Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-07-22

Sharp Points from the Annual Report of
DIR. Purvis Of the Freedman's Hospital.

DIR. C. B. Purvis, the surgeon in charge Of
the Freedman's hospital, in his annual report
to the Secretary Of the Interior, states thai
during the past year there were admitted ant
treated in the hospital 2,279 patients. In the
dispensary attached 2 ,317 were treated.
He calls attention to the large mortality
among the patients, especially the colored pa
tients, who constitute large proportion.
CAUSE OF THE LARGE coLoRED MORTALITY.
He says that fully one-third of the deaths oc
cur within ten days after admission to the hos
pital, and he attributes this to the fact thai
these people are compelled to live in the mos
unhealthy portions OF the city. They are OBJ
hged, the report states, to crowd together in
small apartments in alleys owing to the usuri
GUS rate of rent exacted. These alleys, he says
are filthy and many OF them are not severed.
Owing" he adds, "tO a strong, unreason
able and unchristian prejudice, these people
cannot obtain comfortable homes upon paved
streets. Not until there is q thorough and
complete change in the laws regulating the
erection of tenement houses will this mortality
be lessened."
ISEBRIETY A CRIME.
In speaking of the ninety cases Of alcoholism
treated during the year, DIR. Purvis refers to
the proposition to establish an inebriate asylum
in this city, and he reiterates the opinion ex.
stitution ought not be established. He says
that he considers inebriety crime, and as such
should be punished.
In all his experience he cannot recall a case
Of this kind where the patient desired to re-
form, as with most persons when very sick he
says they are very penitent and prayerful
which disappears with returning health
He is of the opinion tina,
when person has been admitted
to hospital and treated for alcoholism, and
has been thoroughly sobered and kept SO fol
one or two months, that that person can remain
so if he or she possesses the will or the desire
In this connection, although he says that il
is not exactly germane to an annual report he
calls the attention Of the secretary to the nu
merous
DRINKING BRoTHELs AND GAMBLING
dens that have recently been established neal
the hospital. These new places he says, are
the outgrowth of tricky law passed by
Congress about eighteen months ago for.
bidding pool selling in the cities Of
washington and Georgetown. He says that he
demonstrated against the passage of the law, al
it would result in dumping the dens of the two
cities upon the county, and he urged that the
law should apply to the District.
LIoUoR-DRINKINa AND ARRAYS.
DR.. Purvis states that his efforts to induce
the late Commissioners of the District to re-
fuse to grant liquor licenses for saloons in the
vicinity of the hospital were fruitless.
During the year, the report states
lis patients were treated for gunshot incised
punctured, and confused wounds, all the re.
suit Of personal encounters. OF this number
one died from the injuries received. A careful
inquiry developed the fact that the person as.
saulted or the one making the assault was
under the influence of liquor at the time.
DR.. Purvis recommended that an appropria-
ton be made for the erection of a small build.
L. - 4ovx- L. H.
having diseases, such as scarlet fever, measles
diptheria, &c.