The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-04
HORRORS IN THE CONCHo.
Told by E. II. Brnndenburg, who
Was on Board the ship.

Earl b. Brandenberg, a correspondent
for a syndicate Of Ohio newspapers, and
who was a passenger on the transport
Concho which arrived at New York from
Cuba the other day with sick and wound
ed on board writes this story of the voy-
age for the New York Journal
There is not word too strong to be
used in describing the horrors of the
Concho and her awful trip here from
Cuba. You ask me for a story in detail
We We're lying in Santiago harbor-that u.s.
our party of returning correspondents ana
others-and were ordered to go TO Siboney
10 receive our share Of about 200 GONZALES
cents. The other ships which We're sup
posed to carry convaescents were the
Alamo, Rio Grande and one other of the
transports selected after we left.
The Alamo preceded us, but took on no
convalescents, so that we found her share
awaiting us. II was one of the many Off
cial mistakes that make up military rules
at Santiago at present, and Capt. Sam
Risk, the big, good hearted master of the
Concho, said he would try to make the
best of it. He sent word to Maj. Lagarde
the commanding surgeon Of the hospitals
on shore, that he had only bed and state
room accommoda atoms for hfty-eight men,
and the provisions he had been able 10
wiring out of the commssary department
on the Santiago docks were only the
coarsest of army rations. He also sent
word that there were no blankets or other
means of caring for the sick on board.
So, being fully informed. the RESPONSE
billty for the terrible blunders made rests
with the hospital camp or else with the
powers that be at Skaters headquarters
Which should bear II will some day be
known The few sailors of the Concho's
crew toiled from early morning until late
In the afternoon bringing off the sick
After over 100 were on board we began to
grow anxious, as the consequences of
crowding on more were plain.
Yet Maj. Ldgarde said he had orders to
put 175 sick apoard and he obeyed them.
Thirty of them were too III to walk and
had to be carried on deck and below. At
last all were on, and still no supplies came,
DR.. Lesser and his wife veg In charge
of the ship, but the good wv and his
handful of nurses were alAost helpless
without supplies. Here were our great
wants:
We had no Ice.
We had no water that had not been for
weeks IN the casks.
We had no clothes or bedding.
We had a very small supply of medicine
and disinfectants.
We had no food ut for invaids 10 touch,
and all of our deaths were traceable to the
food. Not having the proper sort to give
them, the men, crazed with hunger, stole
food, ate and died
On board was G. A. MCGOWAN of Battle
Creek, Mich, just an ordinary hospital 1T
tor bearer in rank, yet he stepped to the
front, and, though weak and Ill himself.
became the acting hospital steward for rs
men. lie proved himself a hero, working
without sleep or rest
w. A. Foster, junior member Of prom
inent law firm at Flint, Mich. and son OF
Judge Foster. one Of the Thlrty-third Mich
igan yellow fever convalescents, volunteer
ed TO do the cooking He went into the
ships galley, with its awful temperature,
and with the assistance OF wild Western
er known as Mexico, a mule packer,
cooked and served seven meals a day for
all
There were on board as nurses Mrs Nut
tai Misses Peterson, Alice Babcock and
Adele Gardiner, Of the Red Cross, who
weie returning because Miss Barton did
not have working room for them. They
relieved Misses McCue, Ohm and Rugal I'M
til they were rested they having been in
with yellow fever. Mss Gardiner took
charge of twenty typhoid fever men. aud
Miss Paddock took the dysentery sufferers
ana i rye number Of malarial and pelu-
It's fever cases, these diseases having fol-
lowed yellow fever and being very dan
ecIous 10 the weakened systems.
That is the general situation on board,
but cannot begin to tell you how the men
suffered and how patient they were. Only
when they fell asleep or half asleep or
were deirious did they cry out, and then
1t was horrible. The rude board hunks,
built between decks, were the only places
they had to lie on, and there We're dozens
of them who before We were two days out
had the skins on their backs cut by the
boards.
The voyage around the eastern end Of
the island and up the w!ndward side of
I
a five days voyage, but the Concho, cover
ed with trash and out of form from
her long absence from dock, made Il In
four, every effort being made to cut short
the sufferings of those on board. The third
day John Kock of the Thirteenth Infan-
try, died from hemorrhages, caused by
oVereatlng solid food The depression
among the men around him was very
great. There was a hurried wrapping In
canvas, and Chaplain Groves, u. s. A.,
one OF the lettering yellow-visaged con-
valescents, said few words of solemn APP
peal to the poor fellows Maker to receive
his soul. Then at the word from Mate Sc
well, the brawny Scandinavian sailors let
the body Slip into the waters Of the Gulf
stream.
We arrived at Hampton Roads early in
the morning, and II was six hours before
the health officer came aboard. The three
men who had died the night before from
eating stolen food, were Ia such dreadful
condition that the sailors had to heavily
reinforce themselves with liquor before
they enshrouded the bodies in canvas. At
last we got orders to drop down the bay
and bury them. On the way back another
man died, and we turned back TO bury
him.
on arrival back off Fort Monroe the
next morning we we're sent to New York
Food supplies, medicines and ice were
aboard, and the condition Of the men was
greatly relieved
can never forget after leaving the
roads, when carrying the heavy cans Of
lemonade to let the nurse give each his
drink. many a poor fellow would catch
my sleeve and say, in a low, fear-stricken
voice:
Captain, are we ever going to get out
OF here? Are they going to let US all die
like rats in a hole? The piteous APP
peals would have wrung the strongest
heart, and the mistake responsible for
IA.