Evening star., 1898-11-14

| 800
=; issued two or three hundred times some
| body should be brought to account for a
| lack of carrying them out. l want to know
| whether charges against any officer for re-
! peated neglect of these sanitary orders We're
| made?"
The witness-"Not that remember"
The witness said that he had often got his
| acquisitions filled by going to the supply
depot very early in the morning and being
there to make requisition for whatever he
found On hand.
Some UncIean Regiments.
DIR. Conner-'Do you give US TO under
stand that it was necessary for the chief
surgeon of an army corps to personally go
| to the supply depot in order to get his requi-
sitions flled?'
DR.. Huidekoper-"I did it time and again. -
DR.. Conner-"Could others have done the
same?"
Dr. Huidekoper-"They could have gotten
their share if they had been in time"
Inc witness said that on one occasion he
heard that new ambuances were coming
on train, and he got his acquisitions ready
before they arrived. He had horses and
harness ready and he got his ambulances.
Inc supply depot said DR.. Huldekoper,
was run IN u very parsimonious way by
| the purVeyor. If the purveyor had ten
things to give out he would rather give
them out one day than TO give them all
out at one time
In reply to a question the witness said
that the purveyor's name was Comegys.
Iestlfying further DIR. Huidekoper said
that ne had kept track of things that We're
coming to the supply depot. He had a
friend in the .quartermasters depot who
would let him know when medical supplies
We're about to arrive and then he would
De on hand to get them Otherwise, he
saia, ne would not have succeeded in Sc
curing supplies.
DR.. Conner-"Were acquisitions filled in
order of receipt or by some haphazard
method?"
The witness-,They were ordinarily filed
in order of receipt
Or. Huidekoper was the chief surgeon of
the Porto Rico expedition, and he related
the manner in which the medical depart
ment was organized and run while in
Porto Rico.
Contaminated Water.
In reply to question he said that the
Sd Illinois, l5Sth Indiana and 18th New
York regiments had dirtier camps than any
other regiments in the army corps He
said that the Sd Illinois regiment had a
surgeon who could break the spirit of
law without breaking the letter of the law
in almost everything he did. He had had a
great deal of trouble with this regiment.
Speaking of the amount of disease in his
army corps at Camp Thomas he said that
the reports of a great deal of sickness
could not have applied TO conditions while
he was there The greatest amount of
sickness in the LIST Army Corps while at
Camp Thomas he said was on July %, when
there We're little more than 400 men sick
| in hospital out of total of over 5000 SOL
diers.
Again referring to the difficulties he had
in SppuriT q hoSpjtaI and a
he said that the regimental officers did
what they could to prevent their men being
Used for this service, and that Col Case of
the 3th PennSy ylVania, who. he said. was 3
good officer and his personal friend had
objected absolutely to permitting his men
to go as nurses, and, before the men. de-
clared that those who wanted 10 go as
nurses were towards, and only wanted to
prevent going on the firing line.
DR.. Huldekoper said that the men fur
rished him when the regimental officers Sc
lected them were the poorest material in
the regiment. One man he got was an epi-
leptic and another was drunkard. Yet he
said these same officers who prevented him
from getting hospital nurses and attend
ants were the ones who were the loHdest
to complain against any failure on the part
OF the hospitals to render efficient service.
They were the ones, he said, who would
send for ambuances and complain that
they could not get them promptly, although
they had refused to allow their own men
to serve for such duty. He had secured
some good nurses by receiving names OF
men who would be in readiness for such
DUTY and then taking them from the regi-
ment the order of the general command
ing the army corps and in spite of the
wishes of the reSimentll officers.
Contaminated Water.
In reply to a question by General Dodge,
the witness said that he thought typhoid
fever at Camp Chickamauga had been
spread because of contaminated water. He
found cue division having typhoid fever,
while another, using different water, had no
typhoid fever. They had promptly closed
up the well from which the infected regi-
ment was supplied. He said he thought
the water was all right except that it had
been contaminated from surface drainage.
Witness said that he thought a large part
of disease at Camp Thomas was the result
of men leaving camp and going to town,
and also eating pies and such stuff was
either purchased or sent to them from their
ZONES. He said the men would receive
boxes from home with pies, four or five
days old, and they would eat and be made
sick The testimony of the witness was
concluded at 12:45.
Maj. Knox n Witness.
Maj. Thomas 7. Knox, captain of the
1st United States Cavalry. went on the
stand at 2 o'clock. He told of his cam
paign at Santiago. He was wounded at
La Quasina. He was struck by bullet in
the small of the back and the doctors said
he was shot through the liver, kidney, and
lung, and that two ribs were broken. The
ball went through him and he had lost a
great deal of blood by walking to the hos
pital. $50 yards away. The doctors told
him he would die and told him to send
any message he wanted TO his home.
The doctors now say he replied to
question: that I ought to be dead. Ac-
cordifg to the text books, l should be
dead He laughed as he said it. He said
he could not allow his to fire at La
Quasina because their situation was such
that he was afraid they would fire into
American troops. He was going UP and
down the lire of his men, who were ner-
vous under fire which they could not re-
turn, and while turning he was shot.
He said he supposed they had what was
to be expected in a field hospital, but there
were no surgical instruments. He had
shortly afterward been put on the Olivette.
and on the trip to New York he had re-
ceived good treatment. He had also been
well treated at Fort Wadsworth hospital.
When asked the condition of his men
when they landed at Ba:quiri, he said they
were in the worst condition he had ever
seen troops. This was the result of having
been shut up sixteen days on the ship.
They had been in excellent condition when