Falsely Accused - 3. FAL Chapter 3

I asked what was going to happen with John’s education, and Lionel informed me that he had spoken to a former colleague from London, who had moved to the Swan River Colony ten years earlier, and he said to enquire about enrolling into the Fremantle Boys School. “Oh by the way, when we received your letter, and saw your mention of leaving a note on your emigration medical form, I did some checking, and the doctor that saw you had purposely misfiled your document, and once I had found it, and seen your note, I questioned the doctor, who said that you were just trying to pull the wool over his eyes.

I am pleased to say that the doctor no longer has a work contract with the Government, and he had his medical license suspended for six months, for his improper conduct” Lionel announced to me. After a further half hour of chatting, I thanked Lionel for his support in getting me released, and for all the help since then, and after saying goodbye to Mum and Mathew, I left the house with John keeping me company for the walk back home.

We walked in silence for most of the walk, till he suddenly stopped, and I stopped and turned to see why he stopped, “I was thinking…” John started to say pausing for a few moments to think more on how to say what he wanted to say. “Can I move into your place, it’s almost impossible to get any peace and quiet with Mathew running around, and I don’t like that Lionel has his medical practice in the same place that we live in” John said to me.

I was a bit surprised that John had asked me, but I also knew that we have always been close as brothers, “I will have to talk to mother about it, but it is ok with me” I said with a smile and we kept walking to the cottage. When we arrived at the cottage, John had a thorough look around the cottage, and when he found me in the kitchen, where I was searching the cupboards to see where everything was, he sat down at the bench and watched me. John stayed for a light luncheon, and after helping me with some cleaning, he walked back home, leaving me to settle into my new home.

In the study, I had a book case, where I placed the medical books that I have brought with me from the prison, along with the books that Lionel has loaned me. From the shopping that I had done the day before, I had a bottle of ink, two ink pens, some pencils and some writing paper, and I started to write down some notes in preparation for work tomorrow. Later in the afternoon, I went out to my back yard, which was narrow and deep, I noticed that there is a laneway that runs along the back of the property, and near the back fence there are three eucalyptus trees, that run in-line with the fence.

I made a mental note to buy some gardening tools and if possible some plants and a water tank to collect rainwater, which I wanted to put near the store room. Just before dusk, John reappeared, and he announced that I was expected for dinner at the house with the family, and he waited while I tidied up a little before we walked back to the house, just as it was getting dark. Mathew came running down the passageway as we entered and wrapped his small arms around my legs, forcing me to stop. “Hello EJ” he said to me and I bent down and picked him up, “Hello little brother Mathew, how are you this evening” I replied.

Mathew giggled and started wriggling to be let down, which I did, and I walked down to the kitchen, where Mum was finishing preparations for dinner. “Hello son, have you had a good day?” she asked me as soon as I stepped into the kitchen, “Yes thankyou Mother, I have been making notes for work tomorrow, and looking around my back yard, thinking about doing some gardening” I replied, “That’s nice dear, now I expect you to be here for dinner each night, so we can ensure you are eating properly, as you are far too skinny” my mum responded. “I agree with you dear, we need to get you eating properly, now before we sit for dinner, your mother and I have a few things to present to you” Lionel said as he walked in the kitchen area, with John and Mathew coming in shortly after.

Mother had stopped what she was doing in the kitchen, and from behind his back, Lionel revealed a medical bag in his hand, and he stepped forward to present it to me. On accepting it, I looked at the leather bag, and near the handle was lettering – Dr Edward J Lester MD, and tears started to form in my eyes as I opened the bag.

Inside I found a brand-new stethoscope, a reflex hammer, and a medicines case that contained some ointments and mild medicines for various ailments, various scissors and tweezers, some bandages, a mouth mirror, syringes and needles, and other bits and pieces of medical equipment. I was speechless, it was a very expensive medical bag, with almost everything that I needed to practice medicine. I was even more surprised when John presented me with a name block – identical to the lettering on the medical bag, and I looked at it carefully, seeing that it had been hand carved.

