The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-02-07
fession and his property, and. leaving
his family, was sent to Molokai.

fession and his property, and, leaving
his family, was sent to Molokai.
Mr.. Ragsdale had studied the history
of leprosy to some purpose. The con-
stitution of the Knights Hospitallers of
st. Lazarus "a military order composed
of lepers established by the Crusaders in
the twelfth century, required that the
Grand Master should be a leper, that
the organization might the better de-
vote its energies to relieving the dis
tress of men similarly afflicted. With
the history of this society in mind, and
familiar with their plans for relieving
the unfortunate, Mr.. Ragsdale went to
Molokai, ambitious to ameliorate the
condition of those who were fated to be
his companions for life. He found on
the island about 800 people, all of
whom, except seventy-fve were lepers.
He was made Governor of the Colony,
and began at once the work of reform.
The Government gave him all needed
support, end it has been said many
times that by tact, kindness of heart,
and administrative ability he made one
of the saddest communities in the world
one of the most cheerful. Great as was
the promise of his career at the capital,
he entered upon one more useful at
Molokai, and soon became known the
world over as man who had mastered
the leprosy problem, so far as the COM
parative comfort and happiness of
those afflicted was concerned. The dis
tinguished lepers of the olden times in
many cases gave way to despair, and
simply waited for death to release them.
Mr.. Ragsdale employed all his talent
and gave all his time to the work of
perfecting system that would contrib
ute to the comfort of those like himself,
unfortunate That he succeeded the
condition of the leper settlement of
Molokai shows.
In the Sandwich Islands, as in the
older communities, leper is allowed
to marry leper, but must give up
his own family. Soon after Ragsdale
established himself at Molokai, young
native woman, healthy herself, but who
had lost two husbands by leprosy, fell
in love with hi,n and became his wife.
She was the beauty of the settlement,
and, Notwithstanding her association
with lepers, still lives in perfect health.
The natural successor to Mr.. Ragsdale
as Governor of the lepers was Peter
Kao, . relative of Queen Emma, but he
was allowed to leave the island some
months since, and successor has not
been appointed.
To rightly appreciate the work of
MIR. Ragsdale, it is necessary only to
say that leprosy is a disease that has
inspired in all ages the greatest horror,
and entailed upon those afflicted much
needless suffering. Liveling, defining
leprosy as an incurable constitutional
disease of adult life, especially preva-
lent in tropical and sub-tropical eli
mates, divides it into three forms: Mac
ular leprosy, characterized by an erup-
ton of the skin, accompanied by a
diminution or loss of sense Of feeling;
anasthetic leprosy, characterized by
loss of sense Of feeling, discolorizations
of the skin, atrophy Of the muscles, with
liberation and mutilation of the hands
and feet; differentiated leprosy, charac-
terized by bronzing and differentiated
thickening of the skin, especially of the
face, ears, hands and feet, ending fatal
ly in from two to fifteen years by inter-
current disease in some vital organ
Chicago Inter Ocean.