On a chilly autumn night in October 1957, Arlington police descended upon a house on South Cleveland Street, sparking a drama that would leave residents reeling. The target of their attention was a residence at 1800 South Cleveland Street, where a daring raid yielded a whopping $15,000 in cash and 14,000 flu-like cases that had the local community in a state of panic.
The streets of Arlington had been abuzz with whispers of a flu outbreak, with over 1,500 students at the University of Maryland’s College Park campus falling ill. The university’s director of student health, Harry A. Bishop, had been working tirelessly to contain the situation, enlisting the aid of five part-time physicians to treat the afflicted students. But as the numbers continued to rise, it became clear that the flu was just the tip of the iceberg.
The real story, however, lay in the cash seized in the Arlington raid. While authorities were tight-lipped about the details, sources close to the investigation hinted at a possible connection between the seized funds and a larger organized crime syndicate operating in the area.
As the people of Arlington struggled to make sense of the chaos, one thing was certain: the streets would never be the same. The Flu-like cases had brought the community to its knees, and the Arlington numbers raid had left a trail of questions that would haunt the residents for years to come.
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Key Facts
- State: Virginia
- Category: Violent Crime
- Era: Historical
- Source: Library of Congress — Chronicling America ↗
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