Many are unaware that Gruelle's famous Raggedy Ann storybooks and illustrations were based in large part on Marcella's childhood adventures.
Marcella's Vaccine Tragedy
Not long after the creation of the much beloved Raggedy Ann, Gruelle's only child and 13 year old daughter Marcella died a painful death after receiving a routine small pox vaccination at school, which was given without parental consent.
Reports indicate that after the initial inoculation Marcella had, "... lost her appetite, and became feverish and fatigued." Amazingly, more inoculations were given despite her negative reaction from the first jab. Predictably Marcella's health continued to decline to the point where she lost all muscle control, "becoming listless and lifeless like a rag doll."
While all this was going on at school, her parents knew nothing about it and had never ever given their consent for any vaccinations.
Sadly, Marcella died a slow and agonizing death. The Gruelle's were convinced beyond any doubt that the vaccination was the culprit behind the death of their only child, even though school authorities and vaccination proponents insisted Marcella had died from a preexisting heart defect.
Ultimately, "Seven leading physicians are called upon to opine about the cause of her death. Six consented it is the result of vaccine induced poisoning and call it malpractice. The seventh, being the head of the school board and a supporter of vaccination, declines to comment."
Johnny had originally created Raggedy Ann as an unlikely protagonist gracing the many stories he began writing to entertain his young sickly daughter, Marcella. For those who are not familiar or who have forgotten, Raggedy Ann was the unusual character starring in a series of stories for young children that became a sensation. She was a rag doll who sported bright, red yarn hair and a triangle nose.
The story goes, one afternoon Marcella had been rummaging around in the attic of her grandmother's house when she spied an old storage chest, opened it and to her delight found a faceless rag doll. When Marcella showed her dad the faceless doll he drew a unique face on it. "The doll had no face, so, it was her Dad, Johnny Gruelle, who put the famous black eyes, red triangle nose, and separated mouth on the original doll and Grandma made a new dress."
Johnny then proceeded to walk over to his bookshelf, where he pulled down a book of poems by James Whitcomb Riley. After thumbing through the pages, he found two poems that suited him and combined their titles to create a name for his daughter's rag doll. So "The Raggedy Man" and "Little Orphan Annie," poem titles were morphed into "Raggedy Ann." Gruelle then suggested Marcella name her rag doll Raggedy Ann.
In 1918, Gruelle had sold his first volume of Raggedy Ann Stories published by P. F. Volland Company based in Chicago. The Raggedy Ann doll was marketed along with the book and within months the book and doll were selling like hotcakes.
Two years later, in 1920 Gruelle wrote the sequel Raggedy Andy Stories where a new rag doll character debuted named Raggedy Andy, who was to be Ann's brother. Andy wore a sailor suit and hat, had a triangle nose and the trademark red yarn hair. A Raggedy Andy doll was created to accompany the sequel and as a striking complement to the popular Raggedy Ann doll. In 1929, Gruelle published Marcella: A Raggedy Ann Story which was a much anticipated tribute to his beloved daughter, who had died unexpectedly from a smallpox vaccination at the tender age of thirteen.
Anti Vaccination Movement
Not long after his daughter's death from vaccination, Johnny Gruelle was commissioned to create an illustration for an article titled "Vaccines Killed My Two Sisters." Cleverly, Gruelle enclosed the following note along with his submitted illustration.
"Having recently lost our only daughter through Vaccination (in public school, without our consent) you may realize how terribly HUMOROUS the subject of vaccination appears to Mrs. Gruelle and myself. Of the seven physicians called in on the case, six pronounced it in emphatic terms MALPRACTICE. The seventh did not commit himself, being the head of the school board and a firm advocate of vaccination."The tragic vaccine induced death of Marcella propelled Johnny to become a staunch member of the anti-vaccination movement of the time. Johnny's wife, Myrtle Gruelle, explained that Johnny had been putting the final touches on the Raggedy Ann doll just prior to Marcella's untimely death. Ironically, the patent for the Raggedy Ann character, soon to be adopted as an iconic symbol for anti-vaccination advocates, had been granted around the same time as Marcella's death from vaccination.
Surely, Johnny would not have objected to fact that his beloved rag doll became an icon for almost a century of childhood vaccine injuries and deaths. Reality check: the anti-vaccination movement is not merely a modern movement started by a few misguided misfits. Objections to vaccinations began at the very same time that vaccinations came into use - from the get-go.
"As governments began to compel their citizens to be vaccinated, resistance to the procedure grew. Anti-vaccination societies became especially vocal during the late nineteenth century. Many anti-vaccinators believed that vaccination was, as George Bernard Shaw put it, a ... "filthy piece of witchcraft which did more harm than good."America, introduced compulsory vaccination on a state by state basis. Although there is no mandatory federal vaccination law, all 50 states require children who attend public school to be vaccinated. Vaccination exemptions are issued in all states. "All 50 states issue medical exemptions, 48 states (excluding Mississippi and West Virginia) permit religious exemptions, and 19 states allow an exemption for philosophical reasons."
Whatever happened to the Smallpox Vaccine?
"Routine smallpox vaccination in the United States ended in 1972. Officials are hesitant to resume the immunizations because the vaccine is the most reactive of all and has been linked to serious side effects, including death." ~ Reuters, November 29, 2001.The Data below is from Greg Beattie's book, Vaccination A Parent's Dilemma. For those of you who have been mislead by corporate vaccination lies, this will come as quite a shock. When you take a step back and look at the big picture, it is remarkably clear that vaccinations did not in fact save us.
About the author
Paul Fassa is a contributing staff writer for REALfarmacy.com. His pet peeves are the Medical Mafia's control over health and the food industry and government regulatory agencies' corruption. Paul's valiant contributions to the health movement and global paradigm shift are world renowned. Visit his blog by following this link and follow him on Twitter here.
Sources
http://www.raggedyann.cc/johnny_gruelle.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/smallpox/sp_resistance.html
http://njvaccinationchoice.org/2008/10/raggedy-ann-is-an-iconic-symbol-for-vaccine-injury-and-death/
http://www.rense.com/general32/20r.htm
http://www.nvic.org/vaccine-memorial.aspx
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/smallpox/sp_resistance.html
http://www.vaclib.org/sites/debate/web1.html
Isn't it 'nice' to know that ''the more things change, the more they stay the same."?