Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-03
chap. a mixer in social affairs. and wen

chap. mixer in social affairs. and wen
liked by everybody.
zone day one of the expert leprologists
attached to the Hawaiian board OF health
met the young fellow one OF the Hon.
olulu streets. and he noticed something pc
culiar about the young mans face. on
some sort OF pretext he got the teleg-
rapher to accompany him to his Office and
to submit to examination.
THE specialist found that the telegrapher
was well advanced In leprosy. He was COM
PEELED, OF course, to tel the young man
at once. The telegrapher stood aghast at
the information, and for an hour after
being told OF II he was so paralyZed with
fear and dread that he could not get
his clothing on. In Hawaii leprosy means
but one thing-Molokai. The telegrapher
knew this. OF course. He had visited the
leper colony at Molokai himself. He knew
well that no leper ever got away from Mo-
loka
He contrived to dress himself when the
first horrible shock of the news had worn
OF. Then he went out to his station at
Diamond Head. wrote a number OF letters
to his folks up In the states. arranged his
afairs. and put bullet in his head.
one OF the most noted lawyers OF Hon
oluiu did the same thing when informed
that he was leper. He was a middle
aged man and very wealthy. with large
family, including several beautiful daugh-
tiers. He had been feeling bad for some
time. and called In his physician. The
physician knew all about leprosy-as much
as anybody ever finds out about 1t, that
is to say-and he instantly perceived that
the lawyer was In bad way with the dis
ease. The lawyer shot himself within
less than an hour after being told. This
lawyer had no doubt got the disease from
minging too closely with the kanakas in
remote corners of the islands. He was a
great student of Kanaka customs and
traditions, and In the pursuit Of these in
vestigations he would go Off on trips and
live with the Kanakas for spells so as
to CLEAN first-hand Information from the
old men OF the race.
How Leprosy Was Spread
Now the Kanakas in the out-of- the way
corners OF the islands still cling to the
habit of eating their poi out of a general
pot. The poi. a boiled mixture of the taro
plant is set down in the big pot In the
| middle of the hut, and all hands OF the
| family sit around the pot and dip into the
| poi mess with their fingers wrapping the
| corn-starchy looking stun around their first
and second digits and thus inserting IL
INTO their mouths That's the way good
deal OF the leprosy used to be spread in
| the Hawaiian Islands. II there happened
| to be leper In the group around the poi
| pot he'd of course infect the taro food with
! his fingers so that all hands eating out
| OF the same skillet would be In danger
| The Hawaiian board of health struck at
the general, all-hands poi pot as one OF
their first moves toward the extirpation
| OF leprosy from the islands, and the Kama
| kas were prohibited. under severe penal
! of the same basin. The move did lot of
| good too. The lawyer who shot himself
had eaten poi, beyond question, in some
| grass hut In which there was a leper and
that was how he got the disease.
Il know of one case of a man being
cured of leprosy. Almost everybody in
Honolulu interested in the subject knows
about this case, too. The man was a doc
tor serving with the Hawaiian board of
health, and in that capacity he had a
good deal to do with the lepers constantly
being sent along to the Island of Molokai.
After some years Of this work he him.
self became aware that he had contracted
leprosy. He found this out when the dis
ease was at Its very earliest stages, when
the barest symptoms were apparent. He
did not tell everybody in Honolulu that he
was a leper but he informed some of the
head men of the board of health that he
| was a victim. He wanted to go to Japan to
seek out cure he had heard of. The rumor
had reached him of an aged japanese ply
sician In one of the towns far in the in
! terror of Nippon. who had succeeded by
means of sulphur baths and other treat
ment, in curing certain lepers who had
| reached him in time. The doctors friends
told him to go to Japan, although the law
| required that even those in the earliest
| stages of the disease should be sent forth
with to Molokai. The doctor went to ia
| pan, bought out the aged Japanese doctor
| and remained away from Honolulu for
| was completely cured This is a perfectly
authentic case. a matter of common
knowledge among persons I'm Honolulu who
know all of the circumstances.
On the Island of Molokai.
The lepers on the Island of Molokai-
there were about 1900 of them the last
| time l was there-dont have such a bad
| time of it. They exceedingly well cared
| for, tie Hawaiian government providing
! everything for their comfort. They enjoy
all sorts of diversions. and | saw a game
Of base ball between two mines composed
of young lepers of Molokai. 1t wasn't any
such a bad game of ball, either. A chun
of mine in the naval service who has just
come UP from the Hawaiian Islands tells
me that the Molokai leperS are having a
| bully time just now. They're enjoying a
| political campaign. The Island Of Molokat
| Is regulated entirely by the board Of health,
except that the lepers allowed to elect
About one-half the male lepers of Molokai
are candidates for the office o. deputy
sheriff this year. my service chum tells me.
and they're having a tremendous time OF
1t hustling for votes, spellbinding. pulling
wires and And you've got to hear
a kanaka Grating in his own language to
know what sure-enough spelbindfng is.
They're explosive in oratory their
volcanoes in action, and during the
agitation among the Kanakas following the
last revolution down in Honolulu / saw sew
eral of the Kanaka orators wax so tre-
mendously eloquent that they tainted where
they stood and had to be logged off the
platform. CLARENCE L. CULLEN"
passinp of the Deserts