The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-20

camp. He attributed it largely to the age
OF the men. young people being more sus-
oeptible than those more advanced In age
10 this disease. He also thought much was
due 10 the carelessness of the men them
selves. DR. Frye said that in all the hos
pitals with which he had been connected
there had been a deficiency of bed linen.
This had been especially true at Fort Nc
.2herson. There had been orders to prepare
beds for thousand patients there, but this
hospital here had also been short of light
Ing facilities. There was not sufficiency
been made for them but they could not be
incurred from the government stores owing
20 the construction of orders. Hence 1t was
necessary to depend upon the Red Cross for
these articles. DIR. Frye expressed the
opinion that in several instances GONZALES
cents had been sent away from the hospitals
with which he was connected before they
were sufficiently advanced to permit them
TO go in salty. He had no personal knowl-
edge Of any individual case of this kind, but
VAS satisfied that such cases had occurred.
He thought these instances were due to in
sufficient supervision, to ignorance of physi-
clans, and to desire to clear the wards of
the hospitals for new patients.
"A SCABBY-LOOKING LOT"
DR. Frye spoke in very uncomplimentary
terms of the men engaged in the hospital
corps. saying that they mad been picked up
at random over the country and were gen
orally scabby-Iooking lot,' not fit to adorn
any walk of life. He also spoke depre-
catingly of the contract surgeons. saying
that he would not be willing to trust his
Family or friends to 80 per cent. of them.
Many of them,' he said, ARE recent
graduates from medical institutions and /
do not consider the average medical gradu-
ate capable of taking charge of from TWEEN
1y-five tc fifty typhoid fever cases.
There was. he said. no proper opportunity
Tor consultation with superior officers, as
no tar NO a ref1Ia
cupied with their administrative duties as
to prevent their giving closer attention to
upon He considered this system wrong,
aid considered there should be more su-
pervision in serious cases in the hospital
on the part of the experienced men. In
reply to a request from General Dodge,
Major Frye gave his opinion TO the ORR
gin of the popular excitement concerning
conditions at MOntauk Point when the
troops were stationed there He said that
80 to IS per cent. of the men were sick when
they landed there and that insufficient pro-
vision mad been made for them. As a con-
sequence many We're compelled to lie upon
the bare ground, and they naturally suf-
Tered from exposure He also asserted that
reporters of the many newspapers had been
sent to the camp under instructions to find
al that was bad and nothing that was
DO you know this of your own personal
knowledge?" he was asked. and he replied:
mo, but ! was told it by men who talked
with the reporters"
Colonel Bows. of the Forty-ninth Iowa
Regiment followed DIR. Frye. and he was,
an turn, followed by various members of his
regiment. Colonel Bows said there had
been no deficiency in the commssary sup
plies The men have the regular army
1ations, he said. land If they have not
bad enough the fault is theirs" He had
had some complaints against the meat. and
an all cases the undesirable article was ex-
changed upon application and without GO
Ing through the form of condemnation.
Speaking of the medical supplies, Colonel
Bows said that a physician whom Governor
Shaw had sent TO the camp had spoken with
surprise of the variety and the quality of
the medicines and medical appliances on
hand.
GENERAL WILLISTON'S TESTIMONY
Gen f. 3. Williston. in command of the
First Brigade Of the Seventh Corps was
questioned about various points, having
been stationed at Camp Thomass Montauk
Point, Admission and other points before
coming to Jacksonville. He said the princi-
pal objection he had to Camp Thomas, in
Ehiekamauga Park, was the fact that it
was impossible. on account of the forma-
non of the ground. to have sinks more
than two or three feet in depth. There had
Rlso been an insufiiciency of water in the
beginning of the history of the camp. The
water was taken from wells and while he
did not believe the water was contaminated
from the surface. he thought it had too
much magnesia in it to be wholesome. He
had found difficulty in getting sufficient
water for stock at that period, but General
BOynton had afterwards constructed two
wells in the vicinity of his camp, thus re-
moving this objection.
Speaking ofsthe conditions at Jackson
VILE. he said he did not see that any fault
could be found with either the administra-
tive officers or the service performed by
them in either the medical. commissary or
quartermaster departments. Most of his
STAFF officers were volunteers. but he had
found them very efficient. He had also
found the troops in his command splendidly
equipped and had found the regimertal Off
GERS especially jealous to maintain the best
sanitary conditions possible.
General Williston had been at Montauk
from the 10th of August to the 18th of Sep
tenber. and had superintendent the debark-
alton of the troops and tho location of the
infantry regiments in camp. Never" said
he, was a prettier camp pitched in the
United States than that camp at Mon
sauk. He said there We're tents erected for
ten thousand men before men arrived. and
all they had TO do to walk into them,
and. so far as the men who We're not sick
were concerned, they were well provided
for. He said the site was splendidly adapted
40 the service and that the camp was
abundantly supplied with stores of all
kinds.