The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1881-07-15
LEpRosY IN THE UNITED STATES.
Tnvestig gations Made by the Louisiana Board Of
HEALTH


The nightmare story of Mr.. George Cable
Of q leper excluded for years In house In
New Orleans turns out to be no novelist's
fancy, but only small part of te rible
fact. The annual report Of the Louisiana
Board of Health for 1880, just issued, con-
tains detailed statement of the progress Of
the Asiaiic leprosy in that State during the
last century. 1t was brought in 1880 to the
West Indies by the negro slaves, and thence
to Louisiana. In ITS this disease was so
prevalent among the blacks, together with
the African elepantiasis, and another equally
horrible, named yaws, peculiar to Guinea
negroes, that hospital for lepers was estab-
| iished in New ORLEANS. AT the present time
the majority Of lepers in that city are found
to be whites, of French, German and Rus
sian extraction. The disease seems to be
hereditary, aud certain families are known
to be infected by it and are Stunned as
| corpses should be, could they walk and
move and spread about the contagion of
death. The mother of one Of these families,
when the disease showed itself, was deserted
| by husband aud children, and nursed until
her death by young girl, who now Is VIC
tim to it. An Italian Catholic priest who At
tended cases of leprosy in the Charity Hos
pital, Is now dying Of it IN the same house.
New Orleans, it appears, has no separate
asylum for these incurable patients, and they
are received into the Charity Hospital and
placed in the crowded wards to scatter
/ death.
| The President of the Board Of Health has
made personal investigation into the ex-
tent of this disease, even venturing into the
deathly swamps of the lower Bayou La
fourche. This whole district, he states, Is
several feet lower than the turbid bayou,
sloping back into cypress swamps liable to
constant overflow from crevasses. The poor
Creole inhabitants live In low huts surround
ed by wet rice fields, living upon fish and
fish eating birds. They are separated from
| the rest of the world and have intcr-married
for generations. So impregnated with dis
ease is this remote region that some Of the
exploring party were struck down on reach
| ing it with violent hemorrhages and fever
| OF all foul corners of the world IL ID the fit
test for the disease most dreaded by man
since the beginning Of the world to hide with
ITS prey. Below Harans's Canal, President
Jones found Asiatic leprosy existing in diff
ferent generations Of six families, Some oi
these wretched creatures have been driven
out from human habitation, and are living
apart in the swamps, dying of decay. In
some instances their flesh had become as In
sensible as bone, and they were able to
handle fire with impunity. 1t was impossi-
BILE to make correct estimate Of their num-
bers, as rumor spread among them that the
searching party had come to carry them of
10 an uninhabited island Of the sea, and hid
themselves, their friends, too, refusing to tell
their names or number.
In self.defense, if ror no otner hamshS
REASON, tuu PSJPrS ~ Hsvafsiaha shouiu PRIV
vide . refuge where these accursed beings
may be isolated ard sheltered. The disease
is as incurable and as contagious as in the
days Of Moses. The only other place where
it exists In this continent, we believe, Is II
New Brunswick, near the Bay Of Chaleur
The lepers there are confined In hospital n
a lonely spot known in the surrounding
country as the Valley of Death