Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1906-09-26


afflicted with that loathsome disease,
leprosy! But keenest Of all anguish of
mind, perhaps, is that of a modern
Croesus when he comes to realize that
all his wealth cannot check the slow
approach of death in its most hideous
form, once this frightful malady has
seized upon him. Such Is the position
in which Don Jose NJ. Bringas, one Of
MeXico's wealthiest men, has been for
fifteen years. Think how he must
suffer He is a pariah of the world,
barred from actual contact with civil
cation; miserable creature who, for
the very love he bears them, sternly
holds aloof from wife and daughters to
save them from infection. What a life
Loving and beloved in return, yet de
MED the privilege Of any manifestation
Of this mutual affection except by dis
tant look or gesture or words alone.
No wonder the poor man cries out in
his great anguish Give million dollars
to the person who will save my life y
How many know what it means to
~ 4
day, skin, flesh and bones decay, dry
up, drop off, says a writer in The
World. 1t means that the whole body
is a mass Of corruption, a living sore.
It means that first the toes and fingers
20, one joint after the other. Then
hands and feet fall off. The nose
sloughs away; ears, eyelids, lips.
Whole limbs shriveI up and drop off.
And at last, when life is a torture,
when no friend dare approach for fear
of getting the scourge, you die, friend
less and alone And your body is burn
ed, not buried.
Civilization will not tolerate the le-
per. A Ieper cannot go or even dwell
where other men go and where other
me- dwell Leprosy is practically I'M
known in the United States. But In
China, in Japan, in Hawaii and in
many places in the Old World there are
leper colonies. There those whose doom
Is sealed go to live, and when their turn
comes-tO die.
But Don Jose does not want to die;
he begs to live. He will give anything,
everything-to live! He has gold be-
yond the dream Of avarice; great es-
tates that stretch across the beautiful
hills and wales of old Mexico; fine So
cial position, a charming wife and two
beautiful daughters, whom he adores.
He will give all of these save only his
family-for relief. There is a $5,00O,-
900 fee waiting for the physician who
can save him.
Imagine the life poor Don Jose has
had to live for fifteen years A pris-
Oner on his estate, confined as it were
to his mansion itself; denied the the
aters, the boulevards, the cafes, even
the trains and steamboats,, he lives more
secluded from the world than any
monk ever was. He cannot even meet
his fellow men, as monk may meet his
fellow monks.
He cannot. kiss his daughters; he
must not even touch his wife's hand.
He must wear rubber gloves always,
for fear of communicating one Of his
family. He cannot have his clothes
washed, for one one will wash them.
Every time he changes his discarded
linen 1t Is burned. Fresh, new gar
ments are donned.
How Don Jose contracted the dis
ease Is a mystery. He himself says
that to his own knowledge he has never
been in the presence of a leper. But he
has employed many Cinnamon on his
mines and farms, and perhaps one OF
them, all unknown to him, had the
dread disease There is no exclusion
law against the Chinese in Mexico, and
ultil recently the inspection of the s.r
irving coolies has been all too lex. NJ.
nerous lepers have been found among
estates, and at Guadalajera there is a
colony of them.
But be that as 1t may, some fifteen
years ago Don Jose one day found that
his skin itched somewhat. There was
peculiar white spot, ever so small
that he had never noticed before. Some
how, it had no sensation. He spoke t.
his physician, who looked very grave
when he saw that peculiar spot OF
white He prescribed nothing, but ask
ed his patient to see him again in g
fortnight BY that time the white spot
had grown larger and there was an
other. He had to break the truth to the
millionaire.
Don Jose being an educated man who
had travelled far, knew what that
meant, He knew he was doomed.
Unless-why could not a rich MAJ
bafle even the Reaper himself? Why
could not he northumberland, be the
first to find some cure for the scourgt
Of the centuries?