The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-10-05
TRICKS OF VOLUNTEERS.
They are Said to Play Sick in Order
to Get Sent Home.

Copyright, 1898, by the Associated Press;(
Ponce, Porto Rico, oct. 5.--lt IS the wen wen
of the medical staff of the American army
in Porto Rico that the condition OF the
volunteer forces here necessitateS their
Sickness is Increasing and has been in
creasing during the past three weeks at
an alarming rate. Today the sick report
shows over 27OO in hospitals or in quar-
tiers out of a total command of 10000 men;
that is, over 25 per cent Of the troops are
on the sick list. This, however, does not
mean that there is an effective strength
of 1850 men. The soldiers discharged
from the hospitals as fit for duty are, in
nine cases out of ten, incapable of serv-
ice, and if ordered on duty are almost IN
variably back in the hospital within a few
days The medical officers have found
that the convalescents do not, and seem
ingly cannot, recover their strength in this
climate and for this reason they are be-
ing sent north as rapidly as possible, sew
eral hundred leaving every week To-
It is a significant fact that there is a
wide disparity between the sickness in
the volunteer and regular commands. In
Nineteenth and Eleventh, the sickness av-
erages only about 10 per cent, while in
chusetts First New York engineers,
Fourth Ohio, Third Illinois, First Ken
lucky, Third Wisconsin and Sixteenth
PennsyIvania-it averages "a per cent: In
the last named two, where the conditions
are the worst, the sick report today SHOWS
a percentage of 46 in the Sixth PennSyl-
vania and A in the Third Wisconsin. Over
the First Kentucky comprises General Ell
nests brigade, are unfit for duty, and yes
terday, when General Ernest moved his
headquarters up to Aibonito, on the sum-
nit of the mountain range, it was found
gade to follow. The command is pros
trate where it is. Undo3pbtedly the wide
unteers and regulars is largely due to the
fact that the latter are better able to care
for themselves. Most of them are veter-
ans who understand the rules of health
in camp, and their officers from the very
outset have enforced with unerrlng energy
the sanitary regulations 50 necessary for
than that, the regulars are making sol
diering a business. They did not enlist
look upon their assignment for service
in Porto Rico philosophicalIy and make
the best Of the situation.
The volunteers. on the other hand. en-
listed for two years, but with the almost
mustered out when the war closed Al
most to a man they desired to go home,
they have lived in the daily hope Of being
recalled. For days they have talked OF
nothing else. Inconsistencies destroyed
their spirits and made them easy victims
of the malarial climatic conditions. It is
sick naturally exposed themselves to the
wet or ate freely Of tropical fruits, despite
i'll and be sent home. Some. it is alleged
even feigned sickness, and quite number
of these succeeded in their designs.
The other day a number of men from
one of the regiments who had been order
ahead of their wagon train, singing, laugh
ing and making merry at the prospect of
They appeared to be more capable of
service than hundreds of the soldiers who
remained. and one of the regular army Of
ficers in Ponce, upon looking them over,
suggested ironically that they should stop
at New York on their way home and pick
up a few prizes for throwing the hammer
putting the shot, etc, at the Caledonian
games.
The weekly health report of a week ago
shows 1865 cases of typhoid fever, 500 cases
of malaria, one case of smallpox and 1.450
cases of climatic fever, diarrhoea, etc.
Since then about 300 cases have been
added to the sick list.
The worst feature of the situation is the
steady increase in the number of typhoid
fever cases, which today reached over 400.
For a time it appeared probable that the
typhoid fever in the army, most of which
is alleged to have come from Camp
Thomas and Camp Alger originally, would
be stamped out, but about three weeks
alarming rate. Major Snowden and his
associates do not believe that there is q