The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-01-04

! committed certain Favages, showed no
| further signs of activity, were brought
back to Honolulu for denomination.
They were loath to come, and on being
! asked whether or not they wanted to
| go free if found clean of 1eprosy, one
and all answered, Back to Molokai. -
In the old days, before the discovery
of the leprosy bacillus, a small number
of men and women, suffering from
various and totally different diseases,
were adjudged lepers and sent to Molo-
kai. Years afterward they suffered
great CONSERVATION when the bacteriol-
ogist declared that they were not af-
| fiieted with leprosy, and never had
been. They fought against being sent
away from Molokai, and in one way or
another, as helpers and nurses, they got
! jobs from the Board of Health and re-
manned. The present jailer is one of
these men. Declared to be a non-leper,
he accepted, on salary, the charge of
| the Jail, in order to escape being sent
| away.
AT the present moment. in Homo
lulu, is a bootblack. He is an Amer
lean negro Mr.. Mcveigh told me
about him. Long ago. before the bec-
THEOLOGICAL tests, he was sent to Mo-
lokai as a leper. AS a ward of the
state he developed a superlative de-
gree of independence and fomented
much petty mischief. And then one
day, after having been for years
perennial source of minor annoyances,
the meteorological test was applied
and he was declared a non-leper.
''Ah, hal" chortled Mr.. Mcyeigh.
Now I've got you. Out you go on
the next steamer, and good riddance!'
But the negro didn't want to go. I'm
mediately he married an old woman
in the last stages of leprosy, and be-
gan petitioning the Board of Health
for permission to remain and nurse
his sick wife. There was no one, he
said pathetically, who could take care
of his poor wife as well as he could.
But they saw through his game, and
he was deported on the steamer and
given the freedom of the world. But
he preferred Molokai. Landing on the
leeward side of Molokai, he sneaked
down the pail one night and took up
his abode in the Settlement. He was
apprehended, tried, and convicted of
trespass, sentenced to pay a small fine,
and again departed on the steamer,
with the warning that If he trespassed
again he would be fined one hundred
dollars and be sent TO prison in Ho-
nolulu. And now, when Mr.. McVeigh
comes up to Honolulu, the bootblack
shines his shoes for him, and says:
Say, boss, lost a good home down
there. Yes. sir. lost good home"
Then his voice sinks to a confidential
whisper as he says, Say. boss. can't
GOV A~
so as / can go back?'
AS regards the fear OF leprosy It
self, nowhere in the Settlement among
iepers or non-lepers did / see any sign
of il. The chief horror Of ieprosy OBJ
tains in the minds OF those who have
never seen a leper and who do not
know anything about the disease At
the hotel at Waikiki a lady expressed
amaZement at my having
the hardihood to pay visit to the
Settlement. On talking with her
learned that she had been born in
Honolulu. had lived there all her life,
and had never laid eyes on leper.
Leprosy is terrible. there is no get
ting away from that. but from what
little I know of the disease and its
degree OF contagiousuess. / would by
far prefer 70 spend the rest of my
days in Molokai than in any tubercu-
losis sanatorium. In every city and
county hospital for poor people in the
United States. or in similar institu-
tons in other countries. sights as ter
rible as those in Molokai can be wit
messed, and the sum total OF these
sights is vastly more terrible. For
that matter if it were given me TO
choose between being compelled 10 live
IN MeIokai for the rest Of my life, or
IN the East End of London, the East
Side of New York. or the Stock Yards
Of Chicago. Z would select MoIokai
without debate.
In Nrolokai the people are happy. I
shall never forget the celebration Of
he Fourth of July witnessed there.
At six O'Clock in the morning the ''hor-
'ibIes" were out. dressed fantastica!-
y, astride horses, mules and donkeys
their own property. and cutting cap
ers all over the Settlement. Two brass
lands were out as well. Then there
we're the pau riders, thirty or forty