REGULATIONS 
OF THE 
BOARD OF HEALTH, 
OF THE 
CITY OF FALL RIYER, 
i- mmmmi 
FALL RIVER, MASS. 
PRESS OF WM. S. ROBERTSON, 3 N. COURT SQUARE. 
18 8 2. REGULATIONS 
OF THE 
BOARD OF HEALTH. 
OF THE 
CITY OF FILL RIYER, 
ummmmm, 
FALL RIVER, MASS. 
PRESS OF WM. S. ROBERTSON, 3 N. COURT SQUARE. 
1882. REGULATIONS. 
1. Regular meetings of the Board shall be held 
once in each month, and it shall be the duty of the 
Chairman to call special meetings of the Board at any 
time when in his judgment it shall be proper to do so. 
2. All complaints in relation to nuisances and 
sources of filth, injurious to the health and comfort of 
the inhabitants of the city, shall be made lo either 
member of the Board or to the Clerk. 
Whenever complaint shall be made as aforesaid, 
the Board or their authorized agent shall proceed to 
examine the premises complained of and take meas- 
ures to abate the nuisance, if such is found to exist, 
after giving legal notice to the parties entitled there- 
to. 
3. All complaints shall be recorded by the Clerk, 
and all notices to persons requiring them to abate 
nuisances shall be served by some member of the 
Board, or by a constable of the city of Fall Fiver, 
and a record of such notice shall be made by the 
Clerk. 
4. The owners, agents, occupants or other per- 
sons having the care of any building or tenement 4 
REGULATIONS OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH. 
used as a dwelling, or for any other purpose, standing 
on land adjoining a street through which a common 
sewer has been, or shall hereafter be laid, shall, when- 
ever required by the Board of Health, cause proper 
and sufficient drains to be constructed from their 
premises leading into such sewer by pioper connec- 
tions, and in accordance with the Statutes of the 
Commonwealth and the regulations of the Board 
of Health. The orders for the abatement of nuisan- 
ces when found on private property, shall be in ac- 
cordance with Chapter 80 of the Public Statutes of 
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts relating to the 
preservation of the Public Health, and shall be en- 
forced according to the provisions therein contained. 
5. All vaults and cesspools not connected with 
a common sewer, shall be provided with sufficient 
drains, underground, leading thereto, from the tene- 
ments with which they are connected; and all vaults, 
drains, cesspools and privies shall be cleansed and 
kept in good condition by the owner, agent, occupant, 
or other person having charge of the land on which 
the same are situated; and in case of neglect or re- 
fusal so to do, the Board of Health, after due notice 
to parties entitled thereto, shall cause the same to be 
cleansed and put in good condition at the expense of 
the owner, agent, occupant, or other person as afore- 
said, and in case of neglect or refusal as aforesaid, 
the agent, owner, or occupant, shall also be liable to 
the penalty prescribed by law. 
6. Whenever the owner, agent occupant, or 
other person having the care of any building or other 
property from which the Board of Health may re- REGULATIONS OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH. 
5 
quire sufficient drains to be constructed and connect- 
ed with the public sewers, shall neglect or refuse to 
comply with the orders of said board, the Board of 
Health, after due notice to parties entitled thereto, 
shall cause the same to be done at the expense of the 
owner, agent, occupant or other person having the 
care of said building or property ; and said owner,, 
agent, occupant or other person who shall neglect or 
refuse to comply with such order as aforesaid, shall 
be liable to the penalty or forfeiture prescribed by the 
Public Statutes. . v; 
7. The Superintendents of Cemeteries in the 
city of Fall River, shall not allow the body of any 
person who has died from any contagious or infectious 
disease to be deposited in any tomb, under their care, 
but shall cause such body to be buried immediately. 
8. No person shall remove or transport through 
any of the streets of the city of Fall River, the con- 
tents of any privy, vault, cesspool, or any other offen- 
sive substance, unless the same shall be removed or 
transported by means of an air tight apparatus, or in 
such mannei as shall prevent entirely the escape of 
any noxious or offensive odors therefrom, and the 
contents of all privy vaults shall before removal be 
properly disinfected, so that the removal thereof will 
cause no offensive odors. The owners of all privy 
vaults shall disinfect their contents sufficiently often 
to keep them free from all offensive odors. 
9. No apparatus for the removal of the contents 
of any privy vault, or cesspool, shall be used for such 
purpose by any person until such apparatus shall have 6 
REGULATIONS OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH. 
been approved by the Board of Health, and permis- 
sion in writing granted by said Board of Health 
allowing the use of such apparatus. 
10. No person or persons shall throw or deposit, 
or cause to be thrown or deposited in any street, court, 
square, alley, public place or vacant lot,or into any pond, 
creek or river, any dirt, sawdust, soot, ashes, cinders, 
shavings, hair, lime, shreds, manure, oyster, lobster or 
clam shells, waste water, rubbish or filth of any kind 
or the contents of any cesspool or privy vault, or any 
animal or vegetable substance. Nor shall any person 
or persons throw or cast any dead animals, or any 
foul or offensive ballast into any dock or any other 
of the waters within or adjoining the- city. Nor shall 
an}7 person land any foul or offensive animal or vege- 
table substance within the city. 
