Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-03-31


Not long nro "a young italian woman
applied TO It hospital dispensary in u
certain Eastern city 10 be treated FOR
a peculiar skin disease IN eNaIniua-
ZION revealed the iact that u was l"p-
rosy. Wher"upou the citizens -! til"
n"ighhorhoOd where ~. young woman
lived shuddcrrd ANA reported tho mat
ter Z" the healtn authorities Now
the health authorities had no author
ity 10 act. there was the usual lack
OF provision for lcrers i'm the Stat"
budget f!ut the" had 20 Il" some
thing, so they hurricGiy erected cab
ia in an Isolated district ana rcuVv-
cd the young woman to u. Here sh"
WAS confined FOR several weeks untsl
her husband. also All italian. secured
her release through the courts ou the
strength Of his promise 10 tax" her
out Of the state ana never To return.
This vas all v..y well for that par
ticUlar State. but Il - som"tHn" of q
SHOCK to learn tha' such cases happen
frequently. that persons afflicted Win
icprosy are continually being shifted
around tho country because no stat"
feels any special responsibility for
them. IL this instance. or course. tho
young woman Was am Italian. aud the
stale probably argued tina, IL was UP
10 the Italian government to look ar
ter her. certainly not the stat" ia
which she happened 10 he {" transient.
Stii. IT illustrates IN. universal laN-
i,y OF law which permits a person go
afflicted TO dror completely out %
sight. with every chance Of The infec-
ton being carried Z" others
Obligation Has Bcen ignored.
As remedy To this situation, hill
has now h.eu Introduced into CON
grcss providing for IN" establishment
Of n national lcproaarium, where per
sons afflicted with lcprosy may be eli
cientlv treated and property isolated
from the rest OF the communists AZ
the prescut time there are only three
States which hay" any specific proN!-
sIons for lcpers. There arc state APP
preparations for prisons. for insane
asylutns. for sanitation and Tor pau
pers but the !epcis are in class by
themselves They are an ob!iGat ON
which everybody HAS chosen 20 ignore
and shift on to somebody else.
i.eprosy Is not rs contagious as some
other ascs-tubcrculos for IN
stance In Hawaii where the disease
was thoroughly Investigated at the
United States health station, II was
found tina, onl> ! peT cent ~ tho lta-
waiian natives were actually srsc"p-
tibIc to It. In other words, Of all tn"
persons thrown ms" direct contact
with lcpcrs, sometimes living in The
same houses with them. only Z per cent
mite is known us To how tn" Infection
IS carried. although II is thought that
the nasal sccrctIons have something
10 do with IL.
ALSO tho theory has boon advanced
that lcurosy Is due tn dict " was
brought out in the testimony before
the ilouse committee reporting on tho
bill for a national lcprusareim. thai in
Iceland IL Is supposed that the dis
ease is caused by the large anount OF
dccayed fish consumed. u seems that
in the Keeping process the fish some
times become tainted and this. TO-
gcthcr with the fac; that the natives
eat both the heads aud tails. is con
sidcred cause enough for l"proSN. the
die; theory for leproS! was ivcSt'-
gated by the same government comni:-
siou. which investigated p"llagra, how
ever. and il was not sustained.
The Johns hopkins University Hos
pital at Baltimore. for years TOOK care
Of a woman lcper who had come there
for treatment In tn" beginning her
case Was reported 10 the state autii"r-
tiles hut tho State OF MARYLAND Lad
never had any lcpcrs and didn't car:
10 have. SO the young woman con
tnucd To I've in the hospital. where
she was very useful for clinical par
poses to The student doctors
Gnac of John Early.
The case of the lcpcr. john Early, il
well known Early. who claimed 10
have contracted the disease Whilc
United States soldier in the Philippines,
WAS first apprchcndcd in l?oS IN the
salvation Army headquarters in Wash
Jngton The District Of Columbia ALEC
was prciudiccd against lcpcrs. and
had never considered the possibility OF
housing one. The health officer had
not the slightest idea as TO how lie
was going 10 dispose of Early, bat IL
Was obviously his duty I" see that he
was confined.
NJ il turned out. the FIRST night Early
spent on cot H. an ambulance, and
the next few days in q tent Then he
WAS removed TO a brick building owned
by the government, where ne was we'll
cared for. Como tim" later. he was rc..
leased In order thnt he might 20 to the
Skin and Cancer Hospital, in New York,
but only or condition that he prom
ised not to return. Nevertheless, the
next year he was back again. living ~
the same brick building. Once more
he was taken TO New York, and for a
long time nothing was hrar;! nf Kim
cXcep! an occasional new. Item, once
in California and once in the State OF
Washington which showed that 10 was
travelling about the country with ap-
parent freedom.
Then one day the district health Of
fcer was called on the telephone and
told that John Early was at one OF
Washngtons large hotels waiting 10
bc arrested. On arriving at the spcci-
fed room. the health officer found him