The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-26
CAPT. ENGLISH'S ORDERLY
WILLIAM REED, CoLoRED, ARRIVES
HOME FROM SANTIAGO DE CUBA.
Came to New York with Mr.. English
ON the seneca-His story
of the Battle.

has been acting as orderly for Captain Will
lam E. English during his trip to Cuba, re-
turned home yesterday afternoon from New
York. Captain English is now under med
zeal treatment in the Imperial Hotel. New
York city, and is constantly attended by his
wife. The press reports reaching here re-
garding his condition have been misleading
as it has been thought he was i'll with fever
While he in common with nearly all the
army has been subject to the ravages of
the malarial climate at Santiago, this has
been the smallest part of his troubles. Capt.
English was injured by being thrown from
his horse during the battle in which the
first line of the Santiago intrenchments
were captured by the Americans and is now
suffering from internal injuries, resulting
from his fall. When Captain English left
Indianapolis he took with him new horse
Of fiery temper. The animal had never
heard a gun discharged, and early in the
day of the fight Captain English was thrown
to the ground, without, however, suffering
any serious injuries. Mounting the animal
again, he once more went into action by
the side of General Wheeler, on whose staff
he was Some time later a bursting shell
In close proximity to the animal caused
him to rear, and in his plunges he FELL
carrying Captain English with him. BY the
time the captain was able to extricate him
self the animal had badly crushed him, ard
from that time he was untitled for duty
The surgical facilities at the front, accord
ing to young Reed. are entirely inadequate
Captain English being without any surgical
attendance for more than a day. and at the
end of that time received only a
cursory examination. AS conse-
quence he was unable to withstand
the the. strain caused BY his injuries, and he
was ordered aboard the hospital ship SEN
eca, along with a number of others bound
ior American hospitals. During the trip to
Newport News the representative of cine
matograph company, who had been with
the army, was taken i'll with a complaint
which bore striking resemblance to yellow
IeVer. When this was reported to the port
authorities they refused to let the Seneca
land her sick soldiers and, after being in
proceeded to New York, the yellow fever
patient having recovered by the time that
port was reached.
Reed says that at the time of receiving
his injury Captain English was six miles
from Ell Caney and one thousand yards
from the confines of Santiago. The stream
OF soldiers constantly being sent to the rear
was not composed entirely of wounded men
by any means. At the time Captain English
,eit santiago ant which was after TIE battle.
being sent to the rear from the firing line
suffering from fever: On the Seneca there
We're, besides the sick ones, 106 wounded
men who during the whole trip did not re-
ceive any treatment whatever some of
them them dying as a consequence Each man man
their comrades could give them. Reed as
serts that there is not an authentic case
or yellow fever in the camp, but there is
plenty of malaria manifest on all sides.
since leaving home a little over a month
ago Captain English has lost forty. pounds
in weight The orderly relates that one
man who happened to come under the notice
Of Captain. English was sent to the hos
| tOFtu0S from malari11 ArrUinv qf
the hospital II was found there were no
accommodations for him and after lingering
tention. So hard up are the hospitals that
the musicians are used to fill up the places
where surgeons and stewards should
be. The commissariat is also open
to criticism, as for days even the
general and staff officers were without RAJ
hard hard work ahead Of them G eneraI w RF ne
however, could not be kept in bed. His
place was, as he considered it was on the
firing line, and there he stayed. Reed
says it came TO be a common saying in the
army that the surest way 10 find General
wheeler was to look for a Spanish, flag,
and somewhere near there he would be
found.
/ Reed says the only water the army had to
drink was taken from a small stream rum
ming down the hills back of Santiago and
this was polluted continually by the CIbans
bathing and washing their clothes in it. 1t
became so unbearable after q time that
General Shafter placed a. guard over the
stream to keep the Cubans away. Nothing
was aSCOiiiPlS4iSu W ILiS HlSlhOu, uoWSVeI,
as the followers of Garcia retired into the
highlands, farther up the stream, and con-
tinued to breed disease in the water, in
spite of the army. AS a last resource Gen.
Shafter ordered the water to be boiled, and
while this helped the matter somewhat it
did no permanent good up to the time Capt.
English came away The men continued to
come into the hospitals at the rate of from
thirty to forty a day. Every man who sank
under the hardships was forced out of the
hospitals at a time when he needed care the
most and was placed on troop ships, where
there was practically no medical attend
ance, in order to make room for the stream
of men arriving every day from the firing
line
in their nature and actions, like lot of In
dams. All they seem able to do well Is to
shoulder their gunnysacks and report every
day for rations. They won't fight and they
refuse to work, and the opinion expressed
by the officers of General Wheeler's division
was that they were more bother than they
were worth. One man of the cavalry, dur
for three days in the country. During that
time he lived on mangoes and cocoanuts
and suffered untold agony. When he finally
regained his regiment his hair had changed
from black to nearly white.
In Captain English'S case, the climate
made greater ravages from the fact that,
when he left home, he was suffering from
stomach troubles When the time came
that he was compelled to eat hard tack and
coarse bacon with army coffee, his stomach
revolted and a consequence he was re-
duced to the last point of weakness While
there have been no plans of g settled char
acter made for his return to this city, 1t is
understood that he will remain in New York
for some time under surgical treatment.