Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1884-12-19
In Quarantine at VigO.

in the la arctic precincts round the
island are moored some eighteen or
wrn y seam ,rs and sailing vess Is of
all nat'ons. all flying the yellow nag.
whose crews are perni ted TO land and
tax. 5 ch diversion aS they can find
on ie island. Our whole parry We're
Proceeding somewha' gai Y to our
prison house. one-stDr,rd-harra IL
Ike b 'ildng. nearly IN tie cen er Of
the island when, Us we passed a Y r.
nbv Gus English seafariny pe.s,n who
>e;med to regard Us with Il compass
sionate glance. we asked Ii m what
sort If accommodations there IN; hit
b.. tie was the Scotch mate CT ship
whose crew wee spendin the day on
the island. His answer was rnpres-
sively del vered in sepu!chural voice,
''>ir. it simply awful" The Scotch
gentleman was right. Ne were usher
cd into the house and wert stra' git-
way sauted by such an olo,, a, even
!, who have faced many a bld one.
have never yet encounterci the like o.
To the meanest intelligence it was OBJ
vious that cesspIol lay co under
meath the decayed iloorin of the house.
and this tirned out to be the case "a
capacions cesspool in, as geo graphers
say of volcanoes. ''full and permanent
activity existed in the very center O:
the house. 1t was explained 10 us
afterward by the medical officer of the
es ablishment that an escape pipe
therefrom had been stopped up for
some time, but this did not seem to us
to men the matter much.
VI hen We had somewhat recovered
our outraged sens s we looked abo;;t
us and saw that. in regard to dirt, de-
cay. neglect and dilapida ion, the walls.
floors and windows of this gaol for the
innocent were in harmony with the san
itary arrangements. After great trouble.
for the prisOn-hOuse was crowded, e
TO ladies of our party were provided
with four wretched beds in room still
more wretched on the ground floor. In
a smaller and not less miserable apart
ment we two men were glad to be
thr st. he furniture of orr room con-
sisted solely of two broken-backed iron
bedsteads, one of which when it was
touched fell in two The bed clothes
would rather not describe. The plas
ter on the walls had in the course of
years fallen away. and lay. some of it.
on the unswept toor. thick with dust
and encumbered with cigarette ends
and bits Of waste of every horr bic kind.
There was neither table nor chair. mr.
a chest of drawers, nor a washstand,
the ceiling was hung with dust-laden
cObwebs, the walls, stained with patches
of black and green mould. were grimy
beyond description. With great Diff
Guilty we procured cracked basin and
an apology for jug; we raised clouds
of dust in trying TO sweep the floor our
selves; we bribed an overworked at
tendant to break off for us q few square
inches of an already frameless and
bacKless looking-glass of his own.
Only one alienation of the abom. .nable
state of this den did l perceive; there
were two windows opposite to each
other, and both o. them had far more
broken-out panes than sound ones. It
was clear that some previous inmates,
maddened with the evil odors, which
we observed to be aggravated in the
night season. had rushed frantically to
the easements and improved the yenti-
lation summarily. AS the walls of dun
geons are found scribbled with the CON-
plants and lamentations of imprisoned
wretches, so were the walls of this
quarantine dungeon written over with
the indignant protests of its former in
mates, and l. Is historical evidence o.
the neglect that has SO long lain over
this is and lazaretto that some O, these
inscriptions bear date between 1865 and
1870. l was told o. one dated lX57.
but l did not see it. The food arrange.
ments were far better than the lodging.
and both were distinctly cheap-we
paid but IS. cd. each q day. Still there
must have been a large profit, for there
were but two meals a day. taken in
common at eleven and six. besides the
universal cup of morning chocolate,
and the food was such as Spanish peas
ants eat-pot al Jeu, s,ewed and fried
fish. all plenti ully favored with onion
and garlic and cooked with oil.-Lon-
don times.