About ten minutes later we sat down to eat dinner, and we had a nice meal of salted beef with vegetables, and it was while we ate that John decided to ask about moving to my place. “Well I don’t know about that son” Mum said to John and she looked over to her husband for a moment, “What about Mathew, he will miss you being at home, and what does Edward say about this?” she added after some thought.

“I have already been asked, and it is ok by me, as long as the family is happy with it” I said to mother and Lionel, “Plus we will be home for dinner each night” John said hopefully. Mother looked over to Lionel again before taking a deep breath, “Let us think about it, and we will let you know tomorrow, remember you have your first day of school tomorrow at the Fremantle Boys School” mother said to John, who screwed up his nose before continuing to eat. Moments later there was a knock on the door, and Lionel stood and walked to the front of the house to answer the door, and he returned moments later.

“Dr Lester, you are needed at work, some emergency at the goal” Lionel said and he sat down at the table just as I stood up, “Don’t forget your bag and name block” John said with a smile, and I smiled to him as I collected my new bag and made my way to the front door, where a warder was waiting for me. “Good evening Dr Lester, we have a situation at work, and the superintendent has asked for your attendance” the Warder said with a smile.

15 minutes later we arrived at the front gate, and we were allowed in without delay, and I was lead to the superintendent’s office. “Good evening Dr, sorry to spoil your evening, we have a situation, as you know we had some measles, on your first day at the hospital, it seems that we have a lot more cases, I have ordered a lockdown to all convicts, until you have checked everyone” he said to me.

Turning to the warder standing at the door, “Please return to the home of Dr Jamison, and ask him to please come to assist, as I won’t be able to handle this on my own, tell him it is a measles outbreak then go to the homes of all warders and goal staff, they and their families are to remain at home, and not go anywhere, we will have to coordinate food delivery to all of their homes, including Dr Jamison’s, once you have done that, go home and stay there” I said to the warder who nodded his head before heading off.

“Sir, because of the size of the infection, you will need to notify the government officials, and I will have to have all warders and their families, checked for infection, this establishment is now quarantined, that means no one in and no one out, with the exception of Dr Jamison” I said to the superintendent, and I excused myself and made my way to the front gate to speak to the gate guards.

Once all the gates were closed and locked, I asked for the key, and I walked to the administration, and handed the key to the superintendent, before heading to the hospital to start work. Using some cloth, I made two masks, one for myself and another for Lionel when he arrives, I used some alcohol to scrub clean my hands, before entering the hospital. All 14 beds were occupied, and as I checked each of the convict patients, they all had clear signs of measles, some of them were just mild cases while three were more serious.

Returning to the treatment room, I began to make notes for each of the patients, noting their name, their symptoms, and I graded each patient on how serious each one was in three categories of symptoms, mild, average and serious. There was a knock on the door, and it opened just a little bit, “Edward, I have Dr James Carter here with me, what do you suggest we do? came Lionel’s voice from the other side of the door, “if you have masks put them on, use alcohol to scrub your hands, check all the convicts in the block closest to the hospital for any signs, any that do can remain where they are, all others get the warders to relocate them, then start with the next block, all those that are well leave where they are, and any with symptoms send them over to this block” I suggested.

The door closed, and I continued with the notes for a little while, before I looked at the books on the shelf, and found the one that I hoped was there on communicable diseases. I scanned through the book, locating the information that was most important, before continuing, and an hour later I stopped reading and stepped out of the hospital and made my way to the nearby cells block. Of the 60 cells in the block, I could see that about ¾’s of the doors’ are open, meaning there was only about 15 other cases of measles, and I asked the warder posted on this block to open each cell one at a time, so I could check on the convicts.

It was well after midnight before all 430 convicts had been checked, and there is a total of 53 that are infected, including those in the hospital, the superintendent had arranged for three large cells to be made comfortable for the three of us doctors, and we collapsed onto the hard beds and soon fell asleep, with the cell doors closed but not locked.

