The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-07-30
ge aaaieta Daily gse1e Saturday gorins auu 80, sos

heavy accsrnt TIE unnecessary crowd
ing OF the tr3rsrcrJs. he lack Of tr1nspor'
tation and hospital facilities asn1'e. :ht
loss Of life. and TOW the spread Of the
yellow fever, will demand settlement
somewhere But, through all, and after
the American soldier-the enlisted man o.
the regular army-will suffer, fight, and
as always, accomplishing. The rank and
file of the regular army will be true 20 lis
duty as unlinchingly IS, in the face OF
neglect and ingratituGe. * has IN the las:
thirty years won the new domain Of the
wesl from the Indians With the old col
! olonel whom I quoted. and thousands CT
| others, equally brave and gallant. VINO
| have led them through desolaJion to sue
! cess, let US take of our hats and place
! the honor where Il Is due. saluting in our
! thoughts the rank and file.
| s:boney. Cuba. July r-Dr. Nicholas
Senns. the eminent surgeon, who has vol
unteered is services here, and who since
/ his arrival has brought about so many
/ improvements IN the medical and surgical
camps, told me today that the state of
affairs was simply deplorable. Why
he said, "as a matter Of fact, we have just
enough canvas to cover our fever cases,
and were a battle TO occur, do not know
where we could accommodate the wound
ed. The surgical tents here are impreg-
mated; fever cases have occurred in them;
and it would be most injudicious TO oper-
ate there. The same may be said Of the
T. \ iS
to take the wounded to one of the trans
ports and do what we can there. We are
lacking n everything Who is to blame,
cannot say, but had it not been for the
splendid work Of DR.. La Garde and his
aides L do not know what would have
become Of the wounded. So far as I can
make out, these gentlemen and the few
nurses they had at their command did
herculean work after the first days fight
before Santiago, and the few cases which
they nave lost speak volumes for thes
surgical skill"
Dr.. SEEMS. since his arrival here has
been working night and day. Having full
authority to use his own discretion, he
he has not confined himself 70 our own
men. but has taken a deep interest in the
Spanish prisoners, some Of whom, owing
to the press of cases, had to be somewhat
neglected. Yesterday and today he has
been operating constantly in the Spanish
corral" as the Spanish prison quarters are
called. The cases which have been re-
moved to the hospital-ship Relief are do
ing well, the arrangements for t.seir COM
forts and convalescence being excellent.
The question Of removing the army
before Santiago before Porto Rico is caus-
ing great uneasiness to the medical de-
partment. Today Lieutenant Colonel
Greenieaf, medical director, and DR.. Cult
terraz, who is looked upon as one of the
best qualified yellow fever experts, de-
clined to express an opinion on the sub
ject beyond saying that the question
whether this army would carry the in
lection to Porto Rico was difficult to
answer Being a Cuban, he feels his po-
sition keenly, as he cannot have failed to
hear many uncomplimeneary remarks
from our officers regarding his compat-
riots. The general impression among our
surgeons is that ii will be impossible to
prevent disease being carried with the
army, as clothing. tents, and even trans
ports, must be contaminated. AS one sur
SeOn put II l0udys Inc JrOuSle was at
first that we were not able to make as
good diagnosis of the case as we should,
being SO busy with our wounded, and 1
fear that many men who we thought
were merely suffering from heat fever
were in rfe first stages of yellow fevr.
The intention now appears to be to re-
move the hospitals from Siboney to some
favorable locality of higher altitude,
and to at once to convey all cases of sick
ness there, and all suspected cases to the
fever hospital All authorities agree that
this place should long ago have been aban
doned, but the great difficulty in doing so
has been the indecision of the general at
the front. On several occasions the tents
have been in the course of transition
when orders came from the front that a
battle might at any moment be expected
and preparation must be made at once for
the wounded. In fact, the doctors have
been compelled to follow drifting policy
from the first, facing any problem as it
presented itself, \and unable to persue
any definite course. 1t is 10 their credit
that under such distressing circumstances
they have been able to accomplish so
much. a. 2. NJ