The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-09-02
GEN, SHAFTDR HOME
:he Santiago Commander Reaches
Montauk Point.
TEE M1LEs-ALeER CONTROVERSY.
The Returning Commander Declares
That He VIII Not Enter Into the
Quarrel-''Alger and Miles Can Take
Care of Themselves, and So Can I.o

Quarrel-''Alger and Miles Can Take
Care of Themselves. and So Can L."
New York. Sept. 2.-The transport
City Of Mexico, with General Shafter
on board. dropped anchor In Fort Pond
bay yesterday afternoon. The City of
Mexico is one of the captured Spanish
vessels. General Shafter7 brought with
him II old guns which were also cAp-
tured from the Spanish. The City OF
Mexico had on board besides General
Shafter the members of his staff, fn-
cluding Lieutenant Colonels e. ]. Nc
Clernand. B. +. Pope and G. McC. Der
by. Majors Robert H. Noble. John
Miley, and S. w. Grosbeck, Captains J.
y. Gilmore and e. H. Plummer.
General Shafter and his staff were
landed shortly before O'clock, being
taken off In the auxiliary gunboat Allen
and landed at the floating dock" some
distance away from the quarantine
pier. General Young was at the pier at
the time. The coming ashore at the
float Of the commander and his staff
was unexpected. General Wheeler had
the cavalry escort drawn up at the
quarantine pier, and the guns waiting
to salute General Shafter. He was not
aware that General Shafter was on
shore until General Shafter and his
staff had been driven to the detention
..hespital In carriages General Wheeler
was a little put out when he learned
that General Shafter had landed. Cen
eral Wheeler when informed that Gen
eral Shafter was ashore, ordered the
salute of is guns fired and these were
sent off after General Shafter had ac-
tually passed hearing distance. --'
General Shafter is now. strictly speak
ing, by reason of rank, in command of
Camp Wikoff, but he will not assume
the reins of control until his term in
the detention camp is finished.
= In an interview last evening Genera
Shafter said
II enjoyed the trip north on the Mex
leo greatly, but more so on account
of the ship being prize. From casual
observation l like Camp Wikoff 1t
seems just such place as should have
selected ] will acquaint myself thor
oughly with all the details of the camp.
II knew nothing of the Miles-Alger
controversy until I was shown news
papers on my arrival. l will not dis
cuss 1t now, that am unfamiliar with
the phases of the case. nor will l en-
ter into the controversy at any time.
Secretary Alger and General Miles can
take care of themselves, and so can l.
1.-THE Red Cross and other nurses did
good work at Santiago. but the front
is hardly the place for women. There
never was any real scarcity of food
In, II, l,,,tt
ton facilities to get supplies to the
front other than pack trains. The army
and the sick in the hospitals down there
Jared as well as possible in such cli-
mate"
When told that 1t had been denied
that there was yellow fever in the
camp at Santiago, General Shafter said
that it was nonsense, as there was yell
low fever there, and the doctors in
Santiago. who knew it like book, said
1t was yellow fever and nothing else.
Santiago was on the mend, the general
said and the sanitary measures taken
by the Americans were having good
effect.
When asked if 1t would not be almost
as well to allow the men now sick at
Santiago to fully recover in Cuba. now
that the wet season is almost over, he
said the best place for every man who
could get there was home. and that,
while the wet season was nearly over,
Cuba was not good country for sick
men to be in, and that the conditions
would remain poor for two months at
least. In and around the city there had
been two armies in camp, and armies
did not leave the places where they
had been in the best of condition. For
few months, he continued, things would
not be at their best near Santiago, but
nature and time would work out her
ovn reha biIitatiOn