The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-21

character Of the commissary supplies.
He mentioned one or two instances
when poor bacon had been received,
and said there were occasional COM
plants from the men, not of serious
character.
Col W. j. Bryan was next called. He
asked to be excused from testifying,
requesting that his lieutenant colonel
be examined in his stead.
you WILL no doubt understand my
reasons for the request he added. Il
think the request very proper and
reasonable" responded Cow Beaver
and as the entire commission consent
ed to this concession, Col. Bryan was
excused with the request to send up his
lieutenant colonel.
Col w. T. Durbin, of the 161St In
diana said that there were few com
plants from his men, and that they
were generally trivial He spoke espe-
cially of the grounds of the third divi-
sion hospital, saying they had for a
time been very poorly kept. There had.
however, been a vast improvement
since DR.. Clendenning had succeeded
DR.. Jesurum, of the Rough Riders.
Col Durbin also said there had been
one or two complaints of neglect of his
men at this hospital. Col. Letcher
Hardin, of the 9Th Missouri, also stated
hospital had not been we'll kept
DR.. Alexander Kent, pastor of the
Peoples Church, at Washington, and
field agent at Jacksonville for the Red
Cross was questioned concerning the
operations of the Red Cross at this
point. He said he had been cordially
received by the army surgeons and
had co-operated with them. He had
noticed the absence of sheets and pill
Oft ho tot
pital in its early history. Many men
lay uncovered on account of the short
supply of blankets He supplied the de-
ficiency. There was also at that time
a shortage of tents and food suitable
for typhoid fever patients. He had
undertaken to supply the deficiency
and had distributed two carloads of
the necessary delicacies.
ut seemed" he said, "as il the hos
pital was arranged upon a smaller scale
than was demanded, and as a conse-
quence there was a constant demand
upon the Red Cross to supply the de-
1ciency'
DR. Kent said he had heard many
complaints concerning misconduct at
the hospitals and many OF them were
apparently well vouched for, but they
had not generally proved well founded
when investigated. Replying to dues-
ton, he said he thought it had been
very difficult to get medical men of
sufficient administrative ability to man
age such institutions as the division
hospitals. Before the women nurses
were received, the nurses who were
men of the hospital corps, were not
capable. They were not intelligent as
class, and while some of them were
| doggedly faithful, they failed to meet
the requirements. They did not, for
instance, seem to regard it as of con-
sequence that flies were crawling in
and out of a sick mans mouth with
impunity, and he had seen as many
as six cases of this kind at one time.
Since the trained nurses had been Sc
cured, the sick were better cared FOR
than at home.
The witness said the principal rea-
sons of failure of the physicians to
make acquisitions on the government
for supplies, was found In the fear OF
their making demands that would not
be sanctioned. The aid Of his society
was generally solicited and not vol
unteered by him.