1900 
Circular No. 4] 
[June 20,1800-2000 
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 
ORDINANCE 
FOR THE 
Protection of Public Health 
RECOMMENDED BY THE 
State Board of Health 
FOR ADOPTION BY THE CITIES AND TOWNS OF 
THE STATE OF IOWA 
REVISED IOWA STATE BOARD OF HEALTH 
Office of the Secretary, ) 
Des Moines, June 20, 1900 ) 
The provisions of this ordinance, or any portion thereof, may be adopted as 
regulations by a local board of health of a city or township, so far as applicable, 
except that local boards of health, under the statute, have no power to affix 
penalties to regulations, that power being vested in the legislature, which has 
already provided a penalty for violations of regulations of local boards of health 
in section 2573 of the code, so that when any of these regulations are adopted 
by a local board of health, whether it be of a city, town or township, the 
penalties must be omitted. And in the event of a violation of them it is only 
necessary to prosecute under the statute, the penalty being already fixed. 
The distinction is this: That cities and towns, under the law of municipal 
corporations, have power to provide penalties with ordinances, while local 
boards of health, whether in cities, towns or townships, have not, as they exist 
under a general statute. 
J. C. Shrader, 
President. 
J. F. Kennedy, 
Secretary. AN ORDINANCE 
FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND FOR THE RESTRICTION 
AND PREVENTION OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASES 
Section i. Be it ordained by the council of theofthat it 
shall be the duty of every physician residing, or practicing, within the limits of 
thisto give written notice to the mayor immediately, of any case of 
Asiatic cholera, smallpox, diphtheria, (membraneous croup,) scarlet fever 
(scarlet rash, scarlatina), typhoid fever, measles or whooping cough that he 
may be called to attend professionally, and any physician who shall neglect, or 
refuse, to give such notice as herein required, within twenty-four hours after 
he shall first visit and ascertain the character of any such disease herein 
named, shall be fined not less than ten dollars nor more than twenty-five dollars 
for each and every day he so neglects to give such notice. In all cases where 
no physician is in attendance, it shall be the duty of any person having charge 
of, or being at the head of a family, or having the care or custody of any lodg- 
ing rooms, to give notice in like manner as required herein of physicians, and 
anyone refusing or neglecting so to do shall be subject to like penalty. 
Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of the mayor, upon receiving written notice of 
the existence of a case of Asiatic cholera, smallpox, diphtheria, (membraneous 
croup,) scarlet fever, (scarlet rash or scarlatina,) to forthwith quarantine the 
premises, by serving written notice of such quarantine on the occupants 
thereof, and placing a danger card thereon; and take such measures as may be 
necessary and proper for the restriction and suppression of such disease; and 
to investigate all the circumstances attendant upon the occurrence of the 
same. He shall also make proper provision for care of the sick. Where the 
disease is measles or whooping cough, the premises shall not be quarantined, 
but they shall be placarded with the danger card, unless otherwise ordered by 
the local board of health. 
And it shall be the further duty of the mayor to disinfect, or cause to be 
disinfected, the premises whereon such quarantined diseases have occurred, 
together with all infected furniture, bedding, clothing and other articles, as 
provided by regulations of the state board of health. 
Sec. 3. For the purpose of this ordinance quarantine shall be deemed to be: 
(I.) The placing upon such conspicuous place on each building, hall, lodg- 
ing room or place wherein exists a contagious disease, as will best protect the 
public health, of a cloth or card not less than eighteen inches square, having 
imprinted thereon in large letters the word "Quarantine," the name of the dis- 
ease, and the words, "No person shall be permitted to enter or leave these 
premises except as provided by law, while it is quarantined, under the penalty 
provided by law." 
(2,) The separation of the sick from all other persons, if possible, and from 
all persons except those in actual attendance. 
(3.) The complete exclusion of all persons from the premises. 4 
(4.) That no person shall leave said premises except the attending physi- 
cian without a permit therefor signed by the mayor. 
(5.) That no article that has been used on or about a person sick with a 
contagious or infectious disease shall be removed from the sick room, nor from 
the premises, until the same has been properly disinfected. 
Sec. 4. Nurses who have been employed to care for persons sick with a 
contagious or infectious disease may be released from quarantine when their 
services are no longer required, upon the order of the mayor. Before leaving 
the premises there must be thorough disinfection of their person and clothing. 
