The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-05
(The End.)
IN A DETENTION CAMP.
How Time Was Passed by Those Re-
strained of Their Liberty.

How Time Was Passed by Those RE-
strained of Their Liberty.
From the New Orleans Plcayune.
do you know that the average citizen
has a very vague idea as to how gov
eminent detention camp is conducted?'
inquired Fred ". Oertling, Mr.. ,Oertling has
passed through six yellow fever epidemics,
and since the first outbreak Of the fever
this season he has been acting head nurse
at Camp Hutton.
mo, gentlemen" he continued, there Is
not one person out of ten who can tell any
thing of what is necessary in establishing
a government detention camp. OF course,
| those who have been confined to a camp
ought to know something about it, if they
have been observing enough, but do not
refer to those who have had a ten-days'
board bill paid by the government. l re-
| fer to the average citizen.
Think of 800 men being detained at one
| time all Of whom must be cared for and
| fed. There were fully 5000 detained at
| Camp Hutton during the fever excitement,
and L assure you those who had charge of
| affairs had their hands full. 1t was nee
| essary to establish the strictest military
discipline. A line was drawn about the
"
camp, and the guards were instructed to
who were found crossing, unless they could
give a satisfactory account of themselves.
"There were forty guards employed at
the camp, twenty being on duty at one
time Each squad of guards remained on
duty twelve hours, and were not permit
ted to leave their post of duty until reliev-
ed by the watch that succeeded them. But
the guards were all well trained, and dur
ing the entire time of our stay at Camp
Hutton the best of order was kept DR..
White assistant surgeon on the marine
hospital proved himself an excellent COM
mander, and the men respected and obeyed
him.
''The trains were scheduled to arrive at
the camp during the day. The refugees
were lined up, and the guards proceeded
to search them for concealed weapons and
whisky. You understand that it was a
thoroughly temperance camp, and no liz
uor was permitted in the grounds or tents.
And none of the refugees were permitted
to carry concealed weapons 1t was sur
prising and amusing to see how stubborn
" and persistenty some fought against
giving up their bottles of rye whisky They
did not object so much to handing over
their revolVers and dirk knives, but when
it came to handing over the bottles there
was nearly always an argument
1.-THE clothing and whatever the individ-
ual might have were thoroughly fumigat-
ed before the person was permitted to en-
ter the camp. After the ten days had ex-
pired It was necessary to fumigate the
clothing again when the individual left.
Most of those who came to the camp
soon settled down with the resolve TO
make the best out of the trouble and en-
Joy themselves as much as possible AL
though we were stationed a considerable
distance from any town or city, yet the
| refugees had a good time. There were card
parties, prize-ights, concerts, and many
little games and pastime sports calcuIat-
ed to drive away the monotony Of the
| long days. There were a number of good
musicians in camp, and the negro min
strels did their share of the merrymak-
ing. Among those who contributed large
| ly to the musical programme was John