The San Francisco call., 1895-10-12

utmost excitement among the native popu-
lation. Next day he was kidnapped by
Government employees and tarred and
feathered.
The local authorities made no attempt
to arrest his assailants. He appealed to
Minister Willis and Consul-General Mills,
stating that he was an American citizen
and an American war veteran, but moth
Ing was done by those officials. The Hon
olulu papers, with the exception of the two
Government sheets, condemned the act.
Grave charges have been made daily
against the authorities by the opposition
| journal, the Independent, for their indif-
! ference in the matter. Godfrey has made
a claim for damages against the Hawaiian
Government in the sum OF $4,000.
In an interview Godfrey stated to CALL
correspondent that he had learned of the
inhuman practices of the cholera hospital,
and concluded to enter the institution as
| patient for the purpose OF proving the
truth of the reports. He had no difficulty
is gaining admittance to the hospital,
though the Board of Health officials
doubted his prOtestations of illness. Know
ing him to be newspaper man, and
somewhat suspecting his intentions, they
not only proceeded to block his methods
of gaining information, but placed him in
the midst of the worst cholera patients of
the place.
said he, without any needful attention
for two days, and was watched, not with
the view OF making me well, but with the
view of making me sicker, and being no.
ticed observing things too closely l was
bundled off to the quarantine grounds and
placed in a room next to the deadhouse. |
was kept in that noisome place seven days
and six nights. Another prisoner of the
institution was Father Valentine, Cath
olic priest and fellow-countryman of
Father Damien.
The priest had nobly volunteered his
services TO assist the nurses in taking care
of the patients, and TO perform the last
religious offices to the dying. He only
gained admlttance to the hospital by
agreeing to remain closely confined in the
place without any privileges other than
those accorded to the poorest patient.
This was an unnecessary hardship upon
the good man, as physicians, stewards,
nurses and visitors from select Govern
ment circles were constantly allowed free
entrance and exit.
Father Valentine occupied bare room
next to the deadhouse also. He received
no courtesies, and not even his sacred Of
fee won for him anything but heartless in
difference. No representative of the sanity
missionary element offered his sleek, we'll
fed and well-clothed body to the posi-
BILE ravages of the too familiar and
strongly embracing germs of the chol-
era bacillus. Father Valentine stayed
to the last. There was also one
other live inmate of the charnel-
place-a native woman who was held
prisoner and charged with being a Kah-
una, or doctress, and who was said to be
interfering with the Government physi-
| clans.
''All the bodies of the dead were put into
this deadhouse, and for awhile the en-
frances into this place kept pace with the
| admlttances into the hospital Father Val
entlne and [ could hear the dull fall of the
bodies all hours of the day and night. 1t
was not pleasant sound l assure you, and
what was worse the filthy remains were al
| lowed to remain there in the tropical heat
| for eight and ten hours
"One morning body was brought into
TINS Morgue, and after being disinfected
was lett lying on the slab awaiting burial.
In a few minutes the priest and | went in
to look at the remains We noticed res
plratory, not relaxatory, movement of the
olanketed form, showing that the person
! was not dead. A nurse examined the
body, exclaiming The man is alivep
Father Valentine was taken sick with
nervous prostration and | nursed him.
/ soon after he was removed, but was kept
IN my horrible quarters. / wrote to Con-
| sul-General Mills requesting my release
but he paid no attention to my plea and
was kept one day over the quarantine
| limit.
Il was fumigated in the most bungling
manner, my body and clothing burned by
the careless hospital attendants
After my release | endeavored to pub
llsh some of my experiences, but the
| papers had been instructed not to do SO.
The editors had been ordered to give nv
manuscript to the authorities / told the
| story of the Alive dead man, and this was
| twisted into a statement that | had seen
natives buried alive. Then posters were
| put up making the same state
ment. This was to kill the eff
feet OF whatever informa alton / might
| give regarding the mismanagement of the
cholera hospital. / tried to contradict
these statements, but the Government
sanitarians would not hear me. I was
then inveigled by one of the members of
the Sanitary Committee to an out-of- the
way place, when | was assaulted by
masked men, blindfolded, bound and
beaten. Then | was tarred and feathers
were poured over my body"
| All the newspapers in Honolulu now
| bear Godfrey out in his statement of this
affair, and the Independent denounces the
Police Department for their indiffer-
ence. When the steamship Australia
| lett the islands Godfrey had been
confined to his bed for sixteen days and
his physician expressed doubts of his re-
covery Minister Willis comes in for much
censure for his inactivity in not at least in
yestigating the lawless and brutal outrage