HORRIBLE LEPER.

NZ Truth, Issue 63, 1 September 1906, Page 8

HORRIBLE LEPER.

.. BY ALL- MEANS -CHERISH -THE-CHOW!!

Santa Ana (Cal.) 'Burns its-Chinatown -Blot

©n -Discovering that One of its Inhabitants is a Putrid- Leper.

Are there any such Hiddeii Away m Wellington?

r '>.Qien sahe ?~ If not their Wellington is extremely-lucky, for it bas been the experience of all who keep an eye on such things that, every Chinese quarter sooner or later developes its leper and usually conceals his presence and condition till he is too far gone to be -useful and becomes a- charge on the camp ; then the others make a great show of virtue m informing thes authorities and having him removed and thenceforward supported by the "dam fool white devils."

The' following account of the dis-t co^ery m the town of Santa A.na, . Lower California, of a particularly revolting leper and the subsequentburning off the earth of ' the vile* shacks the Chinese lived m, and which were owned by a white woman who must be still more vile to. live on the rents of the kennels, is taken from the "Los Angeles Times" of. a recent date. It -may be mentioned * that evcrv little town on the Californian rivers, such as the Sacrpm-en-to. Feather, American, San Joaquin and others, is cursed and polluted by a Chinese. quarter that is quite as bad as that described so luridly m the "Times" article. At a sweetly pretty town called Courtland, on the Sacramento River, the present writer has a vivid recollection . of the

UNSPEAKABLE CHINA-TOWN where a series of burrows and very narrow passages were all that was not built on— in tin, river, .driftwood and* hessian— and where, at the back of the levee and close to the road that led out to the fruit ranches, and m fact, was the main road to all who did not use the river, the Chows had a huge cess-pool into which all their filth, was discharged and. where it lay festering undisturbed. One day a iarge ; pig, scalded and scraped, hung on a beam over this horrible hole, and there they had

DISEMBOWELLED IT, = the great mass of guts having been permitted to fall into the pit beneath, where, even m winter as it was, millions of flies feasted and later bore infection abroad. That this nest-hole was potent was proved a week or two later, when a rich fruit rancher, who lived' a mile or so up the road, and had to pass it every day., and who at the time was being- run "for the State Congress and was sure of election, went down and out under a virulent attack of • typhoid. By all means ■ cherish the Chow, he's such a desirable citizen !

And now to proceed with the. story -of Santa Ana's loathsome, leper, as told 'by the "Times" aforementioned :- ■■■'.-■

In comihoiji humanity, the hideous leper on whose account the Chinese quarter of Santa, Ana was burned to the ground, ought .to-be -painlessly killed. He is dying. a death of unimaginable horror. :

Educated Chinese of •'Los. 'Angeles expressed the opinion yesterday that he ought' to be put out of his misery. The furore over the burning of the Santa Ana Chinese quarter has died away. The Chinese Minister is not coming ,• to Los Angeles 'to investigate.

Meanwhile the people of -the Orange county, city 'do not know what to do with the "leper. They are about to' make a request/ of Los Angeles county •to keep him -at the County Hospital' and be paid- for his- board.

This deserted, forlorn, miserable wretch was visited yesterday by '.'Times" men. He is the most horrible spectacle, imagination could-con-jure up. Beyondrthe -charred- ruins of the., shacks that once were ' Chinatown is ' a small white tent. Across the front of it is»a> menacing.' sign : "Leprosy • keep out."

The health officer, Dr. Clark, who acted as guide for the expedition, thrust' aside the tent flap, disclosing a' bare, forlorn interior. In the middle, stood a cracker boy. A tiny cup of some sort.; of black-hued medicine rested upon it.

In the soiled ,-cof'bed' lay a. mufflediform whose outline- could- hardly be 'made out?.

HIDEQUS~SPGCTA*CLE. '"•'Dr.' Clark called 1 very, low, andJy a. hideous thing happened. A frightful' long claw was thrust out from theblankets, the skinny hand of it was splotched- with ghastly white spots. Then, a putrid wreck of*-a man raised himseff to a sitting position and .whimpered.

The rest of " this couldi not- be printed.

No doctor could be :found. who wilt wash -and dress his /dreadful sores. ; Medicine is poked into his tent and he applies it as it occurs. to him. He complained yesterday because it was all gone.

Even the Chinamen-' who lived, with him are afraid to go near him. He has been left to die as best he may.

Their miserable homes destroyed m the -five, the other Chinamen are huddled together m a big. storeroom' that formerly served as a.> Salvation' Army barracks. It is • the c£est home they ever had. The shacks m which they lived- were indescribably vile.

There are only nine of the Chinamen. Yesterday they were all taking a Sunday off and smoking yen shee.

It was a rjueer and picturesque scene. ■ Their belongings were gathered m. an indiscriminate heap m the middle of the floor— trunks, crates of chickens, cigar boxes, red prayer papers m bundles. '

Around the edges of the room were husky Chinamen m their stocking feet and soiled comforters of a biiious red design, lying around pulling at thwir. pipt'S.

Through tlie room floated a faint, drowsy odor of burining sandal wood. Half awake, slipping away into sweet dreams, the Chinks were leaning over little glass lamps, incessantly rolling the lit. Me black spills on needles and dropping them into the guttering, sputtering pipes.

"THE WAGES OF SIN." A big Chiforc m overalls, from a vegetable farm over Orange way, had

dropped- in, and he"- ancT -Yield-^Sing£ were sharing a lamp. Over tho. bed'( flamed a big Salvation Army sign : "The wages of sin is. death." Yesterday the .quarantine was lifted^ from them. Some of them may have contracted leprosy ; but it takes many years for the disease to '"■ de.velop ;" they can't be held there for seven years to find out. They are • now free to come and co.

.For. days i after the fire, these -China-: men lived m mortal terror lest they were to be driven out of the country. They have been promised restitution^ of the property lost and they have no further kicks. The one to whom the , city now looks for trouble is the white woman who owned the shacks.

The: fire itself was as picturesque*! an event as could he imagined. ■'■'•■

The burning of the Chinese; quarter; has been variously represented as the firing- of- one small shack 'and the wholesale conflagration ni a -rich Oriental town . ■ ; .-

HOW IT HAPPENED. , , The facts as investigated yesterday by ~t 'Times" reporters are these:'

Santa Ana's Chinatown consisted of a ramshackle collection of seven shacks huddled m a mass. One of the shacks was a small, merchandise store, belonging to Yick Sing ; the others were little homes of vegetable peddlers. The whole was a mass of indescribable filth.

•The buildings belonged to a Mrs Sherer, a sp-iritual/ist, who says the spirit of her dead husband objected to her makiflf changes. Her hovels were located on one of the. best corners m Santa Ana, directly m the rear of the City Hall. In one of the -filthiest lived Wong Won Ye, a coolie who had been working m the peatland for years. v The other Chinese knew for some months he was sick, but did not realize the nature of the disease.

When it was- discovered by an American doctor, an excited meeting of the. City Trustees was held- and it was determined to burn the whole quarter.

The Chinese were <tiven notice', to take out their clothes and , certain other personal effects which were considered to be safe. All the sick 'man's goods and all the vegetables with which most, of the stores were filled, were doomed. ,

Before the fire, an officer was sent to the scene to kill all the live things' that could be' found. Half a day he was popping at cats and dogs. Eigh-, teen pussies went to their various' nine lives' limits. Three dogs were shot.

: Then the fire. "department was called out and the. shacks were touched off.,

. Other temporary quarters will he found ,for the Chinese. Eventually another Chinatown will be built along firm and sanitary lines.