The next morning, at 5.30am, I washed my hands, neck and face, put on my shoes and jacket, before stepping out of the cell, almost at the same time as Lionel and James did, and we headed to the administration building to see the superintendent. As we stepped into the office, the superintendent was pouring cups of tea for each of us, and some fresh bread was located on a plate, “It’s not much I’m afraid, pretty much what everyone else in this place is having” the superintendent said, as we each accepted a cup of tea and so bread before sitting down.

Although I am the medical officer here now, I would appreciate if Dr Carter takes the lead with this situation, as a lot of this is new to me” I announced. “Well, so far you have done everything that I would have done and maybe more” James Cater said with a smile before continuing, “when I received the news, I went to each of the warder’s homes and checked them, and anyone else in their homes, and there appears to be just one case of measles, and he is now in the prison and in an open cell near the hospital wing.

“Good to hear, so I gather that we have a total of 53 cases of measles, and that they are all confined to the hospital wing or the wing closest to it, and I have made sure that all prisoners remain in their cells until this crisis is passed. All food is being delivered to the front gate, and the warders are collecting it after the delivery truck has left, as per your request, and warders have volunteered to remain at the prison to help with this crisis” the superintendent said.

Over the next two weeks, we were all kept very busy until James, Lionel and I gave the all clear, that the measles outbreak was now over, and I was given three days off to rest and recover, while Lionel continued with his medical practice, and Lionel returned to his duties as a government doctor in Perth, the capital of the swan river colony.

As things started to get back to normal at the Prison, I spent a day just relaxing at home and catching up on some house duties, and as the day came to a close, John knocked on my front door to let me know that I was expected at his place for dinner, and so I quickly washed and changed before walking down the street with my younger brother. Lionel’s office door was closed, so I followed John down the passageway to the dining room and kitchen.

“EJ” I heard Mathew call out as soon as he saw me approaching, and he raced down the hall towards me and I picked him up and gave him a hug, before placing him on the floor again, “Hello mother” I said as I entered the kitchen. “Hello son, take a seat in the dining room, dinner will be ready shortly” she said to me, and I sat down with John and Mathew.

“How has your first two weeks at school been going for you John?” I asked my brother, “Well, I guess it has been ok, a bit different from school in Scotland, and I get a bit of hassles with my Scottish accent, and there is a lot smaller number of students in each class, compared to the school in Edinburgh”, John said to me, and I nodded my head in understanding. Just before Mum served dinner, Lionel appeared from the office, and he greeted me before sitting down at the head of the table.

During dinner, we chatted about general things, Mum mentioned that she had spent the day shopping in town, having to make two trips, since she also had Mathew with her, she said that there was a good supply of fresh foods now available, as well as general goods, of which most of it comes from England, and after dinner she showed us some of the items that she had purchased.

On my second day-off, after the measles outbreak was over, I went into town to the general merchant’s store, where I purchased a small 500-liter water tank and arranged for it to be delivered to my place early the next day. I called into the prison on the way back, and asked the superintendent for the possibility of having some flat rocks, to be delivered to my home, to make a base for my new water tank, and I was granted permission for this, and he wrote out an order to be given to the warder in charge of daily work duties for the prisoners.

Later that day, a warder knocked on my front door, and he announced that he has six prisoners with wooden wheelbarrows full of flat stones to be delivered. I went out the front door and led the warder through the side gate and down the side of the house and showed him where I wanted the stones to be placed, as a base for the water tank, before heading back inside to relax.

About an hour later, while having afternoon tea, there was another knock on the door, and the warder announced that the work had been completed, and he said he hoped that it was to my requirements, I thanked the warder for his prompt delivery, and wished him a good afternoon. After completing my afternoon tea, I stepped out the back door to find a raised stone base completed near the store room, and I was more than impressed with how well it looked.