Evening star., 1898-10-10
TYPHOID BROUGHT IN
Surgeon Hysell TeStifes Regarding
Camp Thomas.
DISFRUSfBD THE RIVER WATER
Captain Culver of Grigsby's Rough
Riders on the Stand.
THE WAR INVESTIG ALTON

closed Saturday afternoon. Capt J. &.
| Boldridge continued TO testify regarding
conditions in Camp Cuba Libre, Jackson
| vile, where he was attached to the 7th
Army Corps and assigned to the 9th Brig
ade as commissary officer by Gen. Fitzhugh
Lee
The witness said he had never had any
| trouble in obtaining proper supplies for his
| brigade.
Capt. Cuiver's Testimony.
The commission met at 10 o'clock this
morning, and after half an hour in session
! with closed doors they began the invesliga-
| tion Of Capt. J. ii. Culver Of Troop \, 81
! United States Volunteer Cavalry. He was
stationed AT Camp Thomas, Chickamauga
| Park. Ga He was mustered in service from
Nebraska, May II, and mustered out Sep
| tember IL. He IN the lst Wisconsin
| Infantry during the civil war and is past
| department commander Of the q. A. r.
They mad some tainted meat at Camp
| Thomas. He proceeded to have il con-
Gemned, but before he had done this The
| soldiers had traded it off for butter and
| eggs. valuing il at cents a pound. Their
coffee very good. lie said the stores
were probably slow in being issued TO Them.
The water from pipes coming from the
river was prohibited and the men drank
water from the webs, though he did noJ
know that there was any trouble with the
river water. He had found the men were
made SICK by eating chicken SdnnN l'n'S
which they had bought outside camp. Pies
and such things also had a bad effect on
| the men
Capt. Culver said be had been camped in
the vicinity of Camp Thomas for seven
months, and his impression that it was
then regarded a very healthful place.
He had used the springs there and found
them good
When asked if he had any complaint IL
make against anything or anybody 1t Camp
Thomas Capt Culver said he had no COM
plaint to make. but said he thought II woald
have been better IL they could have camped
in the open instead of i'm the woods.
Surgeon HyseIIs Experience.
The second witness DIR. James II.
Hysell, chief surgeon. I'd Division, LIST
Army Corps. stationed at Camp Thomas.
He had served through the civil war. when
| he was medical inspector and medical d.
rector At Camp Thomas he organized a
division hospital and had active supervision
of it.
Ex-Gov Beaver turned the examination
of the witness over to Or. Conner
When the witness reached Camp Thomas.
June T. there was no disease Of crnse-
quence. The first case of typhoid fever ne
knew of in the I'd Division was one In the
I'd Ohio which originated before the rogi-
nent got to Camp Thomas. The typhoid
fever patients were not isolated.
In reply to questions, he said he thought
il possible that there were some cases of
really typhoid fever. Some OF the physi-
clans would not diagnose case as typhoid
fever until the patient showed every one
of the accompanying symptoms. He said
nurses were given the care of eighteen or
twenty sick men, but at times they were
forced to give them as many as thirty
Afraid to Use the River Water.
The sinks were 125 feet from the division
hospital There were l,1eo cases of typhoid
fever in his division hospital and there
were eleven deaths from that disease.
DR.. Conner questioned the witness in
regard to the details of the management
of his hospital. The witness said ne was
short of water because he did not want
to have the pipe line brought into his d-
vision. His assistant, DIR. A. w. Martin,
had reported to him that the intake for ne
pipe line was $50 feet below CEickamaUga
geek, which received the drainage Of The
camp. This fact made him afraid of the
river water, and he did not want ii brought
in camp even for bathing purposes. for
fear the men would drink it, and he did
not think 1t fit TO drink.
Speaking of sending men from the hos
pitfalls when not able to travel he said
he had learned of such cases and knew
of sick men who had gone out OF hospitals
and he had heard that they died on their
way home. That had never occurred in the
I'd Division hospital of the lst Army Corps.
He had positively refused to let msn 90.
Gov. Bushnell. he said, had telegraphed
him to have all the sick men of Ohio regi-
ments ready 10 be taken home He had
been uelegraphed several times. but paid
10 attention to these kilograms. At one
time he was so run by a lady and her
daughter to let a soldier go home with
them, when the sick man would have died
on his way home had the request been COM
FLIED with, that he mounted his horse and
rode away from the hospital Some of the
surgeons. he said had yielded to these i'm
portunIties and had let men go when thay
should not have done so.
DIR. HySell said that although the gov
ernment had allowed 90 cents a day for
patients in his hospital, he had found that
% cents a day ample to supply them
with suitable food. He said that the dif-
ference between % cents and 90 cents a
day per man was the amount ready TO be
turned back into the treasury. In addi-
ton to supplies bought, the witness said
that the Red Cross, well as other So
cieties and individuals, had sent them a
large quantity of food for the sick. Their
milk he said, received in abundant
ouantities and was of the best quality,
tHo-thirds of it having been received from
Biltmore Nanderbilt's estate in North ca o.
lima.
The Spread of Typhoid.
Colonel Denby-"As a result of your
knowledge of the conditions at Camp
Thomas to what do you attribute the be-
ginning of typhoid fever, and to what the
spread of that disease there?'
Dr. Hysell-"I think typhoid fever was
went there Its increase was due to the
improper covering of sinks, and il was also
distributed through the camp by a myriad
of flies"
Col. Denby-"Could that increase have
been checked or prevented by any action on
the part of the medical authorities?"
DIR. Hysell-'I think not"
Col Denby-"Would not isolation have
dcne it?'
DIR. HyseIi-"It would have required the
isolation cf everybody, because practically
everybody had the fever"
DR.. Hysell continued to say that they dill
not think It was necessary to isolate ;y-
pfoid fever patients. He explained that
many men had typhoid fever several days
before they or any one else knew it, These
were cases known walking typhoid"
Then in the regiments men had typhoid a
week or ten days frequently before they
were sent to the hospital, and such cases
could not be. controlled. He said that be-
fore the hospitals got hold of the typhoid
patients they had had opportunity 10
infect the water, and after that further
isolation would have been of no avail.
DENNY tn