Sec. 5. Isolation means the complete exclusion of all other persons from 
the sick except the nurse and attending physician; that the nurse shall be 
restrained from going to and from the premises, or mingling with the family; 
that all well persons shall be prevented from contact with bedding, clothing, 
food or other articles that have been used on or about the sick. Where from 
necessity the parents or family are nurses, the isolation and quarantine apply 
to them. 
Sec. 6. Quarantine shall be established and maintained in each and every 
case for the period named herein, to-wit: 
Scarlet fever.-(Scarlatina, scarlet rash), thirty-five days. 
Diphtheria- (Membraneous croup), thirty-five days. 
Smallpox.-Forty days. 
Asiatic cholera.-Twenty-one days. 
Sec. 7. When a family is quarantined for diphtheria, the head of the 
family, or bread-winner, may, at the discretion of the local board, have 
the privilege of attending to his regular business, and of going to and from his 
house only when complying with the following conditions, and the mayor shall 
issue a permit therefor: 
First- He shall change his clothing before going to and leaving his home 
to go to his place of business. 
Second.-He shall wash his hands, face, head and beard with a two per cent 
solution of carbolic acid each time before leaving his home to go to his place 
of business. 
Third.-While in the house he shall not act as nurse or live in the same 
room with the sick person. 
Fourth.-He shall not attend any public meeting, or attend any place where 
persons are congregated. 
Fifth.-This privilege shall not be granted to school teachers, nor to any 
person whose business brings him in intimate contact with children. 
Sec. 8. Whenever there is complete recovery or death of persons who 
have been sick with a contagious disease, and there are no further exposures 
thereto, the quarantine may be released, although the period prescribed herein 
has not elapsed. Provided, that no release of quarantine shall be permitted 
until at least seventeen days' after the recovery of the last case, and proper 
disinfection of person and premises is made as hereinafter provided. 
Sec. 9. After death or recovery of persons sick from contagious or infec- 
tious disease, the room, furniture, and other contents not to be destroyed, shall 
be thoroughly disinfected in accordance with regulations made by the State 
Board of Health. 
If the disease was scarlet fever (scarlatina, scarlet rash) or smallpox the 
paper on the walls and ceiling if any there be, shall be removed and completely 5 
burned. If the disease was diphtheria, typhoid fever or measles the paper on 
the wall shall be thoroughly dusted and brushed. 
Sec. io. No order for the release of quarantine shall be made by the 
mayor, except upon a report from the attending physician stating the number 
of persons on the quarantined premises sick with the infectious disease in ques- 
tion, their name, age and when the disease first appeared in each case, when 
recovered, and the means, if any, used for disinfection. If the mayor shall 
FIND THAT THE REGULATIONS OF THE STATE BOARD OF HEALTH RESPECT- 
ING QUARANTINE AND DISINFECTION HAVE BEEN COMPLIED WITH THE QUAR- 
ANTINE shall be forthwith released. If the quarantine regulations have 
been complied with, and proper disinfection has not been done the mayor shall 
order it done under the supervision of the health officer or some other com- 
petent person and the quarantine shall be continued until it is done. 
Sec. ii. No person shall give, lend or sell, or offer for sale any clothing or 
other articles liable to convey infection of any contagious disease unless the 
same have been disinfected and such disinfection approved by the mayor. • 
Sec. 12. If any person shall wilfully or maliciously remove or deface, or 
cause to be removed or defaced, any signal of danger, or cloth or card placed 
upon any quarantined premises, without proper authority as provided herein, 
he shall be fined not less than twenty-five, nor more than one hundred dollars, 
or imprisoned not less than five, nor more than thirty days, at the discretion 
of the court. 
Sec. 13. If any person has attended school when affected with diphtheria, 
(membraneous croup), scarlet fever (scarlatina, scarlet rash), smallpox or 
measles, the room in which such person attended shall be immediately closed 
until properly disinfected. 
Sec. 14. It is the duty of every school teacher and school officer who 
discovers, or who has knowledge of a case of these contagious diseases, to cause 
the fact to be immediately reported to the mayor. 
Sec. 15. During the existence of any contagious or infectious disease in 
any family or household, or place, in thisand until after 
the recovery of the sick and the disinfection of the premises where such disease 
shall have existed, no person residing in such household, family or place, shall 
be permitted to attend any public meeting without written permission from the 
mayor, and no superintendent, teacher or officer of any school shall permit any 
child or person from any such family, household or place, to attend any school 
without a permit from the mayor, upon the recommendation of the attending 
physician showing thorough disinfection of the person, cldthing and premises. 
