The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1889-06-26
A TRUE HERO.

A TRUE HERO.
The Wonderful Devotion and Self acrifce
of Father Damien-One of the NOblest
Lives the World Has Ever Seen.
The world has lost hero. Father
Damien, of Molokai, died at Kalawao,
Hawaii, on April 10; he is leper no
. longer. And who is Father Damienp
All the world ought to know; all the
world does not but time will spread
his name and fame the globe around,
and these will survive pylon and pyra-
mid, outlasting all memorials OF the
cunning hand of man.
Born in 1910, and reared in the Ro-
man Catholic faith, in 1873, when but
thirty-three years of age, Damien,
then in full possession of health and
fortune, a man Of education and refine
ment, "a prince coming to his king
dom." deliberately offered himself as
missionary to the outcast lepers Of the
Sandwich Islands. knowing full we'll
that he. in time, would become a
leper, too. In 1884 the first symptoms
Of the horrible disease manifested
themselves in Damien, and since that
time the heroic priest has been dying
the most lingering and frightful death
known to mantle death to which he
willingly condemned himself. His
decease has been daily expected for
months past.
Molokai. generally spoken of as the
leper settlement, is an island of the
Hawaiian group, and Kalawao is a
village on the island. The settlement
is simply a prison hospital, mono of the
people living there being permitted to
depart-as none have ever escaped.
Kalawao is three miles long and mile
wide. 1t is treeless and exposed,
naked, to the full force Of the north
east trade wind. During the winter
months the climate is bleak, cold and
rainy. In the summer the sun beats
down fiercely. The mountains hang
over it like giants
The lepers were brought there in
1865. For decades before 1860 leprosy
had prevailed in the Hawaiian Islands,
but not extensively. In 1860 the dis
ease became scourge, and few years
later the leper colony was established,
and all the lepers on the Sandwich
Islands were ordered to be removed
thence. Parents were separated from
their children, husbands from their
wives, and brothers and sisters
from each other. The friends and
relatives of those infected with the
disease. in many instances, secreted
the sufferers, and the officers charged
with inforcing the Flaw of segrega-
tion," often had to capture their VIC
Tins by stealth in the dead of night
In nearly every case, the officers had
to use force. In April of last year
there were 749 lepers there 1t was d
settlement of despair and death.
The condition Of the leper settlement
at the first beggars description. The
poor wretches had no houses but flimsy
huts, no decent clothing, no medical
attendance worthy of the name, and but
the poorest kind of food. The Oldest
of the miserable creatures sank into a
sort of apathy, and laid down and died.
Among the youngest. after the first
few years had killed hope in their
hearts, began what may only be termed
the orgies Of despair. They aban-
doned themselves to excuses. They
made native alcohol and ki-root beer.
The outrageous hula Hawaiian Gov
eminent paid no attention to them. 1t
is doubtful if there was upon the face
of the wide earth. at the time of Da-
MEMS coming in 1873, such scene OF
madness, wretchedness, and despair
as at the settlement of Kalawao.
1t was in 1864 Father Damien went to
join the Roman Catholic missionaries
in Hawaii He was then twenty-four
years old, a young man of marked
ability, for whom his superiors pre-
dicted great future; he has attained
a greatness they little dreamed of |!
One day, after having passed nine
years in Honolulu, he heard his Bishop
express wish that some priest would
volunteer to go out among the lepers
at Molokai. Damien pondered over
the matter for a week. during which
time it was clearly brought to his at
tention that if he went to Molokai he
must not only stay there forever, but
must, in all human probability, die a
leper's death. He offered himself for
the place, and his offer was accepted.
The horrible scenes he met with at
first appalled, him. There were so
many people in the last agonies. and
Damien spent so much time with them,
that for time he was not able to build
himself hut, and he had to sleep
under a tree. The Hawaiian Govern
ment treated Damien with rigor
He was not permitted to 60 out to any
of the islands near by to meet a broth
er priest fur confession, and the sheriff