Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-02-25
IN THE LEPER COLONY

while we were in Honolulu" said one
of the young men who went to Hawaii as
an attache of the Hawaiian commission.
there was lot Of excitement among the
white population of the city over the dis
covery. that two well-known white citi-
zens of Honolulu were lepers. They were
both sent to the leper island of Molokai.
One of these unfortunate men was a
wealthy German merchant who had passed
the greater part of his life on the islands,
having left Germany for Honolulu in his
early youth. He was about seventy years
of age. For some months before it was
discovered that he was a victim of leprosy
he had been complaining of violent pains
in his head and numbness in his members.
His family physician was puzzled over the
case, and finally called into consultation a
physician Who had spent period OF study
among the 1epers at the Molokai colony
The old gentleman became violently insane
when he was informed that he was leper
and would be compelled to go to Molokai.
1t was necessary to place him in strait
jacket, and, thus secured, he was carried
aboard the leper steamer Kilauea Hou, to-
gether with over dozen Kanaka and jap
anese lepers, and transported to the leper
island. Within a week after the announce
ment that her husband was a 1eper the
unfortunate old gentleman's aged wife died
of grief.
1.-The other white victim of the disease
was the signal telegrapher stationed on
steamers to the people of Honolulu He
was comparatively young man, still un-
der forty, and was known as a first-rate
fellow by most Of the white people of Ha-
wall. He took the announcement that he
had the disease quietly. saying that he had
suspected for some time that he was vic
tim, and had contemplated so informing
the board of health. His nerve under the
circumstances was really admirable.
"As soon as the discovery of these two
cases was made the Kanaka servants in
the households in which the two men had
lived were subjected to careful eXamina-
ton. The telegrapher had lived alone in a
small house out at Diamond Head, with a
Kanaka youth as his only servant and at
tendant. The youth was found to be in
the secondary stage of leprosy, and was
sent to Molokai along with his master. The
establishment of the old merchant was a
very large one out near Waikiki, one of
Honolulu's suburbs, and was cared for by
over a dozen Kanaka servants. One of
these, an old washerwoman, was diScov
cred to be leper, and she, too, was sent
to the ieper colony.
1.-The alarm of the white population of
Honolulu, all of whom employ Kanaka SER
wants, over these discoveries may be pic
tured. The board of health was swamped
with applications for the immediate exam
ination of household servants, and was ut
terly unable to cope with the task at the
outset The work, understand, is still go
ing on. Meanwhile, the discovery played
excelently into the hands of the Japanese
and Chinese who were sought as servants
all over the islands. 1t is exceedingly rare
that leper is discovered among the Jap
anese or Chinese living in Honolulu. al
though cases are frequent among the two
races on the other islands, especially on
Maui, the great sugar island. In the course
of the examination of household servants
a number of cases of incipient leprosy were
found, and the victims packed off to the
leper colony The people employing these
lepers were themselves rigidly examined by
physicians able to detect the very slightest
evidences of the disease, but none of them
was found to be affected.
There are now. understand, eight men
of American birth at the leper colony on
Moiokai, all of them with the exception of
the two recently sent, sailors who deserted
their ships at one or other of the island
ports, and contracted the disease either by
mingling marrying among the kanakas.
There are also three Germans and five En-
glishmen. also sailors, who contracted the
disease in the same way. The white lepers
are said to give more trouble through con-
stantly complaining than all the 1900 Ka-
naka, Japanese and Chinese lepers put to-
gether. The white leper it seems, is not
able to accept the burden laid upon him
with the same degree of fortitude exhibited
by the native. The only cases of suicide
since the colony was established have been
those Of white men,"