The evening times., 1898-09-27
Sad NHGLEG4 OF THE SICK |
Disgraceful Treatment of Men
in Military Hospitals.
CONDITIONS AT MONTAUK
A Doctor in Charge of u Hospital
Prescribes lee Water for the Com
plant of Every Patient Who
Comes Under His Cnre-BuriaIs in
Bloody Clothes.

spent a fortnight at Camp Wikoff as
volunteer aid in the hospitals. She has
returned to her home convinced that the
public does not fully realize the horrors
reserved Cor the heroes of Santiago upon
their return to their grateful country.
Nome she remarked yesterday, who
was not present in camp day and night
could fully understand the atrocity of the
absolutely unnecessary sufferings to
which the patients are subjected"
Mrs. AlliS says many of the women
VINO went to the camp to nurse the in
valids agreed to write to President Nc
kinley about facts that had come under
their personal observation. She penned
an open letter 10 the President yester-
day, in which she said:
II have been present at Camp Wikoff
TWO weeks as volunteer worker doing
Whatever came in my way 10 help the
sick soldiers. and l wish to make-on the
strength OF what / saw there-these
charges:
"A doctor named Lee was placed in abb
solute charge of an extensive hospital,
with accommodations, | should Judge
for nearly zoo men. This man was fad
dist. and practiced the water cure only
and that upon fever-stricken starved
emaciated men. His treatment for all dis
eases was the same--a glass of ice water
every two hours-for typhoid, dysentery,
jaundice, peritonitis and tonsilitis 1t was
the subject of bitter complaint among the
nurses, families Of sick men. and those
who. like myself. were observers. Final
ly he was asked TO resign but the ques-
ton arises: Who put him there, and who
is responsible for the death of the men
under his care?
Il have the word of two nurses who
| declare one young man could have been
| saved had he been allowed some nourish-
| ment or stimulant twenty-four hours be-
| fore he died.
when wards of the annex hospital
were partly emptied by sending sick men
| TO New York or to other hospitals men
| from one ward were moved to others and
! placed so close together tnat 1t was bare
ly possible for an attendant TO stand be-
! tween the beds, and the emptied wards
We're closed up and nurses sent away as
| many as forty al a time.
This strikes an observer as being un-
wise and cruel when, with a ward half
| full, delirous patients and dying men
| can have better care+from nurses. more
! breathing room and less exposure To noise
| and draughts.
Patients so transferred came under
| the care of efficient doctors and nurses,
and the excitement of moving in many
! cases caused relapses! Then the crowd
! ing of wards brought many close to the
| opening of tents. exposed to the wind
| and dampness of the heavy fogs of last
| week
Il stood by the bedside of one man
| who died as the result OF the moving and
exposure, and while ne was dying ] many
! times covered the feet of another who lay
| six inches from the opening of the tent
| and in his delirium kept tossing the
| blanket off. And yet of the twenty-odd
wards of the annex more than half were
empty.
In these full wards were some of the
worst typhoid cases in camp, about thir-
| ty-tive patients in each ward and only
two nurses and two orderlies to wait on
them. Who is responsible for the chang
! ing of patients. the closing of empty
wards and the discomfort OF these men?
Il see a statement in todays paper
| that each body is embalmed and clothed
| in new underwear and a new suit of
clothing corresponding TO his rank
This is not true. l had in charge the
| body of young man whose parents
wished 1t sent home. Thirty-six hours
| after his death the body was taken from
a rough pine box, such as they call cof-
| fins. in exactly the state it was carried
from the ward, with nothing on but
hemorrhages of the day of his death. no
effort at embalming having been made.
rs this the way TO care for the men
who left home at their country's call en-
dured untold hardships, and died of star
vation and neglect, to bury them in their
native land as though they had been
criminals?
who is responsible for this?
ITO be sure, the last cannot hurt the
soldier. He is beyond all that. But it
hurts the mothers, wives and sisters, and
the fathers and brothers, who still have
a right to know why this last horror
must be added to the bitterness of this
| wars experience.
Again. the Government and the Red
Cross did all in their power to keep away
the people who were ready and anxious
to do all they could to alleviate the Suf-
ferings of the sick soldiers. With not half
enough of nurses. Red Cross or others
there was plenty of work for volunteers
if only to keep the flies off the dying men
which lit on them in swarms. crawling
into their mouths and noses until the
sight was sickening.
THE verdict of high officials who in
spected the camp has been. the very best
is being done that can be done under the
circumstances Could not the circum-
| stances have been changed, and much
| that was better be done? Every one who
has spent two weeks in camp can an
| swer Yes
II could bring to your mind many other
| things which have been spoken of in
newspapers. and afterward stoutly de-
| MED, but if these which | do mention are
| not considered too trivial to command
! your notice / shall feel / have done my
duty for the present at least. There must
| be means to prove or disprove them if
| used in the coming investigation
| Mrs. Allis was particularly indignant
| yesterday when she saw the published
| statement credited to one of the officers
! at the camp about the care taken in the
| burial Of soldiers and she said she could
scarcely believe that any defense so radi-
| cally untrue could have been made.