Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1898-09-07
CHICKAMAUCA PARK.
Governor Black OF New York
Visits Camp Thomas.
MAKES PUBLIC HIS IMPRESSIONS.
Stories of Suffering Greatly Exagger.
ated-FOund New York Troops I'm
Had Condition-Camp should
Have Been Moved.

Chickamauga Park, Ga, August 81.
Governor black, of Xew York, who
arrived Monday night, visited Chicka-
mauga Park Tuesday in company
with DR.. Alva H. Doty, health officer
oil the port of New York city, and
Colonel freadway, his secretary. He
visaed the camp OF the Eighth, Ninth
and Fourteenth New York regiments
and carefully inspected each. He
also visited the division and Stern
berg Hospitals, returning to the city
at 1880 O'Clock last night.
Governor Black was seen last night
by an Associa ted Press representative
and was asked as to the conditions as
he found them in the camps of the
New York regiments. as well as those
at division hospitals.
Governor Black said that there ap-
peared to be perfect hydrophobia"
among newspapers over the condition
of the soldiers; that the press bristled
with such phrases as hollow eyed"
and Starving" in articles descriptive
of the troops. He gave it as his opin-
on that the matter was exaggerated,
manufactured in newspaper Offices"
and the outcome and result of "iour.
nalistic knavery."
When assured that his views would
be printed verbatim, and not with
held because they failed to concur
with the present newspaper craze"
his eXcellency gave the following in
terview:
"My impression" said Governor
Black, "of the camp of the New York
troops at Chickamauga Park is not
half as bad as l had expected it would
be. The unfavorable condition of the
camp and hospitals has, beyond q
doubt, been very greatly exaggerated
by the press.
"The division hospital in which the
sick soldiers of the Ninth New York
infantry are quartered is certainly in
very bad condition The present
state of this hospital ought never to
have been permitted to exist and
should be corrected at once
i think that the troops at Chicka.
mauga Park should have been moved
long before any sickness broke out in
the ranks.
The Sternberg hospital Is in excel
lent condition. do mot see that It
could be made anys'cetter. 1t is ad-
mirable, both in plan and manage
ment.
"As to the New York troops at
Chickamauga, I mean to take as
many home to New York as can. I
shall also endeavor to have as many
mustered out as possible, and those
that I cannot have mustered out
will employ every endeayor to have
moved to Northern camps at the ear.
liest possible date.
THE hospitals Of the Eighth and
Fourteenth New York regiments are
much better in every particular than
the one in which the Sick of the Ninth
New York infantry are quartered."
The case of Private Num-, of the
ambulance company, who was trans
ferred from the Ninth New York, was
reported to the governor by Captain
O'Connor, of Company A, Ninth New
York, and was reported by the gov
ernor to Washington for investiga-
ton.
Captain O'Connor's statement was
That he had found the body of Num-
lying naked in a division hospital two
days after death, infested by mag
gots; that an autopsy had been held,
and that no preparation had been
made for the care or interment of the
body up to the time of the finding by
OConnor. The affair has created a
great stir, and it will result in the
trial of Captain O'Connor by court
martial.
Governor Black and party left for
Huntsville at s o'clock this morning
and then will go to Lexington.
General II. V. Boynton, chairman Of
the Chickamauga-Chattanooga Ma
tional Military Park commission, or
dered by the war department to thor
oughly investigate the conditions at
Camp Thomas and report thereon,
has completed his report and for
warded it to Washington. The report
is favorable on nearly every matter
investigated. The water is said to be
good, the ground well. adapted for
camping purposes, the hospitals well
located, and the attention given the
sick as good as could be expected.
The indications are that the report
will bring on warm dispute, as nu-
merous statements contained therein
are contradicted by high army Off
cials. The full text of the report 10
expected to be made public by the
government officials after they have
passed on it.
Washington, August 30.-Represen-
tatiye Grosvenor, of Ohio, called at
the war department to-day in COM
pany with ex-Representative Thomp-
son, to report to Secretary Alger the
results of their visit of inspection Of
the camp at Dunn Loring, and par
ticularly the state of affairs in the
Seventh Ohio regiment. General Gros-
yenor was emphatic in his approval
IF what - saw. He said:
IT ntterS Saw body II soldiers ber-
ter fed, better clothed and better
sheltered than is the Seventh Ohio
regiment at present. So much for the
general condition. Now as to the par
ticulars: There were 1900 men in the
regiment. Except from suicide, there
have been two deaths among them
| since the organization, four and a
half months ago. Including the men
who were furloughed to go home and
recuperate and those in fhe hospitals.
| there were only forty-one men unable
to report for duty this morning. A
dner, abler set Of men never saw Z
ny Life"