They recall that citizens wore white gauze masks in public in a vain attempt to protect themselves. Funerals were limited to fifteen minutes. Coffins were in short supply. Morticians and gravediggers could not keep up with the demand for their services. In Philadelphia, so many bodies had piled up in the morgue that the embalmers said the conditions were “so offensive” that they would not enter it. Public gatherings were prohibited in many cities and some places made it a crime to cough, sneeze, or spit in public. In Washington, D.C., even the Supreme Court adjourned so that, as Justice Oliver
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