The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1891-11-17
lnlusIANAS LEPER COLONY.
A wretched Community on the Shore
of the Gulf OF Mexico.

In the Plaquemine district, st.
Mary's Parish, 100 miles southwest
of New Orleans, in Louisiana, DR.. +.
W. Mcnamara says there is a leper
colony, but the fact Of its presence in
the State is scarcely known to the
residents OF the Crescent City. There
are but few people in New Orleans, "
he continued, "who are aware OF the
existence of this colony. l have just
returned from trip to the South, and
while there visited the lepers. Several
years ago I learned the colony was
quite a large one, but now there are
only twenty-seven victims OF the
loathsome disease there. There are
only two females at the colony. With
the exception of two negroes the
twenty-seven are Of French Acadian
extraction, who we're referred to in
Longfellow's Evangeline.
"The lepers of the Plaquemine dis
trict are isolated from the world as
completely as if they were on a little
island In the middle Of the Pacific
Ocean. They live in rude huts on
barren piece of land near little bay
lust off the Gulf of Mexico, and sub
sist by eating fish. 1 actually believe
they do not eat anything else but fish
and few berries from one years end
to the other. The colony is twelve
miles from any other habitation-the
nearest house being on John Dia-
mond's sugar plantation-and no one
ever ventures near the place; 1t Is
such barren waste. When reached
the place I found the isolated human
beings in the most wretched state
imaginable. The clothes on their
backs were rotten with age and COW
cred with vermin sssa4 u the men
had fsh-nets wrapped around their
bodies to cover their nakedness. None
of the illustrations in Dante by Dore
ever presented such a horrible sight as
I witnessed in this leper colony in
America. The victims, as far as
could Judge, are not an ignorant lot,
or rather would not be were they not
Isolated from civilization. They carry
on communication with one another
in q language that is partly French
and partly English. They naturally
have no aim in life, and are only wait
ing until death ends their misery. a
burying ground is situated in one
corner of the colony, and here the
lepers are laid away when death calls
them. There are probably seventy
i've graves there, but nothing marks
the spot where a body lies. When a
victim passes away his old associates
quietly lay him in the ground, and no
further attention is paid to the place
Of burial until the next victim sue
cumbs to the ravages Of the disease.
And In this way existence at the
colony will go on until but one OF the
human beings is left. When he dies
his bones will be left to bleach in the
sun. as no one in Louisiana will trouble
to bury him.
"The ages of the lepers at the
colony range from forty to seventy
years, one of the men being three
score and ten. l asked the wretched-
looking old creature a few questions,
and he informed me that the French
Acadians at the colony were formerly
residents of Nova Scotia, When the
French Acadians fled from their old
possessions he told me that several
hundred or so took refuge In Loutsi-
ana. Leprosy was prevalent In Nova
Scotia-there being a colony there at
the present time-and it is plausible
to suppose that the disease was car;
ried to the south by the fugitves,'0