The herald., 1896-01-13
Day Spent With the Unfortunate
and Afflicted
SOME OF THE FREAKS SEEN
Mr.. Sweeney Was In for War With
England at Once
Some of the Frightfui Scenes to Be Witnessed
In the Cells Reserved for the Victims
of 1ofphine and Cocaine

for afflicted humanity seldom claim much
attention from active, vigorous people,
though now and then accident or curiosity
guiding the Indifferent stranger within
their gates, he shortly realizes that mo-
ments within these walls hold enough OF
tragedy and pathos to last an ordinary life
time; that here is the scene of a tremen-
dous and unceasing conflict between
trained and skillful care and disease and
death.
There is nothing on the outside to dstin-
gush the Los Angeles county hospital out
on the Mission road from roomy man.
sion with a rather larger area than usual
devoted to shrubbery, unless it be an occa-
sional Whit of carbolic acid or crippled
or wasted figure creeping about the paths
or occupying sunny bench. The entrance
hall, however, giving heeting glimpses of
white-capped nurses, and the open door of
the drug room are sufficient index to the
most upimaginative.
But it Is in the wards that the remarkable
sights are to be seen, and it isn't the least
embarrassing situation in the world to face
two long rows of pallid or feverish faces,
showing at the heads of the trinity tucked
up, narrow white beds. On the wall by
each bed hangs chart, with ruled spaces
opposite the words "pulse, temperature,
respiration" etc., arranged like register
ing thermometer. A wavy line after each
item shows the history of each case. In
fever, the temperature; in heart disease.
respiration, etc., is marked with particular
care. In surgical cases the possession of
such records sometimes becomes of great
importance. Worthless fellows sometimes
try to retard their recovery in every rossi-
BILE way, one man actually pulling off the
dressings, in order to be able to recover
damages. One such case cost $1,000.
The training school and the young ladies'
composing it are DR.. Barber's special pride.
And not only he, but the visiting physi-
clans speak in the highest possible terms of
they bring to their work. The patients will
fight for them to a man. Now and then
rough customer just brought in will swear
like a trooper at one. After residence of
two years, the girls are graduated as trained
nurses.
Out into the yard big lettered "Fumiga-
tori stares from wooden structure.
"That's for the new arrivals" "What.
you fumigate them?" "No, not exactly"
said the doctor, "though we would like to
sometimes. You see, when a patient is
brought in he gets bath the first thing.
Their clothes go into the fumigator, unless
they have more than seven kinds of bugs
on them. Then we burn them" On the
slope near by are number of racks for
summing bedding and old clothes.
"Ah, and how are you this morning, Mr..
Sweeney" aside, "He is one of our
characters') said the doctor.
II have nothing but the kindest wishes
for everybody"
"But what do you think of the prospect
of war with England?" was asked. II
tell you," said Mr.. Sweeney, as his one we'll
eye began to flame while he strode fercely
up and down. Il feel it my duty to exterm-
mate every Englishman l see. Every man
that draws an Irish breath has an utter
contempt for England, and there are mill
lions OF us animated with the same feaH
ing. have fought England everywhere.
was on the Kearsarge at the sinking of
the Alabama. and | could handle myself
like a daisy on steel cruiser today"
"Billy" is another character, who lives
only to kill rats. Billy is keeper of the
chicken yard, and the hope of his life is to
be presented with "a beautiful trap that
we could get for only $3." ''Once it
caught twenty-eight rats, and such
| packin' you never saw. Its not dear at all
rats and those squirrels do kill the chick
| ems and ducks shameful. l would have
| 100 more chickens if ! could get that
trap" And so impressive was Billy's Irish
eloquence that rat traps at that moment
seemed more necessary to the institution
than the $4,000 steam laundry just build
ing.
| 10 stand near the entrance of the dining
room at tie sounding of the bell is to re-
| call the storied Pool of Sloan, to be moved
] to laughter and to tears by the motley Pre-.
cession of caricatures. A vacant-eyed old
man steers zig-zag course up the hall.
"Drunk?" mo, brain trouble, struck by
| lightning. He was wealthy merchant OF
| St. Louis. Now he's partially paralyzed
and his memory isn't three minutes long,"
| And so they shambled in, the coDsump-
| tives. the lame, the deformed, the conva-
,fH fl,D ,rnk
poor. Lots of them ought to be in home
| for something or other. but there is no
| place that will take them, so we make
| them as useful as we cam" said the doctor.
They all stand by their places until the
signal is given to sit down. No one 10 al
| lowed to appropriate his neighbours food,
but there is sign on the wall that every
body is to have all he wants.
In the paralytic ward is a great, burly,
though half dead fellow, whose pride is
that he was horse thief, and he hasn't
worked for % years. Next him is Jap
is "Old Joe,' a centenarian, who might
sit for a model grandfather in the doorway
of a thatched cottage.
In the consumptive ward are the most
hopeful lot of fellows in the place. They
chaff each other about their condition, and
men who haven't twenty-four hours to live
will bet on their ability to outlast their
| neighbor.
The upstairs is reserved for women-
deserted wives, convict's wives, women
sick and homeless, down to the pitiable
creature dubbed "Sapolio,' who shows her
toothless gums and lolling tongue in an
idiotic laugh while she wriths crazy hula
hula. The babies are not so bad. One
little newcomer is as plump and sturdy as
can be, and another, Johnny Beach, as
they call him, from having picked him up
on the beach, is really pretty. Ramona,
another founding, is very attractive and
seems to be a general pet. Rickety and
diseased as most of them are, one can't
help feeling something like hope for the
little mites.
Another corridor commanding view of
sunlit hill and tropical foliage, and one
plunges from the mellow brightness into
the chill of the operating room, cement
fioored and cement walled, with one sug-
gestive table. Il seems to the uninitiated
as if the idea was bad enough without hav-
ing a room arranged in gruesome keeping
with it until the doctor explains that the
walls and floor are chosen with especial
regard to thorough cleaning after each op-
Grafton, and the operating table is really
particularly clever device, allowing the
patients body or part of it to be inclined
at the most convenient angle.
The patient is bathed and prepared the
day before the operation, the clothes he
wears, the aprons and towels used have
been thoroughly boiled and disinfected,
the instruments are boiled and sterilized,
and the doctors hands would be if it were
possible. As it is, they do the next best