Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-11-09
FURTHER TESTIMONY,
Taken by the War investigating
Committee at Chicago,
g. Is interesting.
COMMISSION Has A BIG CONTRACT

To Examine and Get Af he "Sub" OF the
Great Mass of Eyident-s 1t Hasa Plain
Spoken Docto from Clinton, IA, Tells
of Quite a Number OF Things That Were
No: just Exactly I.isat-Defends the
Accused Hubbard.
Chicago. Nov. Sat the opening Of
the war investigating commissions
work yesterday General Dodge, chair
man. said he was beginning to see the
end OF the long quest for facts touching
the conduct OF the war. According to
DR.. Conner, the accumulation Of papers
and documents in the possession of the
committee would fI a large sized room.
They consist Of army surgeons reports
letters from private soldiers and nurses.
complaints. reports OF quartermasters
and cOmmissaTies and the mass of testi-
mony which has been heard by the COM
mittae. DR.. c. \. Smith, OF Clinton, Ia,
was the first witness yesterday. He en-
listed n the army as brigade surgeon
and served from July Il to Sept. 10, part
OF which time, from Aug. 10 Sept 10,
he was in charge Of the Second division,
Third army corps hospital, at Camp
Thomas.
Found Many Things Lacking.
He said: When I assumed my duties
at the Second division hospital July Il
1 found a shortage OF tents and cots.
There was no provision made fer feed
ing the sick other than the rations is
sued to the soldiers in the regular SER
vice, eXcpet such as We're brought in
by charitable organizations. principal
Of which were the Red Cross society
and the National Relief. In the
pharmacy there was at that time no
intestinal 1nffzpnTfrz a oh no
commanding officer Informed me when
1 made recuisiticn for these that he had
made repeated efforts to get them. The
pharmacy at that time-and, indeed.
until il was ordered closed and turned
the stores over to the government Sept.
9-never had any proper equipment for
doing pharmaceutical work.
NO Trained Nurses on Hand.
The water was simply slush, he said.
In regard to nursing in that hospital.
We had no trained nurses. All the nurs-
ing was done by orderlies and many OF
them were denseIy ignorant, and when
l was in charge CT the wards Of the Sec
ond brigade l had two men who could
neither read nor write, and three men
who did not know the meaning OF a. M
or p. m when written" He also con-
demned the sinks. He never saw any
harshness or cruelty on the part of
medical 3ttenC2ltS- me most aTGu-
Gus work the surgeons had was in look
ing after the Convalescents, because
they complained even more than the
very sick men, Yes; I saw sick men
lying in their camp clothing because
of the want of blankets. clothing, etc,
to make q change. Usually within TWEEN
four hours after such a thing was dis
covered Il was remedied.
Governments Supplied No Delicacies.
I'VE obtained all our ice and milk
from other sources than the govern
ment. 1 was told that it was expected
there would be n hospital fund on hand
large enough to buy these things. The
United States government did not sup
Fly any special diet or delicacies for
isclz men: these were obtained from the
relief associations" Witness said he
ever knew DR.. Hubbard to be coarse,
brutal or cruel toward patients, al
though he was somewhat inclined to be