At one time cases of cholera appeared scattered generally throughout the Mariquina valley and without apparent connection.  For some days we were unable to make a guess as to their origin.  Then we heard that a “Queen” had arisen at the town of Taytay near the Laguna de Bay.  An investigation of the Queen and her activities resulted in rather astonishing revelations.  She was a very ordinary looking Tagalog girl who had secured the body of an old bull-cart, stopped the cracks with clay, partially filled it with water and decaying vegetable matter, and at rather frequent intervals had bathed in the fermenting mass thus concocted.  In due time she announced herself a healer of all the ills to which flesh is heir, and the sick flocked to her.  Cholera was then prevalent in some of the towns near Taytay, and there were persons suffering from it among those seeking relief.  Some of them were directed to wash their hands in the extemporized tank, while others bathed their bodies in it.  As a result it soon contained a cholera culture of unprecedented richness.  This was given to patients applying for treatment, and was bottled and sent to those who were too ill to come in person.  Hence numerous scattering cases of cholera which did not bear any relationship to other known cases.

It proved quite an undertaking to put the Queen of Taytay out of business.  We first asked the local authorities to have her sent to Manila, but the presidente and the police declined to act.  We then applied for a warrant to the Filipino judge of the court of first instance having jurisdiction over Taytay, but that worthy official found it convenient to be suddenly called out of the province.  At last we prevailed upon soldiers of the Philippine constabulary to arrest the queen and bring her to Manila.

We had anticipated that she might prove insane, but she showed herself to be a very keen-witted young woman.  We employed her at the San Lazaro Hospital to look after cholera patients.  The people of Taytay were not satisfied, and a few days later a large delegation of them came to Manila and demanded the Queen.  I was at my wits’ end to know what to do, but old Spanish law can usually be relied upon in emergencies, and the attorney-general discovered a provision couched in very general terms, which provided against disobedience to the authorities.  It was only necessary for an “authority” to have read to an ordinary person a statement setting forth what that person must not do; then if the order was violated, such person could be made to suffer pains and penalties.

I accordingly prepared a most impressive order prohibiting the Queen of Taytay from further engaging in the practice of medicine, had her followers drawn up in battalion formation, placed myself at the front and centre, caused the Queen to be brought before me, and read her my communication, at the same time charging the good people of Taytay not to tempt her again to try her hand at healing, for the reason that if they did she would surely get into serious trouble.  They marched away with the Queen and I have not heard of her since.