J. W. Schull

[2] Woodhull reported that "a careful inquiry" had pinpointed Delaware native Schull,[3] the steward of the schooner F. A. Server, as the primary case of the disease's outbreak.

After receiving treatment from a doctor, William Duncan, who diagnosed congestive fever,[5] Schull stayed there for three days, before being moved to Savannah's Marine Hospital.

[6] On August 17, Thomas Magner Jr., a child living at his family's grocery store on the opposite corner of Ann Street from the boarding house,[7] was attacked by the disease, which then "spread rapidly in every direction from that centre.

"[6] It is believed that the disease could not have been contracted by Schull anywhere but aboard the Server since he had been attached to that vessel for just over a year, during which time it remained solely in United States waters.

Some claim Schull boarded the neighboring vessel, "consorting intimately with her cook, for the sake of cigars",[3] but both its captain and crew denied this.