And any person who shall knowingly violate any of the provisions of this sec- 
tion shall be fined not less than twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars 
or be imprisoned not less than five, nor more than thirty days. 
Sec. 16. When Asiatic cholera, smallpox, diphtheria, (membraneous croup,) 
scarlet fever (scarlatina, scarlet rash), typhoid fever, leprosy, measles, or 
any other contagious disease exists in any house or dwelling-place of a dealer 
in, or seller of milk, he shall discontinue, and cease to give, or sell, or distribute 
milk to any person, or to creameries or butter factories, or in anywise handle 
such milk, until a permit is granted therefor by the mayor. And no person 
who attends cows, and does the milking, or who has care of milk vessels, or 
the sale or distribution of milk, shall be permitted to enter any premises or 
place wherein exists any of the diseases named herein, nor have any communi- 6 
cation, direct or indirect, with any person who resides in, or is an occupant of 
such infected place; nor shall any milk or butter be given away, sold or distrib- 
uted from such infected place. And any person, either as principal, agent or 
employe, who shall violate any of the provisions of this section, shall be fined 
not less than twenty-five dollars, nor more than fifty dollars, or be imprisoned 
not less than five days, nor more than ten days, at the discretion of the court. 
Sec. 17. No person, company, corporation, or association having charge 
of, or control of, any schoolhouse or church, or of any building, room, or 
place used for school or church purposes, or for any public assembly in this 
shall permit the body of any person dead from any of the 
contagious or infectious diseases named in this ordinance, or any other dan- 
gerous contagious disease, to be taken into such schoolhouse, church, building, 
room, or place, for the purpose of holding funeral service over such body; 
and no sexton, undertaker, or other person having charge of, or direction of, 
the burial of any body dead from any of the said diseases, shall permit the 
coffin or casket containing such body to be opened in the presence of any 
child, nor shall any child be permitted to act as pall-bearer or carrier at such 
funeral. Any person who shall violate, or cause to be violated, any of the pro- 
visions of this section shall be liable to a fine of not less than twenty-five 
dollars, or to imprisonment not less than five days, at the direction of the 
court. 
Sec. 18. If any person, whether as owner, occupant, lessee, or agent, shall 
rent or lease, or permit the occupation by any person of any house, room, or 
place in which there have been any of the contagious diseases named in this 
ordinance, unless the same has been previously thoroughly disinfected, and 
such disinfection approved by the mayor, he shall be fined one hundred dol- 
lars, or be imprisoned thirty days, at the discretion of the court, and it shall be 
the duty of the mayor and sanitary police to maintain a danger signal upon 
any such premises, as provided in section 3 of this ordinance, until such 
disinfection be made. 
Sec. 19. A body dead from smallpox must be immediately wrapped in a 
cloth saturated with the strongest disinfectant solution, without previous wash- 
ing, and buried deep, and no body dead from this disease shall, under any cir- 
cumstances, or any lapse of time, be disinterred. 
Sec. 20. The body of a person who has died from Asiatic cholera, yellow 
fever, leprosy, diphtheria (membraneous croup), scarlet fever (scarlatina or 
scarlet rash) must not be removed from the sick room until it has been 
wrapped in a cloth' saturated with a solution of corrosive sublimate (one 
ounce to six gallons of water), and then tightly inclosed in a coffin. The body 
shall then be buried immediately without the attendance of any person other 
than is necessary for the interment thereof. 
Sec. 21. No public funeral shall be held of any person who has died from 
either of said diseases named in sections 19 and 20, and no public funeral shall 
be held in a house, nor on any premises where there is a case of, nor where a 
death has recently occurred from, either of said diseases. 
Sec. 22. Any railroad car, street car, omnibus, cab, hack, or other vehicle, 
in which a person has been carried affected with any of the diseases named 
herein, shall be forthwith removed from service and be disinfected before 
being used again. And any person, either as owner, lessee, agent, or employe, 
who shall violate the provisions of this section in the use of such vehicle, shall 7 
be fined not less than fifty dollars, nor more than one hundred dollars, or be 
imprisoned not less than ten days, nor more than thirty days, at the discretion 
of the court. 
