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Died in prison

Name not reported

died November 1906 · Bilibid Prison, Manila, Philippines (under US rule)

A person held at Bilibid Prison in Manila, Philippine Islands, died in late 1906 after receiving an experimental cholera inoculation given to prisoners in a Bureau of Science trial meant to protect the prison against cholera. Newspaper accounts say ten to thirteen prisoners died within days of the injections, and the name of this person is not recorded. Official accounts, including Governor-General Smith's dispatch to the War Department, said a bottle of bubonic plague culture was probably mixed into the cholera serum by mistake, and a visitor was believed to have misplaced it. A former prison physician, Dr. William R. Moulden, doubted the inoculation caused the deaths and called them an accident. A committee of scientists later blamed attenuated plague cultures mixed into the serum, and a Filipino committee found no one responsible and recommended provision for the families.

Cause of death, as reported: Died in an accident (disputed). Investigating physicians and Governor-General Smith say the cholera serum was contaminated with plague culture, while Dr. William R. Moulden, a former prison physician, doubts the inoculation caused the deaths and believes they were an accident.

Reported by: physicians investigating the deaths; Governor-General Smith, via War Department dispatch; committee of scientists; committee of Filipinos (outside investigators); Dr. William R. Moulden.

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