Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-11-05
FACTSWITHOUTLIM
Being Gathered by the Commits.
sion investigating the Con.
duct of the War.
THREE MILLS GOING At ONE TINE

Grinding Out Record That Will De Vol
| uminous-Fate of = kentucky SOIdie,
4 and Neglect Alleged to Have Been the
| Cause - Chaplain Yatman Heard Nc
| ComPIaints-Gen. Lawton Declares All
the HardshiPs Were Necessary Con-
| comitants CT War.
Cincinnati, Nov. 5.-The war investiga-
| ton commission had interesting ses-
| sions yesterday. II had among the wit
| nesses four officers who served in the
| Santiago campaign, one OF them being
| General H. c. Egbert, who as lieuten-
ant colonel of the Sixth United States
| infantry. was shot down al San Juan
| hill By bullet piercing his chest. The
general appears entirely recovered. Lieu
| tenant Colonel Miner, now in command
of the Sixth infantry. was another in
tcresting witness. Perhaps the most
suggestive testimony was that given by
Major Griffith. of Kansas City. who was
in charge of the Third division hospital
of the First corps. Previous to his testi-
Inony was that of DR.. Marage, contract
surgeon, Sixth infantry; William H.
Davis. of Cincinnati, who said thewatcr
supply at ChickamauSa was bad: Cen
eral Esbert, who said the condition of
things on the transport which
brought him home was bad. and several
others. All these criticised some pc--
lions OF the military administration.
Case of Alder; Boedeker.
Fred J. Flueger, of Newport, KY, went
to Chickamauga Aug. l 10 bring home
Albert BCedeker. of the Second Ken
lucky. who was lying in the hospital.
He found him in tent with four
other patients. the space between the
cots being so narrow that witness had
to walk sideways in going through. In
an adjoining tent he saw q man with 4
quantity OF moEgots on his body. He
reported this Immediately to the at
tendants, who said they cid not know it
had happened. They carried the al oUJ.
washed him off and took him back. The
next Gay he died. Bocdeker took cold
and was at first refused admittance to
the hospital, but finally the captain got
him in. He lay there twelve days on a
blanket on the ground with one blanket
over him. Then he was sent to his
quarters for full duty and next day a:
inspection he stood in line three hours
when he again broke down. He was then
in the hospital until the witness brought
him home. He reached home Aug.
and died Aug. S.
Trouble TO Obtain Tents. |
Major Griffith testified regarding the
camp conditions at Chickamauga and !
the hospitals. He had difficulty IN get
ting enough tents and when he secured =
the proper number he found the last 4
ones OF poor quality. From private ard /
state sources the regiments we2e sup
piled with hospital tents. The staff of ;
the division hospital was inadequate
when the increase OF sickness occurred.
Sickness among the surgeons reduced
the working force. He said there would
have been no difficulty in getting hun
dreds Of competent surgeons at Chicka-
manga within week. He said he knew
many applications were refused.
Cause o. Trouble at the Hospitals.
He attributed the failure at the Camp
Thomas hospitals TO red tape and
peace for thirty years. which had in
-apacitated the department for expan-
SIGN for emergency. If congress had es-
ablished a hospital corps the trouble
might have been avoided. He asked the
,crps commander on June goth to have
he typhoid patients isolated. The cpl
7emic could have thus been avoided,
out no attention Was given u the re-
quest. He regarded flies and water as
he causes Of the infection. The beer
drinking and the unWholesoue food as
listed in developing typhoid germs. The
from typhoid fever in this
hospital was sixty-six out of 1857 cases.