11. Physicians and householders shall report to 
the Board of Health, with the least possible delay, 
their knowledge or belief of the existence of any con- 
tagious or infectious disease including scarlet fever, 
diptheria and scarlatina, and shall at the same time, 
as far as possible, cause patients under their care to 
be isolated as effectually as possible. In case of the 
patients recovery or death from any of the above 
diseases, the clothing, bedding and other articles which 
have been exposed to infection, shall be burned, or 
boiled in hot water for not less than thirty minutes, 
and the premises properly disinfected. After the 
death from any of the diseases above mentioned 
the body shall not be removed from the sick room, 
until placed in the coffin with disinfectants, and the REGULATIONS OE THE B0AR1) OE HEALTH. 
7 
coffin shall be tightly closed, and the burial take place 
within twenty-four hours from the time of death. 
No except the immediate family of the de- 
ceased, and such other attendants as may be necessary 
shall be allowed to be present at the funeral. 
12. No child or adult, whose residence is in a 
building where any contagious or infectious disease 
exists, and where there is a common entrance used by 
several families, shall be allowed to attend any public 
or private school, within four weeks from the termim 
ation of the case. 
13. No person shall allow any vehicle under his 
control, containing fat, bones, soap grease or any bad 
smelling substance to stand in any street, alley, lane 
or on any public grounds of this city, longer than is 
absolutely necessary for the purposes of loading and 
unloading, and no person shall clean, scale or wash 
fish or meat upon any street, lane, alley or public 
grounds of the city. 
14. No owner or lessee of a building or tene* 
ment which has been adjudged by the Board of Health 
as unfit for human habitation, shall thereafter allow 
the same to be used as a dwelling until it shall have 
been put in such condition as the Board of Health 
shall approve, and permission in writing granted by 
said Board for such use. 
15. No person shall be allowed to keep any 
swine or goat within the limits of this city, without 
a license from the Board of Health. Any violation 
of this regulation will subject the person violating 8 
REGULATIONS OF TIIE BOARD OF HEALTH. 
to the penalty prescribed by the Statutes of the 
Commonwealth. 
16. No person shall deposit the contents of any 
vault, drain or cesspool upon any premises within the 
limits of this city without first having obtained a per- 
mit to do so, from the Board of Health ; nor shall any 
person allow the contents of any vault, drain or cess- 
pool to run from his premises upon any street or 
sidewalk in the city. 
17. No person shall be allowed to keep, for sale, 
or other purpose, any guano or fertilizer of any kind 
in any place within the city, unless by permission of 
the Board of Health. 
18. No person shall deposit or cause to be de- 
posited dead animals of any kind in any street, court, 
alley, vacant lot, pond, creek, river, dock or any of the 
waters within the city limits. 
19. The owners of all vaults shall disinfect their 
*• • 
contents sufficiently often to keep them free from 
all offensive odors. 
20. All vessels arriving at this port from any 
port where cholera, yellow fever or any other conta- 
gious disease prevailed at the time of said vessel’s 
sailing therefrom, or having on its arrival, or having 
had during its voyage either of said diseases on board, 
shall anchor southerly from the “ Light House on 
Borden Flats/’ and not less than two thousand feet 
westerly from the easterly shore of Mount Hope Bay, 
at quarantine, and there be examined by the City 
Physician. Such vessels shall only be allowed to come REGULATIONS OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH. 
9 
up to the city after such examination, and upon the 
certificate of said physician that in his opinion the 
health of the city would not be endangered thereby. 
21. All persons using city water from hydrants 
located upon their premises, be, and they are hereby 
required to connect drains from the same with the 
public sewers, where such sewers are laid in the street 
adjoining their premises; and they are also forbidden 
to allow waste water to run from their premises upon 
the sidewalks or streets. 
22. No person shall construct any drain for the 
purpose of conveying the waste water or over-flow 
from any vault or cesspool upon his premises, to the 
sidewalk, gutter or street surface, and all persons who 
now have such drains are required to remove the 
same, and no person shall hereafter allow any waste 
water or overflow from any drain, vault or cesspool to 
flow from his premises on to the street or sidewalk. 
23. No privy shall hereafter be located within 
fifteen feet of any dwelling house without permission 
from the Board of Health, any person violating this 
regulation will be liable to the penalty provided by 
the Statutes of the Commonwealth. 
24. The owners and occupants of estates where 
a public sewer abuts the estate to be drained, shall 
within such reasonable time as the Board of Health 
shall prescribe cause such connection to be made in 
the mode prescribed by law; any violation of this 
regulation will subject the party violating to a fine 
not exceeding one hundred dollars. 10 
REGULATIONS of the hoard of health, 
25. No person or Corporation shall remove or 
cause to be removed the contents of any privy, cess- 
pool or sink vault, or any other filthy or offensive sub- 
stance to or from any place in the city of Fall River 
unless such person shall have a license for that purpose 
from the Board of Health, under the penalty of a fine 
not exceeding one hundred dollars as provided by 
the Statutes of the Commonwealth. 
