Summary of Pam Fessler's Carville's Cure EPUB

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 In 1893, Clara Mertz arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana, as a freight train car locked in a wooden shack. She had leprosy, and her parents could no longer care for her. She came to the city with one dress, a few undergarments, and a very uncertain fate.

#2 The city of New Orleans was a breeding ground for disease, and its newspapers fueled the unease. The main newspaper, the Daily Picayune, warned readers that an Italian fruit-stand vendor and a woman running a grocery store on North Peters Street both showed signs of leprosy, but were still allowed to handle customers’ food.

#3 Kendall was sympathetic to the plight of the unfortunates, as leprosy patients were called at the time, and he went to see for himself how they were being treated. He was shocked to find that the pesthouse was nothing like he had imagined.

#4 By the late 1800s, there were fears of a leprosy pandemic, fueled by rampant anti-immigrant rhetoric. Chinese immigrants were especially suspect, as they were widely believed to be the source of the disease.