Evening star., 1898-10-07

Quoting the business Of my office.
'In addition to this, there have been ap
pointed by the President eight corps sur
geons. with the rank of lieutenant colonel:
twenty-four division surgeons, with the
rank of major. and eighty-six brigade sur
geons: also three medical officers for each
of the regiments of the United States in
fantry, cavalry and engineers. All volun-
teer regiments have three medical officers
appointed by governors of states.
The very small proportion OF expe-
rienced medical officers has seriously i'm
paired the efficiency of the medical de-
partment. but many of the division and
brigade surgeons from civil life have shown
great aptitude for the service, and have
already become valuable medical officers.
The same is true of many of the doctors
employed under contract.
Medical Officers in Fifth Corps.
Referring to the alleged deficiency of
medical officers with the 9TH Army Corps
at Santiago, l would say that this corps,
upon leaving Tampa, had with it thirty-sx
regular medical officers fifteen commission
ed volunteer medical officers and twenty
contract doctors. total of seventy-one, or
four per 1000 of the strength of the
command which, l was informed, was
about 5000. Additional medical assistance
was sent by the hospital ship Relief. which
arrived at Siboney July with twenty doc
tors board. There was also some volunteer
assistance by DIR. Lesser of the Red Cross
Society, DR.. Rudberg of the Swedish navy
and several surgeons of the navy from
ships in the vicinity.
The Hospital Corps.
at has not been the expectation Of the
medical department that every wounded
man would Immediately receive the atten-
ton of a surgeon. No modern army makes
provision for so large a number of medical
officers as this would require. But attached
to our army there is corps of non-com-
batants known as the Hospital Corps,
which is the organized and authorized Red
Cross of the army. At the outbreak of the
war we had 1,SOO Hospital Corps men in
service. At present there are more than
5000. These men wear brasard upon the
left arm, bearing the Red Cross of the
Geneva convention. We have done our
best to instruct them in giving first aid to
the wounded, and in majority OF cases
first-aid dressing properly applied by one
of these men is all that Is required. All
of the surgeons who have come from the
front have testified to the remarkable re-
suits attained from the prompt appilcatlOn
of aseptic dres sings by our Hospital Corps
men and by the soldiers themselves.or or their
comrades. The proper application of the
dressings contained in the frSt-aid packet,
which is carried by every soldier, is, under
existing regulations. matter In which
every enlisted man has special instruction.
For some time past this instruction mas
the company officers, and by them to the
enlisted men.
The Death of Lieut.. Laferty.
DR.. William W. Walker. the physician
who attended Lieut.. Lafferty in his last
illness at Camp Wikoff. has sent an ex-
aratio1 of his connection with the case
to the Investigating commission. The let
ter is dated October 2, and was written at
Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He says the
lieutenant lad been warned in Cuba and
had afteryard had typhoid fever, which
was followed by phlebitis. He grew better,
but afterward developed pneumonia. The
letter continues, follows:
"Dr. Dellafield. a very prominent New
York physician; Col. n. Som, Maj Thom-
ascn, Col. Greenleaf. Capt. Jackson and
some other prominent physicians were call
ed in consultation in Lieut.. Lafferty'S case.
A screen was placed around his bed and a
special nurse was detailed night anu DAY
to attend Lieut.. Laferty alone also an
orderly. whose duty it was to devote their
whole time to Lieut.. Lafferty. L saw him
every hour during the day. / made my
visit to the ward at pm. and again from
u to 1 am. and at 5:3o am. If ything
occurred in the ward l was called, and an
swered cheerfully at any hour.
After Miss Annie Wheeler left us as
chief nurse Miss Murray assistant nurse
was made chief. She is a noble, fine, hard
working, painstaking woman. who took es-
pecial pains to see Lieut.. Lafferty needed
nothing we could give him. Lieut. Latter
ty was the only death in the officers ward
in three weeks l had charge, and one
regretted it more than your humble serv-
ant. Lieut.. Lafferty, If at his home and
able to command million dollars, could
not have secured higher medical talent or
better nursing than he received in the Off
GERS ward at the general hospital at Camp
Wikoff, and | defy the world to prove the
contrary.
Mrs. Lafferty, Lieut.. Lafferty's mother
arrived at Camp Wikof ten days before mis-
death, and there was nothing Maj. Nam
cread, Maj. Brown. Maj. Thomason, Capt
jackson, M. D., or Col. Greenleaf or [
could do to please her; the same with the
lady nurses. and when Lieut.. Lafferty
died. about 10 am Monday, September 49,
she told me had killed her son. and asked
me TO kill her. l did my duty, as can be
proved by every officer in the ward and
medical man in the hospital