LEPER AT LARGE IS A MAKER OF CIGARS.
By George B. Thompson
UNDER the above heading the Sunday World of April 8, 1900, says:— “Charles Seerapparo, a cigar maker, living at No. 123 Elizabeth Street, called at Bellevue Hospital last evening for treatment. He said he was eighteen years old, a native of Sicily, and had been in this country for three years. “His hands and face were a mass of repulsive blotches. His complexion was of a saffron hue, and he was weak and emaciated. “Seerapparo was taken into the dispensary where skin diseases are treated, and Dr. Sinch examined him and found that he was suffering from a well-defined case of leprosy. It was found that the sores extended over the entire body. All the physicians and students in the hospital were called in to inspect the victim of the terrible disease. “The man’s body was covered with a soothing ointment, and he was sent away. A box of ointment was given him for future use. Seerapparo admitted that when well enough he still occupied himself in making cheap cigars. The attention of the board of health will be called to his case.” It would be well for those addicted to the use of the “filthy weed” to think seriously about this matter. It is bad enough to inhale the poisonous nicotine, and impregnate the free air which other people will breathe with the foul fumes of tobacco, but where there is a possibility of the dreaded leprosy germs being mingled with it, the case is much worse. It is both strange and sad that intelligent human beings will prostrate themselves at the altar of such an unhealthful practise. How poorly do those who are professed followers of the Saviour represent Him in so doing!