Mis
00
Amy patient, and had always considered the cells as cook houses. He had visited the place two days previously and had found eight or ten patients, who were in an utter state of filth and neglect, so much so that the attendant could not tell whether some patients were alive or dead until he shook them. None of the cells had windows; the door being the only means of light and ventilation there.
7
WAD-19
The cells had no appearance whatever of food, medicine, or bedding, nor were there any arrangements in force for cleaning the cells. One cell was four feet three inches high, and in this, a man was barricaded who had become troublesome through delirium. In another cell were three patients incapable of speech, all lying on a bare board. In another cell, in perfect darkness, on an earthen floor, lay two others, one dead and offensive, the other still living; he was covered with dust and dirt from rolling on the floor. The attendant told him that most of the patients were sent from the emigration houses.
Mr. Lister further stated that after leaving the Cloge, he returned in half an hour, when he found that a change had been effected - one corpse had been put into a coffin, the floors had been swept, the pools of urine cleaned, ashes put down, and food brought in, all by order and at the expense of Caldwell. Mr. Lister concluded his evidence by stating that the Cloge was not a hospital, but a place where people hopelessly sick were sent to die. The present system had not been going on long but had only existed since the opening of the emigration depots, for although people were previously sent to the Cloge to die, still the last offices of humanity were attended to by their friends.
The attendant at the Cloge being called, deposed that the deceased came from the Kwong Tai emigration depot, of which H. Caldwell was the proprietor - that he had received eleven patients from Mr. Caldwell's depot - stated that on one of these dying, he reported the circumstance and was paid two dollars for burial expenses - and that no patient was ever sent to the Cloge of whom there were any hopes of recovery. One of the patients who had been released testified that there was neither blanket nor attendance, and that nothing in the shape of food or water could be had, except by yelling and loud cries.
The Manager of the Kwong Tai depot testified that he was employed by H. Caldwell, whose orders were to send all bad cases to the Cloge, in pursuance of which orders he had sent seven patients there. The coffin contractor testified that he had supplied the Cloge sometimes with two coffins per diem, sometimes with three, but with never more than four.
Caldwell, being sworn, gave a history of the Cloge from its foundation - he had known the attendant for sixteen or eighteen years and vouched for his entire respectability. In the first place, he distinctly admitted that the Cloge was never meant for a hospital, but only for people to die in; he subsequently, however, averred that it was a mistake to suppose that hopeless cases only were sent there.
The Coroner, in summing up, remarked that no blame could be attached to anybody in particular, and that no person could be said to be responsible in any measure for the then-existing state of things. He agreed that emigration, though salutary and beneficial, ...
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