The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-11-11
THE SICK JARED BADLY.
No Regular Nurses Were Aboard
the Cruiser Prairie.
CAPTAIN BOOTHS STORY
Major Corliss OF the 7th Infantry Tells
b Commission There Wa o Fair
Quantity OF Provisions 9
FL Ceney.

Detroit. Mich, Nov. 10.-The western
section OF the war investigation COM
mission to-day began the examination
Of witnesses at the Hotel Cadillac. Ma
jor Corliss OF the 7th infantry was the
first witness. During the war the major
was in amp at Chickamauga and
Tampa; went to Cuba with the army Of
occupation. vas wounded at FL Caney
and returned to New York on the
transport Seneca.
At FL Caney he said his men were
supplied with a fair quantity OF ra-
tions. but there was some growing.
After being wounded the major was an
inmate of several Cuban hospitals and
in all of them. he says, he Jared very
well. Delicacies for the sick and drugs.
however. were scarce. and a great part
of the supplies were contributed by re-
lief associations. Corliss denied en-
phatically a statement made by a pri-
vate of his regiment that positions as
corporal could be purchased.
Captain Charles Booth, eth infantry,
testified that he returned from Cuta
with three d companies aboard the
auxiliary cruiser Prairie. which had ac-
commodations for carrying troops.
There were no regular nurses aboard
and the two doctors. the witness con-
sldered. were young and inexperienced
and hardly qualified to cope with the
conditions. especially as one of them
was III. Captain Booth said the men
were all in such miserable condition
from malarial poisoning on reaching
Montauk Point that their tomachs
would retain nothing.
DIR. Charles Il. Nancrede, surgeon OF
the 33rd Michigan volunteers. testified
in relation to conditions as he had OBJ
served them at Camp Alger. Siboney
and Montauk. Except in reference to
water, he thought the site of Camp
Alger satisfactory.
Questioned by DR.. Conner as to
whether Major Appel. surgeon in
charge of omedical work and supplies
at Siboney. fully attended to his duties.
DR.. Nancrede replied that there was
great delay in transferring the sick and
wounded from the hospitals to the
ships. They had much difficulty. he
said, in finding DIR. Appel, who stayed
aboard the hospital ship Olivette.
Witness said that the sick suffered
especially in the early part of the cam
paign from the multiplicity of duties
imposed upon the medical officers. The
fault was not so much the kim OF
doctors, but lack OF proper assignment
and management of the whole.
Asked as to the efficiency of the d.
vision as compared to he regimental
system of hospitals. the witness stated
NlldN III MS lAAc thS AaoS
pital was all right in dealing with reg
ular troops, but that with volunteers
there should have been more than n
surgeon with each regiment: He said:
II saw at Montauk no willful neglect.
but / did notice inconvenience n
discomforts consequent upon the lack
Of division OF labor and responsibility.
Interference from friends and relatives
vas a great source of trouble and, 1
think, caused the f~urloughing OF a
great many patients from the hos pital
before they were well enough to be
removed"
DIR. Lawrence d. Knowles of Three
Rivers, major surgeon of the 32nd Mich
igan volunteers, was heard in reference
to the hospitals at Tampa and Fernan-
dina. He said that at times they were
short of medical supplies at Tampa.
DR.. Conner read from a report OF an
inspection of the Fernandina hospital,
Aug. IS, and called to the
criticism that the bed clothes were not
properly cleaned. DIR. Knowles said
that these clothes were ~sprinkled with
chloride of lime and with bi-chlorlde Of
mercury when they could get II, and
after that were thoroughly boiled. He
admitted the truth of the inspectors re-
port that the number of nurses was in
adequate. He had made acquisitions to
the chief surgeon OF the corps, DR.. Hen
ry, for more nurses, but he admitted
that he did not go further In his quest.
DIR. Connor asked why he did not write
or wire the surgeon general OF the army
on the subject. The witness replied that
If he did not have any better success
than he had in applying for lime, 1t
would ave been OF no use.
Mrs. Richards of Boston testified as
to the condition OF the hospitals at
Camp Thomas. where she voluntarily
helped take care of h soldiers from
June 9 to Aug. 4, by permission of Gen.
eral Brooke. She said:
I'm the second division. third corps
hospital. / would mention the dirt and
disorder. the lack of quiet. the absence
stencil. Patients were frequently filthy
and they were very infrequently
bathed. Some with high fevers were
never bathed, not even having their
necks and arms ~sponged. / found pa
tients with their eyes. nostrils and
was there, but II was not always In
use; there was utter neglect In putting
the mosquito netting down where II
would relieve the men. My opinion Is
that the nurses were incompetent. but
that is not TRANCE. perhaps, in view
OF the fact that they were taken from
the ranks"
they could be provided under the army
regulations.
7th United States infantry. testified to
having returned from Cuba on the
Concha. which carried 1I5 sick men.
No medical officer was detailed to go
with the ship. but DIR. Lesser. a volun-
teer doctor from the Red Cross, was
aboard and had with him a pharmacist
and eight Red Cross women nurses.
There was nothing to eat on the a
excepting the ordinary rations. not any
such food as sick people could eat.