Darkwater Truth by Robin Caroll

Author:Robin Caroll [Caroll, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: RC Productions, Inc.
Published: 2019-05-30T22:00:00+00:00

— Dimitri

“Got a second?” He hesitated at Adelaide’s office door.

She looked up from her desk and smiled. “Sure. Come in.” She started to stand.

“Don’t get up.” He crossed the space to sit in the chair in front of her desk. “I just wanted to update you on what I found out after our figuring out the skeleton is most likely my great-uncle Harold yesterday.” He pulled out his folder with everything he’d acquired on the man, and opened it.

“Good. I was wondering if you discovered anything else.”

He nodded. “I spoke with the archdiocese office for Orleans parish. After much conversation, and a long wait for a return call from this morning, I got an email with the information I wanted.”

“Well, tell me.” Adelaide laughed.

Dimitri smiled. “Well, you know how you commented on big events in his life happening on holidays?”

She nodded.

“It continues. He was born on Halloween in 1917 as we know, but he was turned over to St. Vincent’s Infant Asylum for adoption on Halloween 1919.”

“No way!”

He nodded. “I know. That’s why I called the archdiocese office back this afternoon, just to confirm the dates.”

She shook her head slowly as she leaned back in her chair. “This is unbelievable. I mean, I can’t even fathom. It’s unreal.”

“I know, but they confirmed.” He glanced back down at the open file sitting on the edge of her desk. “The reason he was left at St. Vincent’s for adoption is because his parents died in the big flu epidemic.”

Adelaide lifted her hands. “Sorry, don’t know about that.”

“I didn’t either, at first. I did a little online searching and then I remembered learning about it. In the fall of 1918, an oil tanker arrived at the port in New Orleans. On it were like five or six men who were sick with Spanish influenza. Even though the state health board barred the ship from coming into port, some of the men were taken to Belvedere Hospital. And the epidemic started.”

She nodded. “I remember learning something about that. There was like record-breaking numbers of deaths, right?”

“Yes. Estimates are in the 3,500 range. They’d gotten it under control a bit in early 1919, but another round hit in the fall, and the death toll rose again. The country got hit hard, but Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and New Orleans had the highest number of deaths.”

“So Harold’s parents both died from the flu?”

He nodded. “Sadly, that’s why he was given over to St. Vincent’s. Of course, the archdiocese office says that many children were left there if their only adult family members were sick, and many were later reclaimed once they were well.”

“But not Harold?”

Dimitri shook his head. “Both of his parents died. Incidentally, they’re buried in St. Louis Cemetery Number Three.”

“So he was available for adoption then. He was, what?—two years old?”

“Exactly two.”

“Why wasn’t he adopted? I mean, it’s not like he was an older child who are statistically harder to place.”

“The lady I spoke with indicated they had many, many children taken in at St. Vincent’s in 1918 and 1919 because of the influenza outbreak.

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