The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1900-11-30
Geo. Pratt Declared a
Leper by Doctors.
IS NOW IN QUARAN TINE
Attempt Of San Francisco to Force
Its Diseased on Hawaii
Blocked.

THE man who was sent by the Sar
Francisco Board of Health to Ha'
wall is a leper. George Pratt who
came here on the China and who
declared himself a cured leper, was eX-
amined by the official examiners of the
Board of Health of Hawaii and was
declared q leper. He is not cured.
He is still leper The marks of the
disease are on his body, every sign
pointing to his condition, and accord
ing to his own confession, the most
striking and fearful stigmata of the
disease show themselves now and
again upon him.
Pratt was taken yesterday from the
kalihi receiving station to Quarantine
Island. He was turned over as agreed
by the Board of Health of Hawaii to
the Federal quarantine authorities. He
will be held here until the return of the
China from the Orient when, If he is
willing, he will be sent back to San
Francisco. If he refuses to return Of
his own volitiOn he will either be fore
IDLY deported or n reply will be awaited
TO communications sent to the SeCre-
tary of the Treasury at Washington.
George Pratt, the leper, has proved
himself such a picturesque liar since
his arrival here that 1t is difficult to
know what to believe of his statements.
He tells one story to one man and an
other to the next. Though ignorant
and uneducated, he is cunning. When
he landed in Honolulu last Tuesday he
said first that he had come here to seek
admission to the Molokai Leper Set
dement, and there to devote his life to
the cure of leprosy by certain medi-
cines which he said he had with him.
Again he has said that he came to
cure the case of one West. who is It
Molokai; that he intended to give his
medicines to doctors here: that he had
been sent here by the Board of Health
of San Francisco that he had not been
sent by the Board of Health of San
Francisco: that he came from Louis
lana; that he came from San Francisco.
The man has told so many conflicting
stories that all those who have talked
with him here shave lost faith in his
utterances.
1t seems certain, however, that he
has been in San Francisco for about
two years previous to coming here and
that he was directed to come here by
the Board of Health of that city.
Whether he was sent here to make "a
test of the possibilities of the general
admission of Mainland lepers or
whether his was merely case of San
Francisco authorities seeking to rid
themselves of an Objectionable patient
has not been shown Concusively. The
Board of Health of Hawaii feels that
Pratt has been brought into this COun-
try through the omiSsion-innoccnt of
course-Of the Federal authorities and
the board Will look to the Federal au-
thorities to send back Pratt to the
state from whence he came.
DR., Carmichael feels as strongly dis
posed in this direction AS do the oifi-
Gals of Hawaii. He declares that he
will keep Pratt in seclusiOn until ne
returns him to San Francisco, and that
he will do everything possible to pre-
vent any further invasion of Hawaii
by lepers from the Mainland
The people of Hawaii are aroused in
this matter The business men and
the residents who are not in business
are determined that Hawaii shall not
be made the dumping ground for the
diseased of America. 1t is understood
that the Chamber of Commerce and
other mercantile bodies here will adopt
resolutions endorsing the Board of
Healths efforts and protesting against
the evident intentions of the States to-
ward Hawaii.