On September 12, 1911, a visitor to Millersburg was seized with an epileptic fit. Having nowhere else to take him, townsmen carried him to the Hotel Koppenhaver where he was attended to by doctors. He was given a bed for the night and the next morning was improved enough to attempt a return to his home. Through the generosity of Millersburgers, a ticket was purchased for him and he was helped to the train station. It is not known whether the hotel was given some remuneration for the man’s overnight stay.
Hotels in this time period, particularly in rural area, often accepted strangers in need of a place to rest and also provided a place for doctors to administer to accident victims. They were also used as holding jails while constables were awaiting the next train to take the individual(s) to the county jail in Harrisburg.
The story was reported in the Harrisburg Telegraph, September 12, 1911:
SERIOUSLY ILL ON STREET
Special to the Telegraph
Millersburg, Pennsylvania, September 12 [1911] — George Norris, a cripple, who says Huntingdon is his home, came to town from Sunbury Sunday morning, and while going up North Street, was seized with an epileptic fit. Doctors were at once summoned and the man was removed to the Hotel Koppenhaver, Where he improved during the night. Generous citizens bought him a ticket to his home town, to which place Constable Zimmerman assisted him Monday morning.
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News article from Newspapers.com
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