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San Francisco's 1904 Black Plague Scare (And How It Was Covered Up) ? When we think of the Bubonic Plague we often picture villagers in the middle ages covered in boils and quarantining in huts, not the people of a major city in the 20th century. But in 1900 there was an outbreak of the plague in San Francisco's Chinatown, likely brought on by a passenger on the S.S. Australia.The first victim of the sickness was Wong Chut King, a longtime resident of the city who owned a lumber yard. Doctors initially believed that he was ill with gonorrhea. By March 13, 1900, it was clear that the plague was in San Francisco. Chinatown was cordoned off by the city and California's governor Henry Gage denied the existence of the plague in the city specifically because he worried that it would bring down tourist numbers.As the federal government attempted to get to the bottom of Gage's denial the plague continued to worsen. By the end of the outbreak in 1904, 119 people had died from the plague and Gage continued to deny its existence. He left office in 1903 and practiced law in Los Angeles until his death.