LATEST AMERICAN GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6996, 19 April 1884, Page 1 (Supplement)

LATEST AMERICAN GOSSIP.

[FBOM OtJB SPECIAL. COSBESPONDENT.j Sajt Fbakcisco, March 14. ' OUR HOSPITALS. I HAVE often discoursed on the disgraceful state of our prisons ; the Bhamefnl way in which women are thrown together for slight offences; good and bad all in a heap, without discrimination, and with no attempt at grading the lesser from the greater criminals. I have also told how the dead from the hospitals are buried by the cartload, and only when a " cartload" had been gathered at the contracting undertakers. Of these things I have spoken from time to time, glad of an opportunity of exposing the disgraceful manner in which- the sick and dead are treated, while bloodthirsty, and red-handed malefactors dwell in solid comfort in the county gaol, fed luxuriously, and treated like princes, if by any chance money is forthcoming from any source, to do, all these things. But as yet I have, not alluded to the state of the hospital or the horrora that go on within its walls. A couple of weeks ago a "strong, healthy man,"according to the doctors, died under the knife' under circumstances so peculiar that they have been well ventilated, though the operators are still at large, and, of course, nothing will ever come of it.

THE DEAD MAN had a cancer in his chest, and to remove this an operation was necessary. First, the right arm was amputated, and chloroform copiously adininsitered to the patient. After cutting at him for three hours, it was found the poor fellow had died unknown to the confraternity, who, in cutting him up, also gave a lesson to the students who gathered to witness the operation; no doubt enlarging upon the subject so lengthily that, in the pursuit of science, the poor man's life was allowed to slip out. Upon beiDg interviewed upon the subject, the doctors gave a refreshing exqosi of the state of affairs in the county hospital. They declared with one consent that the operating room was wholly unfit for the purpose, being cold and damp, never catching a ray of sunlight, and, moreover, it being a necessity to scrub it out several times a week, the result was it never got sufficiently dry, therefore was too cold to put a sick man in for operating upon —and yet observe they pnt him there. These learned men went on to state that the fault lay with the supervisors, who would not put in a fireplace, or even allow a £3 oil-stove, which article of furniture would do away with the difficulty. When asked why another more desirable room in the vast building could not be utilised, the head doctor said, "It would not be handy, since it would be inconvenient to Bend for the necessary instruments from room to room." There's humanity for you in a Christian city in the nineteenth century! These'paid cutters of men study their present convenience before the life of a man unfortunate enough to be compelled to seek hospital clemency. They also admitted that three times the patient was on the point of dying through the chloroform, when ammonia and other drugs were freely applied to resuscitate him; but the " strong, healthy man" succumbed at last, between the three hours' operation in a, damp room and over-much chloroform. The doctors also thought a post mortem examination " not necessary" to ascertain the real cause of death; so the papers now call for an " exhumation and post mortem enquiry," which I need hardly say will not be attended to. Of conse he was only a hospital patient; what does it matter ? A f6w days afterwards another patient died—a gentleman reduced by poverty to seek the horrible shelter of this terrible place for the', poor. He, too, died. When taken to the morgue in the shell into which the bodies are thrown, the man who opened it thus graphically describes the state y of the corpse :—" He looked as if he was thrown in any how, with his arms akimbo, and only a dirty undershirt on; and, so full of vermin that we had to cut the shirt off. with shears, and pick it up with tongs." Another enquiry led to the dootors saying that it was " impossible to keep patients free from vermin, as nothing would kill them but mercury, and that'would salivate the patient." What a smart man is this head physician, who does not know that carbolic acid, diluted with glycerine and water, will, in two applications, kill all the vermin and nits in the world. It appears that the sufferings of this poor sick creature from vermin are beyond description. So I hope you like the picture of how the indigent sick fare in the Golden City! The subject is not a pleasing one, but such - brutality should be aired all over the universal world in my opinion, and I make a point of exposing such .proceedings whenever I have a chance.

THE GREAT SHARON TRIAL is.now in fall force, after months of adjournment from day to day and week to week. The Court-room is almost aa much of a sensation in the day as the opera is at night, and the intereßt that is felt in the outcome is absorbing. So far the plaintiff, Sarah Althea Hill Sharon (?), has made out a very strong ease, and will, I believe, disembowel the old Senator of a good deal cf money. I will simply describe what I call the funny portion of the evidence. You must know that it is the custom of the women of this city to call in the aid of lovecharms and other nonsense when they wish to fascinate any old gentleman who has more loose cash than common sense, and the gentle Althea was in no way behind the times in her manipulation of ; the sorcerer's art. As told by her confidant and friend on the witness-stand, she visited all the old negroes, Spaniards, and other of the for-tuDe-telling confraternity she could find, and tKeir name is legion. One of.these dainty dames demanded a pair of soiled socks belonging to the senator, whioh, after " charming," Alias Althea wore bound round her limbs as a sure method of drawing towards her the aged, heart of the old gentleman. She also procured a soiled undershirt of the senator, which garment also ;nnderwent the charming process, after which Althea wore it for an indefinite period. Why the clothes should have been soiled I know not; I merely give the evidance as it was spoken in Court. The plaintiff also paid £5 for- a pinch of pepper and salt charmed, by a negress to act upon the susceptibilities of the aged lover. The case is peculiar, and varied enough to give a basis for a novel out of the common. Mr. Sharon is 62, a small, limp-looking creature, without anything bvit his millions to recommend him,.and it must have taken Miss Althea a considerable amount of consideration to put up with him at all; but in this city the women will do anything for a good settlement. Whether she will finally make good her case remains to be proved. So far it" looks like a good showing on her side. 1 should like to understand how any woman, decently raised, can stand up in a public court before thousands of men and have her name smirched'as is Sarah Althea's. Truly, there is no accounting for taste. I presume the. lady's feelings are not very intense or refined in any way. Still, I hope she will get some of Mr. Sharon's money; he deserves to be made pay, and heavily. THE CHINESE. Since the Restriction Bill came into effect we have had a rather hard time with "John," without whose help we cannot do, say what they will. Housekeepers feel the effects very much in many ways. "John" has grown independent, and has raised his prices and his impudence to a very high figure. The laundrymen ask about, double what they did for washing.. If .you object, you can leave it alone. The house servants also are quite on the high horse, and demand very high wages, which neoeasarily they get, as there are not white women sufficient to replace them—l mean, not willing to work, unless they have as muoh freedom as the mistress. A battle commenced this month between . * .

THE CIGAR-MAKERS and their Heathen'helpers. "John" undertook to boss the white bosses, and naturally got left in the cold. There were 3500 Chinamen working in the cigar factories. Lately they have emulated their Christian brethren by organising a trade union, and regularly once a. week they have struck- on some trivial or, other; Their, line of action was rather clever, had it succeeded. It was this : -These men worked-in thirty factories, and they had thirty cards numbered for each factory, also numbered. They then balloted for the number to strike upon, and whichever number was.drawn in that factory the Heathen struck for, some cause or other. They were striking once a week, like an eight-day clock, when • the bosses agreed to throw off the, yoke, and,a few days after the *3500 Chinamen! were locked out, where they still remain., j -.'■-■.■' Silver Pen,