Sec. 23. Rules and regulations made by the State Board of Health and by 
the local board of health of this concerning Asiatic cholera, smallpox, 
diphtheria, (membraneous croup,) typhoid fever, scarlet fever, (scarlatina, scar- 
let rash,) or other contagious or infectious diseases, shall be enforced by the 
mayor under the supervision of the health officer; and it shall be the duty of all 
police, and other public officers of this in their proper capacity, to report 
to the mayor or health officer any violations of such rules and regulations, and 
to aid and assist the board of health, the mayor, and health officer, in the 
enforcement of said rules and regulations. 
Sec. 24. It shall be the duty of all police officers to observe the sanitary 
condition of their districts, and to report through their chief to the health officer 
promptly, any nuisance or accumulated filth found in any portion of the cor- 
poration. 
Sec. 25. The mayor shall have authority to appoint sanitary police whose 
duty it shall be to aid in the establishment and enforcement of quarantine 
regulations, and such other sanitary regulations as may be provided by the 
local board and the State Board of Health, and at such time, and in such man- 
ner as the mayor or the health officer may direct. Said sanitary police shall 
visit each quarantined premises at least once each forty-eight hours, and at 
such other times as the mayor or health officer may direct. He shall see that 
strict quarantine is maintained, and the premises properly placarded. Pro- 
vided, he shall not enter any dwelling or place unless so requested by the 
occupants thereof, nor shall he disturb the inmates or the sick unless he has 
good and sufficient reason to believe there is wilful violation of the quarantine 
regulations therein. He shall have full powers of a police officer to make 
arrests for violations of quarantine or health regulations, and shall file informa- 
tion against such offenders before the police court. He shall appear for duty 
at the office of the mayor on or before 10 o'clock A. m. each day. His com- 
pensation shall be the same as that allowed other police officers. 
BURIALS. 
Sec. 26. Upon the death of any person within the limits of thisit 
shall be the duty of the physician who was attending at the time of death, or 
of the coroner, when the case comes utider his official jurisdiction, to furnish 
within twenty-four hours after such death, to the undertaker, or other person 
superintending the burial of said decedent, a certificate setting forth the full 
name, age, sex, color, place of death, date and cause of death, and such other 
facts as may be required by regulations of the State Board of Health and the 
statutes of the state of Iowa. If any person shall die without the attendance 
of a physician, or if the physician who did attend the decedent at the time o 
death shall neglect or refuse to give such certificate as aforesaid, it shall be 
the duty of the undertaker, or of any person acquainted with the facts, to 
report the same to the health officer of the local board of health, who is hereby 
authorized to give a certificate of death as aforesaid; provided, it be not a case 
requiring the attendance of a coroner. 
Sec. 27. No sexton, or other person or persons, having charge or control 
of any cemetery, burying place, or tomb, or vault within the limits of this 
or under the control of this; and no undertaker, or other 8 
person or persons, shall inter, entomb, or place in any vault within the limits 
of thisthe dead body of any person, or remove such body from or out 
of thewithout having procured a certificate of death as herein pro- 
vided; and it shall be the duty of any undertaker, or other person or persons 
having charge of the burial or removal of the dead body of any person to 
deliver said certificate of death forthwith to the clerk of the local board of 
health. 
Sec. 28. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the local board of health upon 
the presentation of a certificate of death in accordance with the provisions of 
this ordinance, and not otherwise, to issue a permit to inter, entomb, or place 
in a vault the body of the deceased person named in such certificate, and said 
clerk shall be entitled to charge and receive for issuing such permit a fee of 
cents. Provided, a body dead from diphtheria (membraneous croup), 
scarlet fever (scarlatina, scarlet rash), smallpox, Asiatic cholera, leprosy or 
typhus fever shall not be deposited in a receiving vault. 
Sec. 29. Upon the presentation of the proper application in accordance 
with the regulations made by the State Board of Health for the removal of the 
dead body of a human being out of the limits of this it shall be the 
duty of the clerk of the local board of health to issue a permit countersigned by 
the mayor for such removal. Provided, that where said body is to be disin- 
terred such application must be accompanied with a disinterment permit from 
the State Board of Health, but no permit for such removal shall be granted in 
any case of a body dead from Asiatic cholera, smallpox, leprosy, typhus fever, 
or yellow fever, or from any sequela or complications of said diseases; nor 
shall any permit for such removal be granted in any case whatsoever where 
the cause of death was a contagious or infectious disease, or any sequela of 
such disease, unless the permit be approved and signed by the health officer 
of the local board of health, nor shall a permit be granted except upon the pres- 
entation of the proper certificate of the cause of death. 
