"Indians Vaccinated"

The Daily Press, March 27, 1862

Yesterday afternoon, all the principal Indians of the various tribes now living here, were summoned to the Police office to have a "wawa" with His Excellency with regard to the small-pox. The result of the talk was that the Indians agreed to be vaccinated, thinking it better to suffer a little pain than a great deal of agony. This morning, accordingly, about thirty Indians, amongst whom were King Freezy, his queen, and the young princess, and all the Indian doctors, were brought to Dr. Helmcken's office and there underment [sic] the ceremony of being vaccinated for the small pox. It was pretty hard at first to convince them of the benefit arising from this very simple operation, but after a while they were made to believe that the threatened sickness, the small pox was far worse than their great enemy, the measles.