Evening Times Republican

Students Quarantined Out of Rooms and Compelled to Go Home

MANY HAVE BEEN EXPOSED

Those Out of Rooms at Time Refused Admission to Other Boarding Houses - University Authorities Worried Over the Outcome - Precautions Taken.

Special to Times-Republican.

Iowa City, March 4. - Diphtheria has broken out in the university, and as a result, one of the fraternity houses of the city is under quarantine, and many of the students have been exposed to the disease.

R. W. Pote, a member of the dental fraternity of Psi Omega, was the first student to be attacked by the epidemic, and is seriously ill at the chapter house of the fraternity. This morning a quarantine was declared on the house, and all those in the house are forbidden to leave until the quarantine is raised, while those not in the house at the time are forbidden admission, and are in hard straits for a place to lay their heads, as the rooming houses of the town refuse to accommodate them on account of their previous exposure to the disease. Pote was doing his regular work at the clinic of the dental school up to the time when he was confined to his room, and all of the senior class in dentistry have been exposed to the disease in greater or less degree. Fears are entertained by the university authorities as to the outcome of the matter, and all possible precautions will be taken to prevent the spread of the epidemic. The local chapter of the fraternity consists of twenty members, seven of whom are seniors in the dental school, and the loss of their time at this time may prevent their graduation. One of the incidents of the quarantine has brought out the innate nobility of one man's character. John L. Richards, a senior member of the dental school, is Pote's roommate, but was out of the house at the time the quarantine was declared, and was therefore free to go wherever he might choose. However, Richards refused to avail himself of the privilege, feeling that his place is with his roommate in his time of need, and has voluntarily gone into quarantine with Pote, that he may be able to help take care of him during his illness. Most of those free from the quarantine have gone to their homes to await developments of their exposure.