Sec. 30. The clerk of the local board of health shall enter in a suitable 
book to be kept for that purpose, a record of all burial permits issued, specify- 
ing the date of issue, to whom issued, together with all the items of informa- 
tion contained in the certificate upon which the permit was issued. And on or 
before the tenth day of each month he shall report to the State Board of Health 
the deaths and causes thereof for the preceding calendar month. 
Sec. 31. No hack, omnibus, street car, or other closed vehicle used for 
the conveyance of the living shall be permitted to carry the body of any per- 
son dead from an infectious or contagious disease; nor with the knowledge of 
the owner, driver, or person in charge thereof, to carry any person or article 
liable to communicate the infection or contagion of such disease. 
Sec. 32. Each undertaker or sexton, and every person engaged or con- 
cerned in the burial of the body of a human being in violation of the provi- 
sions of sections 26, 27, and 31 of this ordinance, and the owners, 
officers, and employes of any transportation company, or any other person 
engaged or concerned in the removal of such dead body from the limits 
of thisin violation of any of the provisions of this ordinance, 
shall be fined not less than fifty dollars, nor more than one hundred dollars, or 
be imprisoned not less than ten days, nor more than thirty days, in the discre- 
tion of the court, for each offense. 
Sec. 33. If any person shall neglect or refuse to furnish the certificate of 
death as required by section 26 of this ordinance, he shall be fined not 9 
less than five dollars for each offense. Provided, that this section shall not 
apply to coroners engaged in official investigation of a cause of death. 
Sec. 34. If any physician, or any other person within the limits of this 
shall knowingly attempt to secrete, or withhold the true 
character of any of the contagious or infectious diseases specified in this ordi- 
nance, or shall in any manner whatsoever attempt to deceive or defraud, or 
who shall make any false statement in making a certificate of cause of death 
as required by this ordinance, by giving any other than the true cause of such 
death; or, if the decedent was affected with any of such contagious or infec- 
tious diseases during his last sickness, he shall neglect or refuse to state such 
fact in such certificate, he shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars, nor 
more than one hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not less than five days, nor 
more than thirty days, at the discretion of the court. 
SLAUGHTER HOUSES 
Sec. 35. No slaughter house shall be erected nor used within the limits of 
this unless a permit from the mayor has been first 
obtained, with the advice and assent of the health officer, and no slaughter 
house shall be erected, nor used within 320 feet of any public highway, nor 
within 600 feet of any dwelling house, schoolhouse or church, or any building 
used for church purposes. It shall be erected on dry, hard land that 
can be well drained. It shall be amply supplied with clean, wholesome 
water from springs, wells, or unpolluted streams. It shall be floored with a 
tight, solid floor of hard wood, or cement, or well-joined stone. The yards, 
sheds, and close pens shall be dry, and free from mud and filth, and their sides 
or walls shall be thoroughly whitewashed at least twice each year. All its 
apparatus shall be kept in a neat and orderly manner, and free from offensive 
smells. When the slaughtering for the day is completed, the sides and floor 
of the slaughter room shall be thoroughly washed with an abundance of clean 
water. No animal matter of any kind shall be permitted to remain 
in, under, or near the slaughter house to decompose or putrefy. When 
blood and offal, or immature animals are fed to swine on the prem- 
ises, such arrangement shall be made that such material shall be 
speedily consumed. The blood of all slaughtered animals shall be con- 
ducted by a water-tight gutter to a water-tight trough in the hog- 
yard. The offal and bodies of immature animals shall be thrown into a 
pen with a tight, dry floor, to be consumed at once by the swine; and all por- 
tions not consumed within twelve hours shall be removed from the pen, and 
be burned, buried or composted with fresh earth. When the blood or offal are 
not fed to swine on the premises, they be carried away each day in 
close tanks, or be converted into fertilizers, or otherwise utilized by some 
apparatus the gases from which shall be carried under the furnace and con- 
sumed. The fat, and all material from which fat or oil is to be extracted, 
shall be rendered within such 'a time after the slaughtering of the animals 
that no offensive odors shall arise from them, or from the process of rendering. 
Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this section shall be fined 
not less than twenty-five dollars, nor more than one hundred dollars, or be 
imprisoned not less than five days, nor more than thirty days. And upon con- 
viction thereof, all grants, licenses, or privileges contemplated herein shall 
be immediately revoked and annulled. 10 
The provisions of this section, so far as practicable, shall apply to so-called 
"knacker's" plants, or plants for the disposal of the bodies of dead animals, 
and to premises used for the killing and shipment of poultry. 
