The herald., 1898-10-09
WITH TUE way CAMP THOMAS
WAS CONDUCTED
COMPLAINTS OF HUNGER
Came Only From Fever Patients to
Whom a Full Diet Meant
Certain Death
Annotated Press Special Wire.


, vastigating Commission began its proceed
ings today with Major Il. Emmett Citizen
on the stand. He was Brigade Surgeon
at Camp Thomas, and told of his visit to
the Second Division Hospital In July last,
when, he said, it was overcrowded. In
each tent and under its flies there were ten
men when there should have been but
four to six. There was sufficienoy OF
physicians, and Major Giffen was sure
that they were competent men. The ma
iority of patients suffered from typhoid
fever and venereal diseases-about 20 per
cent being of the latter cases. He thought
the crowding Of the hospital was from lack
surgeon in charge.
DIR. Giffen made his visit to the division
hospital to see a man Of his brigade who
had been shot in the leg. He found him IN
q tent with typhoid fever patients, and
consequently had him removed.
DIR. Giffen advocated reginental rather
than divisional hospitals. He said there
would be the advantage of classification
In the larger hospitals If the classification
was made which 1t was not as a rule as
the men were brigaded then.
The division hospital surgeons we're COM
petent in their profession, some of them
being some Of the mast competent in the
United States. but they were not men of
executive ability. He considered the water
supply good. The sinks were poorly locat-
ed. They were too near the Kitchens and
were too shallow. Many Of them were only
seventy-f1ve feet from the camp kitchen
and were open when he arrived He then
had them moved farther back and gave d.
rections for daily disnfection and cover
ing By this time, however, the regiments
we're all infected, as he thought. by the
flies going from the sinks to the mess
tables
DR.. G.ffen was given charge of the con-
struction of the Sternberg hospital on the
4th Of August, and after the hospital was
constructed was the chief surgeon there.
He said the tents comprising the hospital
were IA by 10. foored and. supple with four
beds each. There were 100 tents and num-
her of wooden buildings Five hundred and
th.rtythree was the largest number Q t men
at the hospital at one time, and. all told
1877 men had been healed there up to the
9Th inst.
OF these Sc per cent were typhoid. the next
most prolific disease being venereal trou-
bles There had been 81 deaths at the in
stitution. The cases sent to him were gen
orally the most dangerous He had twenty
five contract surgeons and two regulars
and 167 female nurses and 1859 members Of
the Hospital Corps, acting as nurses.
He had received no complaints, and he
was sure that the attendants were eff
cient. His acquisitions were sent direct
to the surgeon general at Washington,
often by wire, and there was never any
delay, often being directed to purchase at
Chattanooga. Many articles were sent to
the men from the north, but, as rule, they
spoiled before they arrived and could not
be used. When patients began to conval-
esce they were put on a special diet for
week and then furloughed and sent home.
He was particular not to allow any of the
patients to leave for home until they We're
sufficiently recovered to render it safe for
them to do so.
He related how Governor Bradley of
Kentucky came to the hospital, saying he
had come to take the Kentucky men home.
DR.. Giffen refused at first, but afterward
consented to leave the matter to the pa
TENTS themselves. Out of sixteen, only
sane.
Dr. Giffen had no complaint to make
against any Of the officials of the war de-
partment, and he had heard of only one
complaint There were no matches for "a
hours.
He thought that the contract surgeons
should have been examined before they
were appointed. They We're not so exam
ined to his Knowledge.
The doctor expressed the opinion that the
complaints of starvation had arisen from
the fact that it was necessary to put con-
valescents from typhoid fever on a spare
diet. He thought many deaths had been
caused by overlooking after convalescents
had returned 10 their homes.
Orders were given, to his knowledge, for
prompt measures looking to the suppress
sion of the fever when it broke out but
the orders had not been obeyed. He knew
of more cases in which the sinks We're to
the last within twenty feet of the kitchens.
and in the case of the fourteenth Minneso-
ia and the Ninth Pennsylvania regiments
the sinks We're crowded near the kitchens
when there was a quarter of a mile of open
field back of them He thought that il had
been a mistake to locate so many men to-
gether as were at Camp Thomas.
acquisitions had been honored promptly,
81 got everything l asked for, from a
toothpick up, and was turned down on
nothing" he said.
Capt James c. Baldridge, commssary of
subsistence for the First brigade of the
Second division of the Seventh army corps
now at Camp Cuba Libre, Jacks onville, oc
cupied the commission during the after
noon. He reached the camp on August Q
and made an immediate inspection of the
Kitchens. He found some of them not we'll
managed, as all of the army cooks were
not experts. He believed that for an army
in camp green coffee was preferable to the
roasted, as 1t was stronger and fresher.
He considered the meat good. The men
were literally supplied with food and the
location of the camp was good. Still. there
had been an increase of disease which he
attributed to the climate and to the as
sembling of large body OF men lie also
thought decayng fruit and the canteen
beer had had an influence in producing dis
ease. Much of his testimony related n
complaints from the Second New Jersey
regiment. He said there had been many
complaints from this regiment and .nves-
tgat!on had shown the trouble was due To
the fact that the officers were without ex-
perience.
The commission has practically decid-
ed to start on the night of the 10th on It's
round of the various camps They will 20
either to Camp Meade or to Jacksonville
first. All the camps will be visited in sue
cession, but the understanding is that the