Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1912-08-16

Old man Mckee, the aged pro-
spector named In the following ar
ticle, passed away at o'clock this.
Friday, morning, at the County
Home.
Lying on bed of indescribable
filth, moaning helplessly as his body
is racked with pain, while creeping,
crawling maggots multiply and thrive
beneath his bed-sore frame, old j. r.
Mckee, nearly four score years of
age, awaits the final summons at the
County Home" mile north OF the
proud city of Grants Pass.
Mckee is an old prospector true
to the type, who has followed the
will o the wisp through the beautl-
ful hills of the Rogue valley till time
has closed its portals, and mans span
of life has reached its end. Always
hopeful, always with abundance, and
the comfort and the JOY and the
peace that abundance is supposed to
mean, just beyond his grasp, this
man, a human being with a soul TO
return to its maker, has lived his
life to die at last an object of char
ity.
Mckee has been an inmate of the
County Home for the past three or
four years. Six weeks ago he weak
ened till he was confined to his bed,
and gradually the throb of life has
been growing less. Some word of his
condition came to the public, and II
was to learn the truth or the falsity
of this report that the Courier sent
its representative to the Home" in
company with DR.. Cora Lemon, the
county physician, last Tuesday Judge
Jewell, of the county court. was also
of the party.
Arriving at the Home. Dr.. Lem
on led at once to the room occupied
by Mckee The old man, too far de-
parted from life to comprehend, gasp
ed only as the doctor rolled him over
on his side and remarked to the
Judge, the newspaper man and to
Superintendent Williamson, who
were in the sick room, See them;
do you see them crawl" Later she
took some of the crawling things into
a bottle, and they are now at her Of
fee preserved in alcohol.
Those crawling things were mag
gots.
McKee's bed was saturated
through mattrass, and the one blank
ct and the oil cloth that covered IT,
with corruption.
Or. Lemon later, in the presence Of
the visitors, asked Superintendent
/ Williamson why the patient was not
given frequent baths, as she had in
structed The superintendent re-
piled that he was unable to take the
heavy form OF the old prospector
from the bed to clean him. DR.. Lem
on then told Of the modern method
Of handling a patient within the bed
and OF how he could be bathed with
little effort, whereupon the superin-
tendent reminded her that he had
been nurse before she had ever
thought of nursing.
The doctor stated to the newspa-
perman that she had been instructed
by Judge Jewell on various occasions
to see that sanitary conditions pre-
vailed at the Home, and that It was
in furtherance OF these instructions
that she had attempted TO secure pro-
per treatment for her patients. That
the Judge had at all times insisted
that the unfortunate charges upon a
public charity must be accorded the
best possible treatment. and that ii
was that he could see and remedy
what she considered fragrant abuses
that she had requested that he ac.
company her 10 the home Tuesday
She said 81 have repeatedly spoken
10 the superintendent OF these con
diuons. and his answer has been