Waterbury Democrat., 1901-03-26
CRAZY TIMES IN PORTO RICO.
Don MatienZo Has the Fever in
 It's Worst Form.

tion by Suddenly Arising and Shout
 ino-She Says She Is in Communi-
 cation With St Joseph-Thousands
 Flock to Hear Her-Yhe Religious
 Fever Is Spreading and Other Me
 diums With Power From Saints Are
 Spreading the Light.
 San Juan, Porto Rico, March l9.- "Seances'' are the thing" in the small towns of Porto Rico these days. Senor Don Matienzo Cintron, a member or the executive council of Porto Rico IS at the head of the movement. which is dangerously contagious. MT Ma tienzo is travelling about the country holding seances, while the minutes of the executive council record him ''ab- sent from the weekly sessions. Last night he was at San German. and a telegram to a local paper says that the whole town was "indescribably enthu- Siastic' hours before the seance was given.
 The other day at Quebradillas, small town in the west of the island. a young lady arose in the congregation while high mass was bGing celebrated, and eXclaimed: "The angel Gabriel is here" The congregation was immedi- ateIy panic-stricken. Men shouted, while women tainted. the priest final ly quieted the people. and. stepping from the pulpit. spoke to the girl tell ing her that she should go to the church entrance if she wished to speak.
 Standing in the doorway. she spoke for several minutes in such an impress Sive manner that her audience was spell-bound. She spoke in clear, loud voice that could be heard by all in the vicinity, and POGO people gathered to hear her. The following day she spoke again. and since has been going about the village preaching and hear ing confessions. She says that St JO- seph communicates with her through 12-year-old child. and that all her utterances are inspired from heaven. She has large following.
 Last week party of three young men and two girls addressed a large gathering at Camuy. They claim to be the earthly mediums of five saints and that they have been sent to preach to the people. These enthusiasts have announced that they will join the Que bradillas girl on Saturday next. A letter received from there this morn ing reports that the town is already filling up with visitors from the sur rounding country.
 Similar proceedings are common in a dozen other small towns. No at tempt has been made to introduce spir- itualism in the cities except at Maya guez. The entire movement has sprung wit hn ct he it now bids fair to prevail throughout the island. The official position of Senor Matienzo gives him considerable influence among the illiterate country people, and he has no difficulty in se- curing adherents. One or two circu- lar-like weekly publications have sprung up within the past month in defense of the spiritualists. It is gen erally conceded that Mir Matienzo is mentally unbalanced on this subject.
 Smallpox to some extent is prevalent in Porto Rico. Ponce. the city which rejoices in the reputation of being the city with the highest death rate. has the greatest number of cases and it is there that the disease first started. It could have been nipped in the bud had proper action been taken in the beginning But the Ponce physicians reported the first cases as chicken poX. and no attempt was made at quarantining. Within a few weeks Ponce had sixty smallpox cases on it's hands, with no hospital in which they could be quarantined. At the same time the disease which is officially diagnosed as varialoid. mild form of smallpox, broke out in dozen other forms. The disease is so light that but few deaths have occurred The insular government, as soon as the situation showed signs of becoming alarming. set out to put it down. The late legislative assembly killed a bill providing for a board of health ap- propriation. so that the island board is practically without funds for it's purposes. The governor appropriated a small amount from an emergency fund and of the superior board of health was sent to Ponce. Arriving there he found no hospital accommoda- tions. an empty municipal treasury, the streets reelling in dirt and filth, and disinclination on the part of the people to take any action. He called a public meeting and addressed those who attended. He said that if the disease was not Quarantined an cpl uel1lc WOuuu HSSuTeNlV result, Ill which case the island would be quar- antined by the world. Such an argu- ment appealed to the pockets of the practical business men, and $500 was raised at once. With this sum. it was proposed to accommodate about 100 cases. A rough board building with a matched roof was the one in the health officers mind. The building was to be completed in a week. Three weeks later the city of Ponce called on the superior board of health for funds as .$23O was needed to put an iron roof on the building? The build ing is not yet completed. According to the understanding with the board. the latter was to supply the hospital with medicines and medical attend ance. A bill for $7OO for beds, fit tings and apparatus was sent in by the city to the board. Later this was cut down to less than $500. A Ponce charitable society offered to duplicate the last for considerably less. and the work bax hooo 1ot ,nI1f f, a San 1r1or