The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-19
COL. MAUS.
He Testifes
About Camp
AT JACKSONVILLE.
War Board Begins Exami-
nation Of Witnesses.

SWolH. ne ~ Il reg tlldI army surgeon
and has occupied his present position
practically throughout the history Of
the camp. He said there was only a
small field hospital when he arrived, in
May and there were very few sick
men. Sickness developed very slowly,
and there was very little of it until
July.
He said that when the order came
for the establishment of division hos
pltals there was some delay in getting
supplies, such as tents, when he made
his acquisitions on Tampa, but, find
ing that all efforts there We're directed
10 getting the expedition Off he made
MS acquisitions upon Washington di-
rect. After this they were promptly
nlled There was no suffering among
the SICK. Still they did not have the
injuries at the beginning of the war
tnat there were In the latter days of it.
NOR" added the DOCTOR 'do / think
that the history of the war has ever
seen parallel to our present care of
the sick"
Taking up the present condition Of
the hospitals, he said there were 300
trained female nurses now at work
mere. He said the employment of these
tory.
Replying to question, DR.. Maus said
9hat after the first few DAYS there had
oeen no refusal of supplies, and that
dll acquisitions had been filled with ex-
ceptlonal promptitude. He had never
seen such utter disregard of expense
In caring for sick soldiers.
He also said that the Red Cross So
ciety had given so much that it was
orten unnecessary to ask the govern
ment for supplies. There had been no
restrictions in the matter Of fitting cut
the camps. He thought that typhoid
mad been introduced to the camp by
Mississippi and Virginia troops. Shall
low wells and surface drainage had
done much to increase the scourge, but
he was confident that the regular water
supply of the city had not been in any
sense responsible for it.
From the beginning very strict atten-
ton had been given to the sinks. He
had never in his life seen such atten-
ton given to sanitation in camp, but
despite this care typhoid broke out and
became the principal sickness here.
In the early history of the war some
OF the volunteer regiment surgeons had
been found negligent in the matter Of
inspection, but later on sanitation had
become the principal duty of everybody
about the camp.
Dr. Maus said that in the history of
the camp there had been 2S4 deaths out
Of $1,000 men, and that about so per
cent of the deaths had been from fe-
yer. He thought the fever was now
decreasing. He mentioned one instance
in which serious sickness had followed
use of tainted meat, and said he had
heard of a few other instances in
which poor meat had been issued. Still
these cases were rare and no more fire.
quent than should be expected Dr.
Conner questioned DR.. Maus about the
acceptance of outside aid, and quoted
a report from Col. Guild, Inspector
general, saying that but for the action
of the Red Cross Society the sick
would have been without essential sup
port for two months.
That statement, said Col. Maus, lis
entirely false. The government would
have supplied them if the Red Cross
had not"
DR.. Maus also denied the truth Of a
statement made by .the governor of
Iowa, that there was only one nurse
in charge Of 16 typhoid patients He
said, however, that the nurses sent by
the governor of Iowa had been accepted
not because the government was negli-
gent, but because they were needed
He said also in reply to DIR. Conner
that the dissemination of disease by
flies was still theory, but he thought
it very probable one.
DR.. Maus was questioned in regard
to the camp at Maimi. He said he had
investigated it and found 1t to be I'M
suitable on account of the water, which
analysis had shown to be impure. He
also thought Tampa unsuited to large
army camp. He said in reply to a crit
icism from a Jacksonville lady, that
Gen. Lee had given the most careful
attention to the hospitals. That he
made frequent visits to the sick men
and did much to cheer them up. Speak
ing of complaints from the I'd New Jer-
sey regiment, he said their officers had
not given careful attention to their ad-
ministrative duties and as conse-
quence they became stampeded. In the
case of one company, IS at one time hao
been reported sick. where as he had
found upon investigation that there
were only IS sick. The officers apparent
ly had given more attention to critics.
ing the administration of the camp
than to looking after the wants of then
men, when 1t was their duty to do this
and not the duty of any other persons
A letter was read from Mrs. Gordon
wife of Gen. w. Gordon, in relation tC
the hospital at Maimi, in which she
made serious charges, among them
one to the effect that the hospital
nurse had become intoxicated and sci
fire to fever patients bed, burning
him somewhat, and another that flies
were often found crawling into the
mouths of dying patients.
Dr. Maus had a report from DIR. vii
las in charge of the hospital read adj
hitting the statement concerning the
burning of patients bed, but denying
all others.
DR. Mans EXPRESSED the oninion thai
the charges were exaggerated.
Col. Oliver e. Wood, chief commissary
at Camp Cuba Libre, under command
of Gen. Lee, was before the commits
sion at its afternoon session. He said
that as a rule the quality of supplies
was excellent. At first there had beer
trouble with the bacon, and about $780,
600 pounds of it had been spoiled, and
therefore ordered destroyed. All the
fresh beef was brought to the camps
in refrigerator cars. AS a rule this
meat was excellent, and in cases where
the meat was not good, the contractors
had replaced it without requiring offic-
ial condemnation. Col Wood read a let
ter he had written to Gen. Lee. in re-
Spouse to q complaint made by Col
w. j. Bryan concerning the beef. In
this letter he said that If beef was
spoiled 1t was generally due to the al
most criminal negligence of regiment
and company officers
Capt Chauncey V. Baker chief quar-
termaster was also examined during
the afternoon session. He said that
when he arrived the command was
short of all kinds of stores and that
he had been unable in the beginning to
meet all requisitions for supplies when
made by the regiments as they arrived.