Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1898-10-09

|
\ Washington, October S.-The war in
yeSusduLs committee began its pro-
ceedlAgs to-day with MAJOR II. Emmett
| Gltiln ON the stand. tie was brigade
SUI geon at Camp Thomas and tolu OF
| his visit TO the second division hospital
IN July last, when he said 1t was over
| crowued. III each tent and under It's
t1les there were eight or nine men when
there should have been but four to
SIX. There was sutnclency OF physl-
clans and Major Gl1tin was sure they
we've competent men. The majority OF
! pauentS were suffering from typnold
fever and veneral diseases. about 20
per cent. being OF the latter class. He
thought the cfowdlng Of the hospital
was from lack Of tentage, fault due
to the surgeon in charge. DR.. Glfln
advocated regimental rather than divls-
ion hospitals.
He considered the water supply gcod.
The sinks were poorly located. They
were too near the kitchens and were
! too shallow. Many of them were only
! IS feet from the company kitchen and
| were open when he arrived. He then
| had them moved farther back and gave
directions for daily disinfection and
| covering. By this time, however, the
regiments were all infected as he
| thought by the flies going from the
| sinks to the mess tables.
DR.. Giffin was given charge of the
| construction OF the Sternberg hospital
on the first Of August, and after the
| hospital was constructed was the chief
surgeon there. He said the tents com
prising this hospital were 14x15, fioored
and supplied with four beds each.
| There were 100 tents and a number Of
! wooden buildings. Five hundred and
! thirty three was the largest number OF
men at the hospital at one time and all
! told 1927 men had been healed there
up to the sixth instant OF these Sc
! per cent. were typhoid, the next most
prolific cause being veneral troubles.
There had been 67 deaths at the insti-
tn ion. The cases sent to him were
generally the most dangerous. He had
/ % contract surgeons and TWO regulars,
and 167 female nurses and 159 members
of the hospital corps acting as nurses.
| Dr. Giffin had no complaint Of ne
! elect or insufficiency to make against
| any of the bureaus of the War De
partment, and he had heard of only one
complaint. There were no matches for
"a hours. He thought that the con-
tract surgeons should have been exam
| ined before they were appointed. They
were not so examined to his knowledge
| The doctor expressed the opinion that
the complaints of starvation had arisen
from the fact that it WAS necessary
to put convalescents from typhoid few
| Ht fhnjrohf q n
! deaths had been caused by overlooking
| after convalescents returned to their
! homes.
Orders were given to his knowledge
| for prompt measures looking to the
| suppression of the fever when it broke
out. but the order had not been obey
! ed. He knew of more eases in which
| the sinks were to the least within TWEEN
| ty feet of the kitchens, and in the cases
of the Fourteenth Minnesota and Ninth
| Pennsylvania regiments, the sinks were
! crowded near the kitchen, when there
was a quarter of a mile of open field
back of them. He thought that it had
| been a mistake to locate so many men
together as were at Camp Thomas.
acquisitions had been honored
promptly Il got everything I asked
for from tooth pick up and was turn
ed down on nothing" he said.
Captain James C. Baldridge. com
missary of subsistence for the first
brigade of the second division of the
! seventh army corps, now at Camp Gu
ba Libre. jacksonville, occupied the
commission during the afternoon
He reached the camp on August 2,
and an immediate inspection of the
kitchens found some Of them not well
managed. as all of the army cooks are
not experts. He believed that for an
army in camp life. green coffee was
, preferable to the roasted, as it was
| stronger and fresher The meat he
time except in one instance.
| The men were plentifully supplied
with food and the location OF the camp
was good. Still there had been an in
| crease of disease which he attributed
TO the climate and to the assembling
Of larger body Of men. He also
! thought decaying fruit and the can
teen beer had been an influence in pro-
ducing disease.
! Much of this witness testimony re-
lated TO complaints from the Second
New Jersey regiment. The witness said
there had been many complaints from
this regiment and Investigations had
shown that the trouble was due to the
/ fact that the officers were without ex-
| perience.
/ The commission has practically de-
cided to start on the night of the 18th
on its rounds of the various camps.
They will go either to Camp Meade or
! to Jacksonville first. All the camps
! will be visited in succession. but the
understanding is that the trip to Camp
Wikoff will not be made until some
| time in November. Next week will be
| given largely TO the inspection Of Off
cial reports and 10 other statements
that have been furnished in reply to
letters from the commission.
Major Hersev was quoted Yesterday
as saving that Mr.. Wrenn. Of The Rough
/ Riders. as we'll as Mr.. Tiffany. had
| died. The statement was an inadvert-
| ence and was due 20 the coupling OF the
two names and to the fact that Mr..
Wrenn was i'll.