Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1898-10-02
SERIOUS CHARGES MADE. :
Some Causes of Suffering That Exist
ed at Camp Wykof.

Va wv 0"uAP ~ ~
A NEWSPAPER MAN PRESENTS TO
THE WAR INVESTIGATION COM
MISSION A WRITTEN STATEMENT
OF NEGLECT AND ABUSE THAT
CANNOT BE EXCUSED-WATER
FOR SOLDIERS TAKEN FROM A
POND THAT HAD NEITHER INLET
NOR OUTLET-AMB U L A n c E S
USED TO HAUL LAUGHING SIGHT
SEERS, WHILE SICK SOLDIERS
SUFFERED FROM LACK OF
TRANSFORMATIONS.
Washington. October 1.-THE war in
vestigating commission devoted its
time to-day largely to the considera-
ton of statement filed by Mr.. Nelson
Hersh on behalf of the New York
World, giving what he styles "a rec
ord of facts concerning the establish
ment of Camp Wikoff and its manage
ment, together with specific instruc-
tons of abuses. charged to have ex-
listed, dates. number CT sick in hospi-
tails deaths, etc"
The statement was made in response
to the general invitation from the COM
4 mission.
The specifications cover II pages Of
typewriter matter, taking up the
movement of the Santiago troops after
the surrender of the Spanish at that
place and before the breaking out OF
yellow fever there in July. 1t is as
serted that at the time Montauk Point
vas selected as the site for the camp
it was "a barren waste.
The details of the selection of the
camp site are given as also those OF
the transportation of troops, and 1t is
asserted that when the first detachment
of 275 troops arr wed on the eighth of
August. "the camp was not ready to
receive them and they slept under
their blankets and in the open air as
NO rents rad arrived
"This," it is added, was eleven days
after It had been decided to there estab-
lish the camp"
Continuing, the assertion is made
IT,. by the tenth Of August the sick
were reported suffering from want OF
p:Cper accommodations and food, and
that their tents were without floors
and with Gully their blankets between
the sick men and the ground; and that
a giass of sour milk apiece was the
only nourishment they received in
tWenty-fOur hours.
The War Department is charged
with frequent changes of plans, and it
is asserted that Gen. YCLag was given
only six days fer the preparation of
the camp before the arrival of troops,
Wtlsn two weeks time was necessary,
which caused great confusion
On the fourteenth Of August DR.. Ed
sc,1 visited the camp and found that
tie 400 troops there were almost
wacily dependent upon body 81 Of " water Z sr
- Fort Pond, for their drinking water
This pond received the drainage from
the camp, and the doctor found that
the water contained ninety grams of
sa.t TO the S2t.0n. This condition, he
SAD, caused disease and rendered the
ped cCI:tant menace to the men.
BY the 30th OF August there were 20,
Geo men in camp ard 1900 in the hes
pital with many unable to secure adj
mission from the transports. The reg
ulars were reported to be suffering for
the necessaries CT l:fe and had received
Io p2y for three months.
Contract surgeons were reported liv-
iHg at the expense CT patients. After
the doctors had lunched." says the ac-
count, "tWeltyfVe empty apJl!inaires
bottles were counted upon the table.
said to have bee diverted from ho:pi-
IT, stores
Particulars are given of the death in
his tent of Private Hugh Parrett On
August 90, and it is asserted that DR..
Table refused his permission to enter
tie hospital On the ground that he was
net sick.
Lte assertion made that when on
tt 4 f1th Of September DR.. Lee went
~ Camp Wikoff, with special train
take soldiers ito the Brooklyn hos
:, he was u1able 10 get more than
len men to t1e trai on account Of
pg used to carry siHtseers around
camp. Whilei hundfeds of sick sol
rs were waiting to- be transferred
boats and trains, q dozen ambu-
,es stood at the depot filed with
Thing men amid women who were
Eg the camp with officer friends"
[te- this incident, Gen. Young gave
RS that the aIhbulances Were to be
Il yly fer the Transportation of the
lex.
ollcws:
CersEal Joseph Wheeler, General
Young, Col. Fcrwocd Major Brown.
surgeon; Chief Surgeon Sem. From
the Red Cross, Miss Helen Gould, Mrs.
W3,wcrth, Or. Cyrus Edison. Dr. S. H.
T3ty, health officer New York city;
DR.. W. T. Jenkins, health commits
aioner New York; VIM. Smith, banker;
Surgeon Linn, Thirteenth infantry;
kSurgecn Ames, Tenth infantry
A large number of names of witnesses
Is also suggested in the Parrett case,
and there is a general request that cor
respondents and reporters of the World
shall be called.
The committee directed that a reply
The forwarded to Mr.. Hersh informing
him that the communication should
!have careful consideration