch, so that very little prospecting can be done. Crowds arrive and leave daily. Most all the travel is by way of Cheyenne. Fare is all the way from ten to thirty-five dollars; time from five to thirty days. Business of all kinds are represented. Langrishe has a theatre here, and two dance houses boom nightly. We have no law and no order, and no prospect of either. Several murders have been committed and nothing done. A night herd runs the streets at night, and whoop and shoot until morning.

"Nebraska farmers peddle flour, bacon and groceries from claim to claim, which makes the grocery trade dull.

"Denne is here. 'Sid Osborne' left for Montana a few days ago on biz. The country is full of Montanians. Chess Trais and 106 others arrived to-day. Tell your friends not to come here this fall--that is, those who come to work or prospect. I cannot advise you to come; on the contrary, I think you are doing better than you could here. Board here is $10 per week, flour $8 per hundred, bacon 20 cents per pound, etc., whisky 25 cents a drink. The Hills are too near the "genial influences" for times to be here as they were in Montana in '49 without other diggings are found. Two years will take the cream of this country. I don't believe it is any better for farming than Montana. We have a little more rain here, and as many grasshoppers. Sol Star is here and doing fair. I am satisfied to remain for a while. I shall go east this winter if you do. We have no regular mail. A coach is expected here daily. Let me hear from you with the Montana news. Your friend."

SETH BULLOCK.

Next up: Ten Surprises I Encountered When Researching Deadwood.

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