Spittle, Flies and Dixie Cups

The Old West frontier town was dirty, dusty, smelly and often dangerously unhealthy. In those early days most people did not understand or appreciate certain sanitary notions that are taken for granted today. These axioms of public health (often ignored, even today) range from covering one’s mouth when coughing or sneezing, washing one’s hands after going to the bathroom (or outhouse), keeping flies away from food, not sharing a common drinking cup or wash towel and, my favorite, no