The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-23
EVEN WORSE THAN CUBA
CHICKAMAUGA PARK IS IN A
VILE CONDITION

Say Number Of Grtgsby's Rough
Riders Who Have Come North in
Search of HeaIth-They Saw If r.
No Wonder That Hundreds Are
Down With Fever of One Kind
Or Another.
Nine OF Grigsby's rough riders. on
tnelr way from Chickamauga to-Miles
Clty, went out on the Northern Pa
cine coast train yesterday afternoon.
They are sick with malaria and are IN
through. When they recover from the
effects Of their illness. thew will return
10 Chlckanauga, if the regiment is not
mustered ~ out before the expiration of
thelr furioughs. All the meh showed
the eHects OF the malaria. They were
haggard and walked like weary men.
Sh1ckamauga is worse than Cuba, y
porter for The G 10 b e. more than
half the men in camp there are sick
l belong to Troop 1 Of the rough rid
ers. There are eighty-one men in the
troop, put only sixteen are fit for duty
those VINO are not In hospitals are
nearly there. If call was made for
1he troops at Chickamauga to go to
would be In condition to march. The
condition of affairs there is simply ter
rible
There have been $4,000 men in camp
at Chlckamauga since the place was
established as an encampment. The
nrst regiments that arrived there
round the ground in good condition
Ihey remained there but a short time
Their refuse was buried in the earth
behind the company kitchens, and they
suffered no inconvenience from that
source. But other regiments came and
occupied the same places that had been
vacated, and their refuse was buried
In the same way Little by little the
ground became rotten with decaying
refuse, and, as the warm weather ad-
Vanced, the stuff began to ooze up
through the ground to the surface.
Ihe ground became infected with the
decaylng matter, and the atmosphere
was poisoned with it, Then 1t got into
the drinking water SO that at the pres
ent time the wells are literally alive
as well as the ground.
The cavalrymen are worse off than
the Infantry, because we have our
horses and stable refuse to add to the
general unhealthfulness of the camp
Is 1T any wonder that the men are
sick?
'The hospitals are fairly good, but
not as good as they should be- The
regimental hospitals amount to very
little, but the brigade hospitals are
better. The trouble with the sick men
is they get only the same food as the
we'll men, and they cannot obtain suf-
ficient nourishment.
Where are the Red Cross dainties
that are sent for the sick soldiers?"
asked the reporter.
"They do not reach the regimental
hnCnjfQ1C III or
delicacy the sick in the regimental
hospitals receive is milk, and not much
Of that. The other things the Red
Cross provides may go to the brigade
hospitals.
Il was the strongest man in the
troop, and 1t seemed impossible that
I could be sick, but am reduced to a.
skeleton. 1 was sixty-four days in the
hospital with malaria; Corporal W. L.
Bonney was there twenty-four days;
Sergeant Butler was in hospital tWen-
ty-two days, and Private Brown was
sixteen days on a cot. We all had
fever We lost one man, Herbert B.
Foster, who had malaria, last Friday,
and it will be strange if others do not
die:
mo one who has not experienced
our life at Chickamauga can appreciate
our sufferings. It all comes from the
camp ground being no longer fit for
men to live In. The ground is dead
It has no more life to resist or absorb
the impurities that are constantly be-
ing added to it, and the men who
breathe the vitiated air and inhale the
vile odors must suffer-
Private Barlage's statements were
Endorsed by his three companions
whom he named. and they each said
the condition of affairs at Chickamau-
ga was a national disgrace
Another party of thirty-four men
from Grigsby's regiment is on it's way
to this city. The men are i'll. and have
been granted a months furlough to re-
cuperate in their native air.