DISEASED ANIMALS 
Sec. 36. Every person owning, or having the care or custody of any animal 
which he shall know, or have reason to suspect, is affected with glanders, farcy, 
anthrax, or any other contagious or infectious disease dangerous to the public 
health, shall immediately isolate such animal from all other animals, and shall 
give notice thereof and of the location of such animal to the mayor. And no 
person having the care or custody of, or owning any animal affected with, or 
which there is good reason to believe is affected with such disease, shall 
lead, drive, or permit such animal to go on or over any public grounds, 
uninclosed land, or on any street, public highway, lane or alley; nor permit it 
to drink at any public water trough, pail or spring; nor to keep such diseased 
animal in any inclosure in or from which such diseased animal may come in con- 
tact with, or close proximity to, any animal not affected with such disease. And 
an animal will be deemed as "suspected" when it has stood in the stable with, or 
been in contact with, an animal known to have any of said communicable 
diseases; or if placed in a stable, yard or other enclosure where such diseased 
animal has recently been kept. Whenever an animal affected with any of the 
diseases herein named shall die, or shall be killed, the body of such animal 
shall be immediately burned, or buried not less than four feet deep, without 
removing the hide from the carcass. All bedding, litter, excrement, etc., that 
have accumulated about such animal, together with all blood, or other fluid 
elements that have escaped from it shall be burned. Dirt floors of stables 
wherein such animal has been kept shall be removed to the depth of four 
inches and burned. Everything about the stable, combs, brushes, or any post 
or fence where it has stood, and every part of harness or wagon used with such 
animal, and the stable where it has been kept, shall be thoroughly disinfected 
under the direction of a duly qualified veterinary surgeon. Whenever the 
owner, or person having in charge any animal declared by the state veter- 
inary surgeon or other authorized person to have the glanders, shall neglect or 
refuse to destroy said animal, the premises whereon said animal is kept shall 
be quarantined until such animal is destroyed, and the premises thoroughly 
disinfected. And any person who shall neglect, or refuse, to obey any of 
the provisions of this section shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars, 
nor more than fifty dollars, for each diseased animal, and for each day of such 
refusal, and for all damages that may result therefrom. 
Sec. 37. The "quarantine" shall be construed to mean the perfect 
isolation of all diseased or suspected animals from contact with healthy ani- 
mals; as well as the exclusion of such healthy animals from the yards, stables, 
enclosures or grounds wherever said suspected or diseased animals are, or 
have been kept. 
Sec. 38. The flesh of pregnant animals must not be sold nor used for 
human food after the seventh month of pregnancy for cows, and the tenth 
week for sows. 
NUISANCES 
Sec. 39. (1.) No privy vault, cesspool, nor reservoir into which a privy 
water-closet, stable or sink is drained, except it be water-tight, shall be estab- 11 
listed nor permitted within one hundred feet of any well, spring or other source 
of water used for drinking or culinary purposes. 
(2.) All privy vaults, reservoirs or cesspools named in Rule r must be 
cleaned out at least once each year; and from the first day of May to the first 
day of November of each year shall be thoroughly disinfected by adding to the 
contents thereof twice each month two pounds of copperas, dissolved in a pail 
of water, or the contents be thickly covered with fresh lime. 
(3.) No privy vault nor cesspool shall open into any stream or ditch, nor 
into any drain except common sewers. 
(4.) All sewer drains that pass within one hundred feet of any source of 
water used for drinking or culinary purposes shall be water-tight. 
(5.) No sewer drain shall empty into any lake or pond, nor into any cess- 
pool or abandoned well. 
(6.) No offal or waste from any creamery shall be thrown upon or into any 
stream, ravine, open ditch or drain. 
(7.) No house offal or dead animal shall be left upon any lot or land within 
thisunless the same be buried. The carcass of all animals dead 
from an infectious or contagious disease shall be immediately burned. All 
cellars and outbuildings must be cleaned before the first day of May in each 
year. 
(8.) Between the first day of May and the first day of November no hogs 
shall be kept within the limits of thisexcept in pens with dry floors, 
or pens free from all filth and standing water. Cattle yards, barns and stables 
must be kept free from all filth and offensive odor. 
Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be fined not 
less than five, nor more than fifty dollars, or be imprisoned not less than two 
nor more than fifteen days, and the court shall order the abatement of the 
nuisance at the cost of the defendant in substantially the manner provided in 
sections 5081 to 5085, inclusive, of the code of Iowa. 
