The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-06-24
Special to: The Journal.

Special to The Journal. IS r
Grafton, N. D., June "a Fer many
years Walsh county has not been! free
from the care of one or more sufferers
from the loathsome, inc urable disease
thousands of dollars added. to- its sex-
pense account, but has carried the bur-
den sin charitable, manner, giving to
the afflicted ones as pleasant a life
as it possibly could and act consistently
to the taxpayers.
John, Ostland, a leper, about 49,, Of
ent5 a county charge. He lives in soi-
|$tarys confinement in a clean, comfort
able cottage on the corner of farm
in Adams township, in the western part
of the county. The owners Of the farm
provide him with food and the county
sees to it that he lacks none of the
necessities of lite and furnishes him
with clothing, reading matter, medical
attention, and does everything it can
to make his lot endurable.
Has but Little Pain.
A leper suffers little pain, an erup-
tion Of the skin generally being the
first premonition of the disease. This
eruption grows gradually worse, rotting
the tissues Of the body to, such an ex-
tent that members Of it drop, off. This
process goes on so gradually. and 50
deadly that when7a finger, for instance,
drops, it, occasions no pain to it's owner
! whatever, suggesting the way dry
| twig drops from a tree.
Generally speaking, leprosy is but a
long, slow. process. of dyinIgg--dying lit
orally by inches, one. might say. One
| a most pitiable existence for twelve
years, exiled from wife and children.
The leprosy nowadays known is not
contagious, neither is it hereditary.
The leprosy known in Bible days, when
those afflicted were allowed a certain
freedom among people, going about IN
iG ng guny g1M3S 4 un eHGns is be-
lieved to have existed in a different
form, and then, again, as with many
diseases, climatic conditions have a
great effect on contagion, and research
shows that in temperate climate, such
as the United States possesses, leprosy
is not contagious.
A North Dakota physician who has
had several cases of leprosy says:
am more afraid Of consumption than I
am of leprosy. [ have sat and visited
an hour or more with my patients with
out the slightest fear of contagion. The
/. feelings of the person afflicted are con-
sidered and as it is most unsightly
disease the patient must pass his days
in exile T..
s,sDo you consider the disease in
1 curable?'' he was asked.
/ eyes, he answered, 81 do. There
4 is hospital in New Orleans that
}Eclaims to he efecting some marvellous
cures. It may be doing 50, just as
orally speaking, the disease is an in
durable one.'
Brought to This Country.
At one time there were So many
lepers in the United States thatSlt vas
proposed to Build a leper hospital, sbut
the government would not consent be-
cause leprosy is not an American dis
ease. There is not one case knoWn Of
American origin. ysI It has been brought
to this country by foreigners, mostly
from northern European countries,
where the inhabitants live to q great
| extent on fish. Some contend that 1T IS a
disease. that afflicts fish. and some
i hold that it is.contracted by the eating
of spoilt fish or fish improperly pre-
pared. Atsany rate, it is disease pc
euliar to afsh-e eating people.
sLeprosy may be in existence. in a
person s body for many years before it
asserts itself, so it can readily be seen
that one afflicted with it ma may have no
trouble immigrating to this country
And when the disease does assert itself
what then? Will railroad and steam
ship companies transport these poor
unfortunates back to their mother
country? No, not unless they can DC
kept in ignorance of the person s NAL
ady. t> ;.
Leprosy is dying out. # statistics
do show that divorced is on the increase
that grave questions of race suicide
confront u.s.; here is something: to be
I'll " N
portion to the population are in ex
| istence. The one in Walsh county is
,.sbelieved to be the only one in North
1; Dakota. Ten years ago three lepe1
4 Hospitals in Norway housed l,5oo lep'
ieyed the disease has about spent
itself.
JAMESTOWN, N. D.--Rev. Willard Fuller
formerly Of the Baptist church of this city
has accepted call to the Baptist church IL
Billings, Mont. Is 8. ~ @