Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1893-09-29
'BPERs or MOLOKAI.
The SETTLEMENT AS SEEN BY AN
AMERICAN PHYSICIAN.

| X,'~''' OiStftiNs
Village Filled with Inhabitants who's.
Lives Hays Lost All Hope Of Earth,
Happiness work of Christian Church =,
In That Destitute Land.
DR. Leonard Freeman, prominent nbv
ncian OF Cincinnati, has returned from ]
tour OF the Sandwich Islands, where afte,
much trouble he secured the privilege OF
visiting the celebrated leper colony on the
Island OF Molokai. OF the island he says
1t contains about 5000 acres. 1t is sur
rounded on three sides by the Pacific ocean
and guarded on the fourth by a tremendous
preclpice, which cuts it off from the rest Of
the world like gloomy wall There are
ABOUT l 100 lepers in the colony, and 1t IL
true OF this spot il it is of any other that
"Ye who enter here leave hope beyond. !,
Even the ground itself looks as If IL had
leprosy, with its volcanic debris STICKING
through the thin soil.
We went at once to the little Methodist
church, made of boards and painted white.
where the Rev. Mr.. Emerson, whom had
met on the steamer, was to deliver a ser.
mon. The church was as plain as a church
could be, with wooden benches and some
pltifully small panes of stained glass in
serted above the windows, in order to i'm
part religious air to at least a portion of
the light which entered Just outside the
open door / could see the white surf pound
ing against the black rocks with a roar
that sometimes threatened to drown the
voice of the preacher
This was one of the strangest congrepa-
tions in the whole world-some without
fingers, some with their stumps of hands
and feet done up in rags There was not
one who did not in some way show the
stamp of the loathsome malady.
They were all dark skinned natives ex-
eept one white man who sat in front seat,
the picture of hopeless detection. Mr.. EN-
erson spoke earnestly in the Kanaka lam
guage, and his audience listened eagerly.
After he had finished, he requested me to
address the congregation, and | preached
my first and perhaps last sermon. One of
the lepers, with an obvious paucity of fin
gers, arose and thanked me. Among other
things, he said he hoped would live long
and never have leprosy"-as though lep-
rosy to him involved every evil in the
world, and il escaped it could not fail to
be happy.
After the sermon we got some horses and
rode about the settlements. The lepers live
in white frame houses about the size of an
ordinary room and divided into several
apartments. They do not require much fur
niture, because they prefer squatting on \.
floor to sitting in chair. They have
horses, cats, dogs and other domestic ami
mails, and some of them cultivate small
gardens. When a Kanaka gets leprosy,
he regards it as a dispensation of Provi-
dence, burys his hopes and ambitions and
goes to Molokai to die To be sure, the dis
ease is only feebly contagious, but conta-
gious 1t is, and the slovenly, unhealthy
lives led by many natives are conducive to
its spread
Huddled together in small damp huts,
existing on insufficient and improper food,
eating with their dirty fingers from single
dish, smoking the same pipe, it is no won
der the Hawaiians have been decimated by
leprosy and afflicted with other terrible
diseases. One may live with lepers for
many years, however, without contracting
leprosy. 1t is said that a native woman of
Honolulu sent three husbands to Molokai
with the disease before she developed it
herself There are several other churches
in the colony besides the Methodist, includ-
ing Catholic church and Mormon church.
l met on the island gentleman named
button, who had been an officer in the
United States army and had lived for a
time in Cincinnati. He was formerly
wealthy and stood high in the social world.
Five or six years ago he was converted to
the Catholic faith, disposed of his fortune,
gave up his social position and went to Mo
lokai to devote the remainder of his life to
the lepers. l found him good looking and
xrfr oalx nj
Of age, with black hair and beard and a
pleasing address. He lived in 1-storied.
3-roomed cottage, surrounded by a high |
stone wall.
Every morning this good Samaritan puts |
On an old blue blouse and a pair of overalls |
and goes down to what he calls his work |
shop" a small frame housew veranda,
aro'Ind which are arranged a number of |
benches and some dishpans filed with |
warm water. Miserable, decrepit lepers
,ome hobbling in until the benches are
illed and standing room is at premium.
Mr.. Dutton, with true religious courage
Ind sympathy, bathes the sores in the pans
If water and applies fresh salve and band
lges A Cincinnati lady has presented
him with large music box, and while he
S attending to these poor people this music
)ox plays waltzes by Strauss genuine
,iece of sarcasm. Mr.. Dutton is nobly car
wing out the work inaugurated by Father
Damien, who lived some 16 years among
he lepers and finally died a martyr to the
disease, the horror of which he had endeav-
red so long to mitigate.
/ remained in the leper colony two nights
nd nearly two days and was just as glad
o get away from the place as was to get
nto it, never before realized how dreary
landscape could be in spite of beautiful
cenery and perfect climate If suffering hui
nanity formed the background. Although
trictly speaking the people do not suffer
ouch, characteristic of the disease is the
arly destruction of sensation, so that fin
er or even a leg might be hacked off with
ut much discomfort They never commit
uicide 1t would be easy to climb the
recipice that guards their prison and jump
Fl. but they do not do it. The truth is,
hey seem comparatively resigned and
Apply. There are SO many of them that
hey do not lack society, and the worst
asses appear to mingle freely with those in
he earliest stages.
The sisters were just opening some
christmas boxes, filed with large, colored
lbber balls, dolls and presents of various
inds, and thought to myself, if the peo-
lie in the outside world knew how much
lings were needed on Molokai, there
-ould be not only few pitiful little boxes