East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-05-23
LIFE AMONG THE LEPERs OF MOLOM|

Father Damien's companion and
last comforter is in town, says the
New York Herald. He is the Rev. L.
l.. Conrardy, missionary priest and
doctor of medicine, the one who serv-
ed with Father Damien among the
lepers of Molokai, sat by him in his
last illness, gave him the priestly Of
fices at his lonely death and buried
him under the tree which had been
for more than three months Father
Damien's only shelter.
Father Conrardy, on his way from
Belgium to the far east, stopped here
in the interest, of the new leper mis-
sion to be started in Canton China, a
city with 10000 helpless, unhelped,
slowly rotting victims of the most
miserable of diseases.
You are going yourself among
these people again." he was asked.
Myself, yes;" he replied. II have
the authority of my bishop, recon-
mendations to assistance from the
Protestant missionaries and my ex-
perience with Father Damien"
But, If you get the disease?"
swered Gas if he were simply saying,
"Oh, If catch cold"), II get it, that's
all. We know nothing about the orr
gin of leprosy; we know little about
how 1t is communicated. l did not
get infected in Molokas"
Father Conrardy has long white
beard, clear brown eyes, and wears
silver bowed spectacles. His skin is
| clear and taut, as II from careful car
bolic cleansings.
No Fear In MOlolxai.
II had no fear in Molokai and was
there eight years; one year with
Father Damien and seven years af-
ter. The lepers indeed, were afraid
of me, feared to touch me; but / lived
with them, nursed them and nothing
happened"
He was born in Oregon of Belgian
parents, and he served with General
.. o. Howard in his Indian fights
served, that is, as a peacemaker and
arbitrator, passing from reds to whites
with the trust of both, and finally ar
ranging the terms with the Malheur
Indians. known by ranchers as the
sheep eaters"
Il used to be strong" he said. Half
my body has left me in Molokai
There l had Asiatic cholera, and of
my 1SO pounds it took from me 80
pounds"
His talk is straight, direct, with
idioms which come from long use of
a foreign language.
II had heard of Father Damien. /
wrote to him to ask If l could help
and he replied. l have his letter.
Here, L cry to you,' it says (almost
the last letter he ever wrote to any
body, L cry to you from the bottom
OF my heart to come to my assistance
So 1 went. That was in 1887. Father
Damien had been touched with the
disease. There were sores on his
fingers.
"If l lose my hands, he said,
what can l do? shall have no use.
1 shall not be able to celebrate the
mass-I shall not be able to adminis-
ter the sacraments.' He was sad
about that-about the mass-and his
fingers were going
Worse I'm Canton.
"Out in Canton" Father Conrardy
said, the condition of lepers is SO
times worse than in Molokai. There
are 10000 of them in the province of
Canton-10,000 in the city. l want to
help 800 of them. Three hundred of
them have a preference for me-" he
said quantity, ''and 1t would be, oh,
very easy to help them greatly. They
are not isolated now. They are not
taken care of. They are avoided and
left alone-no one to feed them when
they no longer have the capacity to
feed themselves. A jug of waterAnd
some rice is placed near them, which
they must get as best they can as they
lie on their backs.
1--WE can feed them, and can teach