The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-10-29
INSPECT CAMP THOMAS
Sternberg and Letter Hospitals
Visited BY Commission.
CAMPS WATER SUPPLY
SEWER BACILLI FOUND IN SOME
OF THE WELLS.
Sinks Much Nearer Tents Than Pro-
per Ideas of Sanitation Encourage
DIR. Giffen Pronounces Certain
Sensational Stories Absolutely
False-Rewards For Heroes.

Chattanooga, Tenn, Oct. 2S.-The war
investigating commission spent the en-
tire day in inspecting the site of Camp
Thomas. in Chickamauga park, under
the guidance of General Boynton, Gen
eral A. p. Stewart, a member of the
Chickamauga park commission, and
Mr.. E. Z. Bates, the engineer of the
committee.
The inspection began at Lyle station
and covered all points of interest in the
park and near it's borders which have
been in any way involved in the con-
troversy concerning the sanitation of
the camp. including Sternberg and Lei
ter hospitals, the various springs from
which water was secured by the troops,
including the famous Crawfish springs
and the point on Chickamauga creek
at which the water of the pipe line sup
ply was taken out.
Special attention was given to this
latter place, because of criticisms which
have been made upon this source of
the camps water supply. They found
the intake pipe submerged about 20 feet
above the mouth of a tributary creek
locally known as Cave Spring creek.
which drained the camp. The charge
had been made that the water from
the tributary stream had contaminated
the pipe water, being carried back into
1t by means of eddies and in one case
by overflow after a freshet.
There were many expressions of COM
mendation of the methods followed at
Sternberg hospital, and General Dodge
was heard to remark that it was pity
to leave an institution so well equipped.
They found only 5S patients in the hos
pital and most of these were GONZALES
cent All were housed in wooden pavil-
ions, the tents being vacated. Major
q I
it would soon be abandoned. The COM
mission also gave attention to the prox-
unity of the various camps to one an
other and the depth and location of the
sinks. The conclusion seemed quite
general that many of the regiments
were thrown more closely together than
they should be.
SINKS TOO NEAR TENTS.
Many of the sinks were also found to
have been nearer the tents than proper
ideas of sanitation encourage, and in
some cases the character of the surface
was found to be such as to warrant the
conviction that the sinks We're shall
lower than they should have been, but
this was true only of parts of the camp
After concluding the inspection of the
camp, Major Giffen, who had been be-
fore the commission before, was asked
to make a statement concerning some
criticisms of the hospital made in a
Vermont newspaper by Frank A
Bailey, who had spent six weeks in the
hospital nursing his brother When ne
returned home he wrote an article say
ing, among other things, that he had
heard physicians in the hospital tell at
tendantS to give their attention to pa
tients who had chance to recover and
not to nurse those who were sure to die
in the presence of those designated as
of the latter class, and that he had
heard other physicians instruct tnelr.
helpers to give ice-cold baths with the
view of finishing their patients" Dr.
Giffen pronounced as false all the
statements made.
DR.. Charles F. Craig, bacteriologist of
the Sternberg hospital. was also exam
ined. He was questioned especially with
reference TO the water supply of the
camp, and he expressed the opinion that
the water taken from Chiekamauga
river through the pipe system, was
purer than that in the wells and springs
of the grounds. He said he had found
some sewer bactilli in one or two of the
wells, though no typhoid germs. He
had also found impurities in water
taken from some of the springs. He
Rad made two analyses of the water
from the river one before the July
freshet and the other after it, and had
found it to be entirely wholesome from
archaeological standpoint 1t was
muddy and he thought it should be fill
tered. He had also made tests which
convinced him that there was no dan
ger of eddies carrying the water of the
Cave Springs creek into the pipes.
DR.. Craig expressed the decided opin-
ion that common house-fiies are cap I
able of proving a decided source of dis
ease Infection, and he detailed bacteri
illogical tests showing that they car
ried typhoid germs upon their feet. He
also said that he had macreated a num-
Der of flies which had been placed on
sugar impregnated with the germ and
had procured from them pure typhoid
bacillus culture