GENERAL PROVISIONS 
Sec. 40. It shall be the duty of every police officer who has any knowl- 
edge of, or has good reason to believe, that any of the provisions of this ordi- 
nance is being violated, to make report of same through his chief to the health 
officer of the local board of health. 
Sec. 41. Any citizen who has reason to believe that any of the provisions 
of this ordinance is being violated may file an information under oath, describ- 
ing the person and the offense charged, and it shall be the duty of the attorney 
of the ... .forthwith to prosecute the same before the proper court. 
Sec. 42. If any person by himself, or by his agent or employe, shall wil- 
fully violate any of the provisions of this ordinance, where no other penalty is 
provided, he shall be fined not less than ten dollars, nor more than one hundred 
dollars, or be imprisoned not less than three days, nor more than thirty days, 
in the discretion of the court. 
Sec. 43. This ordinance shall take effect and be in force on and after its 
publication. 12 
NOTES 
Local boards of health shall make such regulations as are necessary for the 
protection of the public health respecting nuisances, sources of filth, causes of 
sickness, rabid animals and quarantine not in conflict with any regula- 
tions of the State Board of Health. Sec. 2g6?>. 
While the statute gives the board discretionary exercise of judgment as to 
what they may deem necessary for the public health, the intent and purpose 
of the whole statute is the protection of the public health, and it is mandatory. 
NUISANCES 
(i.) Code, section 5078: "The erecting, containing, or using any building 
or other place for the exercise of any trade, employment or manufacture, 
which, by occasioning noxious exhalations, offensive smells, or other annoy- 
ances, becomes injurious to the public health, comfort or property of individ- 
uals, or the public, the causing or suffering any offal, filth, or noisome szibstance 
to be collected or to remain in any place, to the prejudice of others, the obstruct- 
ing or impeding without legal authority the passage of any navigable river, 
harbor, or collection of water, or the corruption, or rendering unwholesome or 
impure the water of any river, stream or pond; are nuisances." * * * 
"Where an indictment charged that the defendant 'unlawfully and injuri- 
ously did erect, continue and use a certain enclosure or pen, in which cattle 
and hogs were confined, fed and watered, and the excrement, decayed food, 
slops and other filth were retained,' whereby were occasioned ' noxious exhala- 
tions and offensive smells, greatly corrupting and infesting the air; and other 
annoyances dangerous to the public health, comfort and property of the good 
people residing in that immediate neighborhood,' it was held that the acts 
charged constituted a public, indictable nuisance, both under this section (4089) 
of the statute, and at the common law." The State v. Raster, 35 Iowa Supreme 
Court Reports, 221. 
Any use of property, or any trade, that corrupts the atmosphere with smoke, 
noxious vapors, noisome smells, dust, or other substances or gases producing 
injury to property or to health, or impairing the comfortable enjoyment of 
property, is a nuisance. Wood on Nuisances, page 574, section 531. 
Where defendant erected stock yards so near plaintiff's dwelling, and so 
kept them, that the odors therefrom were not only an annoyance, but were 
unwholesome, threatening the health of plaintiff and his family, held that the 
defendant could not escape liability on the ground that the yards were neces- 
sary to the operations of the road, and that the odors could not be avoided. 
Shively\v. Cedar Rapids, I. F. IF N. W. R. R. Co., 74 Iowa, 170. 
Meeker w. Rensselaer, 14 Wend., 397. 
In the case of City of Salem v. Eastern Railroad Company, the supreme 
court of Massachusetts (98, page 443), under a statute which is a verbatim copy 
of the Iowa statute, held that the adjudication of the board that a nuisance 
exists is conclusive, and no appeal lies therefrom. The board should keep an 
accurate record of their proceedings, and all adjudications should appear 
therein in clear and distinct language. It is not the purpose of the order to 13 
direct in what mode the person should proceed to remove the nuisance. It 
should direct the end to be accomplished, leaving the party to adopt any 
effectual mode he may choose. If the owner or occupant neglects to remove 
the nuisance, the board are at liberty to enter upon private property, where it 
exists, and take such measures as they may see fit for its removal. 
