Omaha daily bee., 1885-02-10
CRUEL NEGLECT.
4 Pest House Patient Tells How He
Was Treated
A Sad Showing Of So-Called
Christian Civilization,
LACK OF Bedding, of Food, of Heat,
and of Medicine.

the charges floating Though the air, as to
the treatment of patients. The facts
cannot be changed now, nor can any in
vestigatlon do any particular good to
those whose have suffered, but an inves.
tigatlon may result in causing public off,
Gals to use different methods and take
diTrent meaIures in case there should be
any such case arise in the future. Small
pox cases are difficult to lcok after, be-
cause of the fear Of contagion, but there
should be some measures adopted so that
hereafter Their g will be no difficulties.
and proper care promptly g ven those who
are thus called upon to suffer, and to he
ehut off from the rest of the world.
One of the patients at the pest house
gives the following sworn statement as to
h S experiences there, and certain it is
that no comment is needed, it being evil
dent from the statement itself that there
has been SD neglect, as should never be
permitted again ia any community claim.
ing to be civilized:
To the Editor of THE BEE.
In order hat the public may know ex
actly the facts in the Gaze, l desire to
make q statement as to how / wa Treated
at the pest house. l was taken from the
Coy house on the 25th of December last.
l was not broken out then, and was not
even sick. Mr.. Kirkendall, the nurse at
the pest house, came for me, by the or.
derS Of the c1unty ply sician, DIR. Bcllin-
ger. l was taken in an open wagon, In
the evening, and 1t was very cold. Be-
fore leaving the Coy house Mr.. Kirken-
dali told DR.. Bellinger in my presence that
there we're no bed clothes ncr mattress at
the pest house for me, and the doctor
promised to send some outthe next morn
ing, That night Mr.. kirken-
dali gave mi his two quilts,
very thin ones and an old broken down
cot to lay on. There was no fire In the
room, and l lay there shivering all night.
The next day there was no fire, there be-
ing no stove for that room. The next
night | lay there shivering stlll with no
FIRE and with no more bedding than on
the first night. The next day [ began to
break cut some, and felt 80 sick that |
had to keep in bed. That day DR.. Bell
niger came out, and ordered Emma
KIrkendall, who was helping her father
nurse the patients, to have me come out
to his buggy to see him. | got up and
went out In the cold and snow, 10 the
doctor sit ing in his buggy. He asked
me how | was getting along, and when l
told him that l was sick, he told me to
go into the kitchen. To reach that room
I I,l 10 ,uo,,,l A. L,- z-4:lz l.
the cold, that room being cur off from
the other rooms. Mr.. Kirkendall
and myself again asked the
doctor to send out these bed clothes,
they not having yet come. He promised
to do 80 at once. He kept on promising
every day after that. but still no clothes,
until the 29th, four days after l had been
there. Then Mr. Kirkendall got the ex-
press man, MIR. Britton, who brought
some wood, to go into the city and get a
mattress. He brought it out tLat same
night.
Mr.. Kirkendsll had agb ed the doctor
TO get a stove for the room | was in. The
doctor said 1t would be too much of an
expense to the county. After Ella
KeIley's death, tn stove from her room
was brought into the one / was in. until
Mr.. Kirkendall could clean up the room
that she had used, disinfect it, and get it
ready for me.
Then he moved the stove back, and
put me in that room. 1t was four days
after | WAS taken to the pest house that
| had a mattress to lay on, and six or
seven days before [ got the quilts which
had been promised me when / weat out.
The nurse, every time the doctor
cana out, would order provisions
too, but they would not come, aud the
doctor would get the same order the next
time ne came. All the excuse ne gave
for orr not having provisions was that
the city board of health and county Off
Gals were quarreling, and he could not
get them to do anything. lived on su-
gar and water for six or seven days.
There was nothing provided by the county
that |, in my sick condi ion, could eat,
from the 25ih of December to the 9th Of
January. There WAS bacon, flour, pota-
toes, buck wheat, rice, and a little oat-
meal, but nothing to make any of these
into palatable dishes-no milk, or any
thing of that sort. The doctor said that
he could not get any milk from the county.
On the 9th of January, when DR.. Sey-
bert and the city board took charge of
affairs, there was a Vpeedy change for the
better. From that time on we had
plenty, and of such a kind as a sick man
could eat.
So far as medicine was concerned DR..
Bellinger did not give me any. | got
some oil once from him for my face, but
it burned my face Sd l had to throw it
a a as | could not use it. He said it
WAS sweet oil, cut with alcohol. That was
all l got from him. He would come to
thu pest house and enter the room where ]
was, pull his coat about him, put the
c~oattails between his legs and say; "Mr.
Co'lamer you're looking elegantly.
You've only got a slight touch of the
varioloid." Then he would get in his
buggy and go off. He would not charge
his clothing, and 1 never saw him use
| disinfectants. He never examined my
pulse, looked at my tongue, or anything
of that sort.
/ kept getting worse and worse, and
finally my palate went down, 50 l could
not swallow, and aver the sugar and
water, which was all the county fur
nished me, would come out of my nose
instead of of going down my throat. Mr..
Kirkendall. as we'll as myself, told the
| doctor what a horrible condition l was
In, and yet he did not come out to sac
me for two days, or give me anything to
relieve me. Then through my OWL skill
- ,..I.1Io~o sc NJ Et.kan6all auc.