The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-09-17
A HOSPITAL SHIP


the past week. One could follow the
| war better il New York
July 29.-The Lampasas has been
/ converted into a hospital ship and We
| nave about 10 sick on board. They
are nearly all medical cases, and most
! " typhoid. We have worked hard the
! past few days and while I have been
! disappointed that I did not have the
! opportunity Of going on the field and
/ having surgical cases, the experience
| has been valuable and we have the sat
! isfactiOn Of having saved many lives.
! We can get no communication with
] Miss Barton, so Dr. Williams saw
/ Gen. Miles and he orders US to Porto
| Rico. The Engineer Corps lay a bridge
| from the ship to the shore and the
mules and horses are given a run on
shore and sea bath. How they en-
| jOyed it after twelve days confinement
on ship. DR.. Miller and I rOwed over
TO the Marblehead one evening and
had a very pleasant time hearing the
accounts the officers gave of their ex-
periences. We stayed at Guantanamo
from the 10Th to the 22nd of July and
sailed for Guanic3, Porto Rico Guam
lea is a beautiful place. The noun
tains back Of the town resemble Ma
kaweH and the town is much like a
Hawaiian town. Quite a bit Of pasture
land lies near the village with herds
Of cattle and horses. Our head Doctor
VOgel is ashore with the troops Charl-
ton and l are detailed to go to the
Saltwater" to take care of some sick
men. We find one with a temperature
OF 103 degrees We give him an ice
bath and bring it down to 1914 degrees.
There are regulars on board and the
officers are splendid fellows Stayed
aboard all night and at ) a. m go
ashore and look at the town Mostly
wooden houses, some matched. There
are groves of cOcOanut and banana
trees. l see pineapples, POnciana, Al
ligatOr pears, Pride of India, Dates,
Crepe Myrtle Bride of Barbados,
mangoes, (no fruit and lantana The
people look like Portuguese and pro-
claim themselves 'Americanos" There
were about 200 Spaniards to defend
the town, but they made a miserable
defense. A little pile of stones was
laid across the main street, which
could easily be knocked down We
walked up the main street and passed
Gen. Miles and staff. He is fine look
ing. A sugar mill is in the distance
and we pass a field of rattoOn cane. A
wounded soldier came down the road
supported by two comrades. We stop
and examine him and find that he is
shot through the pOrtesian muscle of
his neck. 1t is a lucky escape, for it
just missed his spinal cord. The holes
are small-probably by a Mauser bull
let. There are a few horses seen
around here; they are little runts. When
we return to the landing the Lampasas
is not to be seen, and we speculate
about our future if we are left. We
feel better when we see the Lampasas
off the harbor alongside of the Yale.
We row over to the pOntOOn bridge, by
which the horses and Gen. Miles were
landed and the Lampasas returns and
we go on board and what scene we
seei Over sixty. sick men have been
put on board from the Yale and they
are lying over the decks, and the
nurses, arrayed in their neat uniforms
and caps, are busy washing them, the
doctors taking their temperatures, etc.
There was work, plenty, until midnight
and | have never worked so hard in
my life. There were no orderlies so We
had to do all the work of lifting the
men. BY midnight we had settled
facilities for nursing are very poor. We
had no fresh milk and had to use con-
densed. The ice supply was limited
and we had very little medicine. The
Government could furnish us nothing
and what they would have done if we
had not been there we do not know.
Fully 80 per cent of the sick must have
died. When l finally turned in that
night my legs and feet ached so that 1
could not sleep. The next day (27th)
we rejOiced greatly to have a detail Of
ten men to help us. The work was
| largely the same as on the first day
Some of the cases were very bad de-
| liriOuS, and had to be watched careful
| ly. Dr.. Miller proved himself to be a
| brick He had the responsibility of
| seventy-five sick men on him and met
| it splendidly. Drs. VOgel and Williams
| both left US. The nurses worked
splendidly, especially the German
nurses, who are strong, careful and
| intelligent. One poor fellow died in the
morning. There was considerable fir
| ing every night in the picket line.
| Night before last | had just gotten
sOundly asleep, after tossing about in
a prOfuse perspiratiOn for an hour or
so, when l was called out by Dr.. Mil
| Ter to help him. Twenty-eight men
| had been sent over from the Duchess,
transport, and they kept us busy until
| a. m The second death was just at
| dinner time-a man from the Sixth
| Massachusetts. He made a good fight
| but was too far gone when we got him.
From delirium he went into a state of
coma. l had charge of sewing him up
in the sheets and had several soldiers
| to help me, but they felt repugnance
at handling a dead body and l had to
| do nearly all the work myself The
| flies are our greatest torment They
are thick, and sting as I have never
| before known them to do. We left
| Guanica this afternoon and arrived at
this beautiful place, Ponce, about two
| hours later