Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-12-26

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Time and the action of the elements had par
| tally leveled the rude walls and covered them
| with grass and bushes. While they would
| have been of little use in q warlike sense, they
| were high enough to shut out the air and yet
| low enough to admit the scorching rays of the
sun to every nook and corner.
The citadel or tower itself was as its name
indicates circular in shape, and the entrance
| as well as the apertures that stood in the place
| OF windows were exceedingly small and gave
admission to very little light or cir. 1t was,
therefore, when the troops landed infested
| with bats, lizards centipedes and other noisome
insects and reptiles.
The atmosphere that could penetrate to this
dimly lighted cell was close, damp and exceed
| ingly disagreeable, but it was the only avail
| able place, and possibly on the principle that
any house is better than none the sick and
| dying we're carried into the Enclosure and laid
| around on such level spots as could be found,
| while few were taken inside the town itself.
| The remainder of the detachment bivOuacked
| some distance away and Immediately on the
beach.
| ONE SOLITARY DOCTOR
had been sent from Savannah to take charge Of
this improvised lazaretto. No hospital steward
or other assistant accompanied him, and there
was painful lack Of many of the necessities
| and most of the conveniences which are con-
! sidered absolutely essential to the carrying on
| OF such a herculean task. The doctor himself
| was young lrishman, not long away from his
| native sod and tho university where he had
been graduated. He was new to the country
| ana never had any experience whatever with
troops.
| INEXPERIENCED BUT NERvY.
Though the medical department Of the army
| in charge at Savannah was undoubtedly under
great disadvantage by reason of the epidemic
being SO suddenly thrust upon it, there was at
| first at least grave suspicion that this young
and inexperienced contract doctor had been
sent to perform this important duty principally
because he might naturally be supposed to
possess at least one great and essential qualif-
catlon-he came from race that is proverbially
not afraid Of anything. 1t certainly required
great courage for a man successfully to fight
| SO fierce an epidemic under such adverse cir
cumstances. Though he did lack experience
| he was certainly not wanting in nerve. He did
| all that he could and showed no signs of fear.
The men died SO fast and tine new cases came
so rapidly that hours would sometimes elapse
before man would know that his immediate
neighbor was dead, and even when this APP
parent there might not be any one to separate
and carry out the dead bodies Attendants
would be detailed by the score and ordered to
report for duty at the Hospital" as
tins horrible charuel house was called.
and in less than an hour thereafter another
| message from the poor doctor would come that
! the nurses, attendants, fatigue party and all
had fled and that he was absolutely without
man to help him do anything.
HORRIBLE DISCOVERY.
These panic-stricken men scattered over the
island. and as few Of them ever returned and
there appeared to be no way for them to es-
cape to the mainland their disappearance was
| at first something of a mystery. At Lass one of
the Officers, who was exploring the island,
pushed his way through copse of tangled
underground and suddenly came upon q
CHASTITY sight. The island was separated from
the mainland by a series OF rather shallow la
goons that looked, when the tide was out, as
though they might easily be forded. Lured by
these treacherous shoals a number of the de-
serters had started to wade across. As they had
gone further and further from the shore they
had sunk deeper and deeper into the miry bot
tom until finally they had stuck fast in the
mud, unable to get forward or TO return. In
this awful position the incoming tide had
| caught them. Each relentless wave rose
higher and higher until the helpless victims
were engulfed and drowned. When the tide
ebDed there, nearly erect, stood the lifeless
bodies, their empty sockets, from which the
carrion birds had plucked the eyes, looking
hopelessly out upon the weary waste that had
separated them from the main land and life.
From the great number of buzzards that
were lowering over other localities the last
hiding places Of many more OF these panic
| stricken men were discovered. Guided by
these ominous but unfailing indicators an
| officer with a burial party would go directly to
the spot, where they invariably found the de-
| composing body of one OF these unfortunate
soldiers.
Usually the appearance of the remains
showed that they had already experienced the
premonitory symptoms of the dreaded pesti-
lence, when they provided themselves with two
| and sometimes three canteens OF water, and
| running away from their only real hope of re-
| covery lay down under bush or tree. drank
all the water, drifted rapidly into tho last
stages OF the disease and soon, under the hot
blazing sun. or the cold and silent stars. with
none to help, they. too, had died.
To bury these unfortunate creatures without
jeopardizing the lives of the men who per-
| formed the task required great crcumspection
When it was determined i'll which direction the
wind was blowing the burial party approached
the corpse from the same direction, thereby
avoiding the horrible stencil and consequent
nausea. Sickness caused in this manner meant
cholera and almost certain death. Great num-
bers Of huge carrion birds struggled for frag-
ments of the putrid bodies and it was with the
greatest difficulty that they were driven far
enough away to permit Of the corpse being
covered up just where it lay. When this
was done large mounds were raised above them
and on top of these logs and branches OF trees
were piled, in order if possible to prevent the
vultures from digging up and renewing their
Interrupted feast. Or course it would not do
to kill or to permanently brighten away these
useful scavengers, which were 30 effective in re-
moving other offensive matter.
In the early stages Of the epidemic the troops
mad Dcen divided into companies with acting
first sergeants in charge of each. assisted by q
suitable number of other acting non-commis-
stoned officers number of muskets with &C.
GOVERNMENTS had also been brought down from
the city and regular guards were placed on
duty.
TERRoR-sTRIcKEN SOLDIERS.
Soon after guard mounting one morning a
man from one Of the companies reported to
the commanding officer that one of the first
sergeants, a man named Franklin, was ill with
the dreaded Cramps" The captain directed
that the man be sent to the hospital. About
an hour afterward another man came and re-
ported that the sergeant had been abandoned
by the men sent to carry him to the hospital
and that he was then lying on the beach alone,
about midway between the camp and the tower.
An officer was Immediately ordered to take
whatever men were required, by force. If nee
essary, and personally see that the sick man
was carried to the hospital. 1t was with
the greatest difficulty that the required
number Of men could be procured, SO panic
stricken were they. Every man detailed
pleaded illness. some with tears in their eyes,
and it was only at the muzzle OF a revolver that
q half dozen men were obtained. When the
party reached the abandoned patient they
found him lying upon a thin army blanket
nearly naked. the almost vertical rays Of the
broiling sun fairly burning his livid flesh, and
the man himself writhing in the last
stages Of the fatal disease. Four of the
attendants were placed at the corners of the
blanket; two were kept in reserve to relieve the
others, and the officer with his drawn revolver