Sioux County pioneer. (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.) 1914-1929, 1915-01-01

It to the meteorological test. A man
without any visible symptoms may be
full of the leprosy bacilli."
"Then you or l, for all we know"
suggested, may be full Of it now"
Kersdale shrugged his shoulders
and laughed.
who can say? It takes seven years
for 1t to incubate. II you have any
doubts go and see Doctor Hervey.
He'll Just snip out a piece of your
skin and let you know in jiffy."
Later on he introduced me to Doctor
Hervey, who loaded me down with
board Of health reports and pamphlets
on the subject, and took me out to
Kalihi, the Honolulu receiving station,
where suspects were examined and
confirmed lepers were held for de-
portatfon to Molokai. These deporta-
tions occurred about once a month,
when, the last good-bys said, the
lepers were marched on board the lit
tie steamer, the Noeau, and carried
down to the settlement.
One afternoon, writing letters at the
club, Jack Kersdale dropped in on me.
Just the man l want to see," was
his greeting "I'll show you the saddest
aspect of the whole situation-the
lepers wailing as they depart for
Molokai. The Noeau will be taking
them on board in few minutes. But
let me warn you not to let your feel
ings be narrowed. Real as their grief
is, they'd vail whole sight harder a
year hence if the board of health tried
to take them from Molokai. We've
just time for whisky and soda. I've
a carriage outside. 1t won't take up
five minutes to get down to the wharf"
To the wharf we drove. Some forty
sad wretches, amid their mats, blank
cts and luggage of various sorts, were
squatting on the stringer piece. The
Noeau had just arrived, and was max
ing fast to lighter that lay between
her and the wharf. A Mr.. McVeigh,
the superintendent of the settlement,
was overseeing the embarkation, and
to him was introduced, also to Doc
tor Georges, one of the board OF health
physicians whom had already met at
Kalihi. The lepers were woebegone
lot. But here and there noticed fair
ly good-looking persons, with no ap-
parent signs of the fell disease upon
them. One, noticed, a little white
girl, not more than twelve, with blue
eyes and golden hair. One cheek,
however, showed the sign. On my re-
marking upon the sadness of her alien
situation among the brown.skinned
afflicted ones, Doctor Georges replied:
ooh, I don't know. It's happy day
in her life. She comes from Kauai
Her father is a brute. And now that
she has developed the disease, she is
going to join her mother at the settle
ment. Her mother was sent down
there three years ago-a very bad
case"
"You can't always tell from appear
ances," Mr.. McVeigh explained. THAT
man there, that big chap, who looks
the pink of condition with nothing the
matter with him, l happen to know
has mark on his foot and another on
his shoulder blade. Then there are
others-there, see that girls hand, the
one who is smoking the cigarette
See her twisted fingers. That's the
anesthetic form. 1t attacks the
nerves. You could cut her fingers of
with dull knife, or rub them off on 9
nutmeg crater and she would not ex
perience the slightest sensation"
eyes, but that fne-looking woman
there" I persisted; surely, there
can't be anything the matter with her
She is too glorious and gorgeous al
together"
"a sad case," Mr.. Mcveigh an
swered over his shoulder, already