B. F. WINSLOW, 
J. S. ANTHONY, 
JAMES E. SULLIVAN. 
Board of Health 
of THE 
City Fall River. 
Fall River, May 10th, 1882, PUBLIC STATUTES 
OF 
MASSACHUSETTS, PUBLIC STATUTES OP MAMSHIMTT& 
CHAPTER 80. 
Section 18. The Board of Health of a town 
shall make such regulations as it judges necessary for 
the public health and safety, respecting nuisances, 
sources of filth, and causes of sickness, within its town 
or on board of vessels within the harbor of such town, 
and respecting articles which are capable of containing 
or conveying infection or contagion, or of creating 
sickness, brought into or conveyed from its town, or 
into or from any vessel* Whoever violates any such 
regulation shall forfeit a sum not exceeding one hun* 
dred dollars, 
Sect. 20. The Board shall examine into all 
nuisances, sources of filth, and causes of sickness, with* 
in its town, or in any vessel within the harbor of such 
town, that may in its opinion be injurious to the 
health of the inhabitants and shall destroy, remove, 
or prevent the same as the case may require. 
Sect. 21. The Board or the Health officer shall 
order the owner or occupant at his own expense to 14 
regulations of the board of health. 
remove any nuisance, source of filth, or cause of 
sickness, found on private property, within twenty- 
four hours, or such other time as it deems reasonable, 
after notice served as provided in the following sec- 
tion ; and if the owner or occupant neglects so to do, 
he shall forfeit a sum not exceeding twenty dollars 
for every day during which he knowingly permits 
such nuisance or cause of sickness to remain after the 
time prescribed for the removal thereof. 
Sect. 22. Such order shall be made in writing, 
and served by any person competent to serve a 
notice in a civil suit, personally on the owner, occu- 
pant or his authorized agent; or a copy of the order 
may be left at the last and usual place of abode of 
the owner, occupant or agent, if he is known and 
within the State. But if the premises are unoccu- 
pied, and the residence of the owner or agent is 
unknown or without the State, the notice may be 
served by posting the same on the premises and adver- 
tising in one or more public newspapers in such a 
manner and for such length of time as the Board or 
Health officer may direct. 
Sect. 23. If‘the owner or occupant fails to comply 
with such order, the Board may cause the nuisance, 
source of filth, or cause of sickness to be removed, and 
expenses incurred thereby shall be paid by the owner, 
occupant, or other person who caused or permitted the 
same, if he has had actual notice from the Board of 
Health of the existence thereof. 
Sect. 24. The Board when satisfied upon due REGULATIONS OE THE BOARD OF HEALTH. 
examination that a cellar, room, tenement, or 
in its town, occupied as a dwelling place, lias become 
by reason of the number of occupants, want of clean- 
liness, or other cause, unfit for such purpose, and a 
cause of nuisance or sickness to the occupants or the 
public, may issue a notice in writing to such occupants 
or any of them, requiring the premises to be put in 
proper condition as to cleanliness, or if they see fit, re- 
quiring the occupants to quit the premises within such 
time as the Board may deem reasonable. If the persons 
so notified, or any of them, neglect or refuse to com- 
ply with the terms of the notice, the Board may cause 
the premises to be properly cleansed at the expense 
of the owners, or may remove the occupants forcibly 
and close up the premises, and the same shall not be 
again occupied as a dwelling place without the consent 
in writing of the Board. If the owner thereafter oc- 
cupies or knowingly permits the same to be occupied 
without such permission in writing, he shall forfeit 
not less than ten, nor more than fifty dollars. 
Sect. 39. The Board of Health of a town may 
grant permits for the removal of any nuisance* 
infected articles* or sick person, within the limits 
of its town, when it thinks safe and proper to do so. 
Sect. 40. When a person coming from abroad 
or residing in a town in this State is infected, or 
lately has been infected, with the plague or other sick- 
ness dangerous to the public health, except as is other- 
wise provided in this Chapter, the Board shall make 
effectual provision in the manner which it judges best 
for the safety of the inhabitants by removing such 16 
REGULATIONS OP THE BOARD OF HEALTH. 
person to a separate house or otherwise, and by pro- 
viding nurses and other assistance and necessaries, 
which shall be at the charge of the person himself, his 
parents or master, if able, otherwise at the charge 
of the town to which he belongs; or, if he is not an 
inhabitant of any town, at the charge of the Com- 
monwealth. 
Sect. 41. If the infected person cannot be re- 
moved without danger to his health, the Board shall 
make provision for him, as directed in the preceding 
section, in the house in which he may be; and may 
cause the persons in the neighborhood to be removed, 
and take such other measures as it judges necessary 
for the safety of the inhabitants.