The court further says, in relation to boards of health: "Their action is 
intended to be prompt and summary. They are clothed with extraordinary 
powers for the protection of the community from noxious influences affecting 
life and health; and it is important that their proceedings should be embar- 
rassed and delayed as little as possible by the necessary observances of 
formalities. Although notice and opportunity to be heard upon matters affect- 
ing private interests ought always to be given when practicable, yet the nature 
and object of those proceedings are such that it is deemed to be most for the 
general good that notice should not be essential to the right of the board to 
act for the public safety. Delay for the purpose of giving notice, involving 
either of public notice or of inquiry to ascertain who are the parties whose 
interests will be affected, and further delay for such hearings as the parties 
may think necessary for the protection of their interests, might defeat all bene- 
ficial results from an attempt to exercise the powers conferred upon boards of 
health. The necessity of the case, and the importance of the public interests 
at stake, justify the omission of notice to the individual. 
"Notice must be given of general regulations prescribed by the board 
before parties can be held in default for a disregard of their requirements. 
No previous notice to parties so to be affected by them is necessary. They 
belong to that class of police regulations to which all individual rights of 
property are held subject, whether established directly by enactments of the 
legislature, or by its authority through boards of local administration." 
Shuster v. Met. Board of Health, 49 Barb. (N. Y. S. C.), 450. 
Wood on Nuisances, sections 494, 504, 525. 
A slaughter house in a city or public place, or near a highway, or where 
numerous persons reside, vs prima facie a nuisance. 
Bushnell v. Robeson Co., 62 Iowa, 540. 
Wood on Nuisances, section 837. 
CITIES AND TOWNS SHALL HAVE POWER TO ABATE NUISANCES-CODE, 
SECTION 696 
The power to abate nuisances does not enable the council to determine 
conclusively that a particular thing constitutes a nuisance; and if it orders the 
removal of a thing which is, in fact, not a nuisance, the person causing its 
removal will be individually liable in damages. 
Cole v. Keglar, 64 Iowa, 59. 
The power given in relation to nuisances is to abate them, and in the 
exercise of this power a city cannot provide for the punishment by fine of one 
who maintains a nuisance. 
Nevada v. Hutchins, 59 Iowa, 506. 
Under the authority of section 696 a city cannot by ordinance provide for 
the imposition of fines against persons committing a nuisance. The power of 
the city is limited to the abatement of such nuisances. 
Knoxville v. C., B. &■* Q. Ry. Co., 83 Iowa, 636. 14 
The power to suppress does not imply the power to punish, and must be 
exercised in such way that suppression shall be the direct, and net merely the 
incidental, result of the exercise of power. 
Chariton v. Barber, 54 Iowa, 360. 
A municipal corporation is not authorized to bring an action in equity to 
enjoin and abate a nuisance on the ground that it is injurious to its citizens, 
and the authority given by section 696 must be exercised through the medium 
of an ordinance, and not by equitable proceedings in court. 
Ottumwa v. Chinn, 7$ Iowa, 405. 
A regulation adopted by a local board of health, and enforced by ordi; 
nance, prohibiting hogpens, except for the purpose of commerce, in cities of 
15,000 inhabitants, is not unreasonable, even though it thereunder becomes a 
misdemeanor to keep in such city a clean and inoffensive pen with but one 
hog therein. 
Cedar Rapids v. Holcomb, 68 Iowa, 107. 
QUARANTINE 
The city is not responsible to individuals for the neglect or nonfeasance of 
its agents or officers in executing the powers there conferred. 
Ogg ■za Lansing, 35 Iowa, 495. 
The board of health may, under section 2570, erect a temporary building to 
which infected persons may be removed for isolation, and the county will be 
liable for the expenses thereof in case of the inability of the infected person or 
persons to pay such charge. 
Staples v. Plymouth County, 62 Iowa, 364. 
Clinton v. Clinton County, 61 Iowa, 205. 
Gill v. Appanoose County, 68 Iowa, 20. 
The board will not be bound by the actions of individual members in 
authorizing a physician to render services. Such action must be by the board 
as a body. 
Young v. Black Hawk County, 66 Iowa, 460. 
SLAUGHTER-HOUSES, REGULATION OF 
Code section 696. See cases cited under "nuisances." 
DISEASED ANIMALS 
Punishment for knowingly bringing within the state, or harboring therein. 
Code, section 5012 to 5019 inclusive. 
Diseased animals may be killed. Code, sections 2339, 2534. 
BURIAL OF THE DEAD 
Cities and towns have power to regulate the burial of the dead. Code, sec- 
tion 697. 
Local boards of health shall regulate cemeteries and burial of the dead. 
Code, section 2568.