The times., 1898-08-31
They Do the Things Left In
done by Army officials.
RELIEVE THE SUFFERERS
From Their Station on Maryland
Avenue the Pension Office Ladies
Minister to the Wants of Soldiers,
Many of Whom Are Found in Deep
Distress on Transport Trains.

great government provides for the com
fort of its sick and wounded troops while
they are beins transported from place to
place; to hear stories from the Iips of
manned and emaciated men who. fresh
from the hardships of camp life and
bloody battlefields are herded like cattle
into filthy, wornout Pullman sleeping
cars inadequately attended by inexperi-
enced priyates of the hospital corps. with
only hospital steward to administer the
Scanty medicines supplied. and often
without a physician on an entire train,
let that person spend a few hours in
The old Potomac Hall, at the southeast
corner of Eleventh Street and Maryland
Avenue southwest.
Details of the Work.
There the charitable ladies OF the PEN
sion Office are doing their best to make
up for the things left undone by the off,
cials of the army and the War Depart
ment. Two large rooms have been fitted
| up with tables and chairs, capable of
seating one hundred and fifty persons at
a time, and every day since the soldiers
| began to leave the South, from 1900 tc
1000 of them have been fed while side
tracked in the Maryland Avenue yard.
Every trainload of troops is met and
the men are invited to eat all they want,
and every hospital car Is boarded and the
patients. often too weak to raise cup 10
their lips, are tenderly greeted and cared
for as well as the limited time will per-
nit.
Who tbs, Workers Are.
The Pension Office Ladies' Relief AS
sociatlon." as it Is called. had its incep-
ton when the Rough Riders passed
though Washington. The hardships they
| endured while en- route to New York was
apparent here, and Mrs. Cornwall. of S2d
ID Street southwest. and Miss Lille Neu-
/ meyer. of AZ Tenth Street southwest, took
/ a number of them 10 their homes and
| fed them Miss Neumeyer spoke about
| ii in the Pension ONCE. where she Is en-
ployed, and the relief association was i'm
mediately formed.
Mrs. Mary B. Saunders. u the Pension
| office IS president of the association. and
one of its hardest workers. Among her
| enthusiastic assistants are Miss Lillian
! Neumeyer Miss Ida Neumeyer, Miss
| Chamberlain. Miss Jane Harvey, Miss
| Hanum. Mrs. Engle. Mrs. Cornwall, Miss
| Reagan, Miss Friend and number OF
| others Not to- be forgotten is Aunt
| Francis" a benevolent old colored wom-
an. who had been feeling the soldiers her
self as well as her limited means would
allow, and who volunteered to cook coffee
| and hams for the association.
Ice. Fans and Fruit.
The rooms are kept open night and day,
and above the eating rooms are number
| of cots for those who are left over for a
night and proceed on their way the next
morning. Coffee, tea, milk, sandwiches
| of all kinds. crackers. fruits and fresh
| tomatoes are provided. and every soldier
Is allowed TO eat all he wants and to
carry away all. he can. There is no stint
10 the charity.
The we'll troops are marched to the hall
| by companies and fed or If they cannot
For the sick troops a hospital corps is
provided. The members OF the corps are
Misses Ida and Lille Neumeyer, and
Messrs. Lewis Lowe and Rowland Marr.
Every hospital train is boarded, unless
objection is made by the officer or stew
ard in charge. which is rarely the case.
and every patient visited. Their faces and
hands are bathed and they are given
milk graham crackers, crushed ice and
dispensed where the men are able to eat
it. Each sick man is also given a hand
kerchief and a fan.
Milk Turned to CIabber
These members of the hospital corps see
the worst phases of official neglect. AS
an instance. hospital train of nine cars
recently passed through Washington in
charge of hospital steward and five or
six privates of the hospital corps. Nine
| of the patients had died between Tampa
and here. Eight Of them were buried in
Fayette, N e., ana the ninth found a soil
tary grave somewhere else along the
route. Those left alive were too weak in
most cases to raise small glass to their
lips. The cars, which We're old sleepers
were filthy the beds uncIean. and the
| utensils used by the sick men had not
been cleaned or changed for days
When they arrived here is was found
| necessary to take twenty-five of the
| worst cases to the hospital at the WASH
| ington Barracks for treatment and it is
said that some of them are so seriously
| i'll that they cannot live
Another hospital train passed through
several days ago. also from Tampa. The
men were in almost as bad condition, yet
all they had to eat was hardtack and
their only beverage was milk which had
| turned to clabber. They told the people
who met them that this had been their
fare for three days. Twenty-one gall
Ions of sweet milk was used up on this
train and quantity of suitable food
Selfish officers.
Seihshness is often met with among the
officers, but once in a while those in
charge of the coffee house come across
an officer who is so much the other way
that the bad impression left by others is
almost removed. This was the case when
| Col Barnett, of the One Hundred and
F1fty-ninth Indiana, passed through with
his regiment. The train stopped some lit
tie distance from the coffee house and
Immediately two baskets. one a large one
for the soldiers. and another smaller one
| for the officers, We're made up
Rowland Marr went with those who
| took the provisions to the train and met
| Col. Barnett, to whom he offered the food
| He was asked if there was enough to go
| around.
Il think there is, although we did not
count the sandwiches he replied. Here
is another basket for the officers
Col. Barnett called a captain to him,
| and. handing him the smaller basket,
| said:
60 with these people and see that our
| men have all they want to eat. If there's
| anything left you can bring 1t back for
| u.s.
Expense Is Heavy.
| Another officer of the regular army who
| passed through with his regiment sew
eral days ago; had his wife and little
| children in the sleeDer with him. When