The age-herald., 1898-11-09
MANY COMPLAINTS FILED
Accumulation , Of Papers Would Fill a
 -. 2 s7a' Large Room.
SESSION AT CHICAGO YESTERDAY
pr. G. A..Smith Testified as to the Lack of Medicinal Supplies Furnish ed by the Government at
 Camp Thomas.

Chicago, November S-The war invest- | gating committee today continued the ex- | animation of witnesses. General Dodge,
 chairman of the committee, now says that | he can begin to see the end of the long in- l vestigation. After some evidence has been | heard at Detroit, the committee will go to Washington. They have yet to visit Camp | Meade, Pa., but it is likely that this camp | Iwsill not be reached until after their return to Washington
 As an official body members of the com
 mission have inspected since their appoint ment Camp Alger,s Va, Jacksonville, Fer
 ssandinas Fort Miami, Tampa, Atlanta. An nistoh, Huntsville, Chickamauga, Lexing- ten, Cincinnati, Fort Thomas and Chicago. According to Dr. Conner, the accumula- tion of papers and documents in the posses sion of the committee would fill a large sized room. They consist of many surgeons reports, letters from private soldiers and nurses complaints, reports of quartermas- ters and commissaries, and mass of tes- timony which has been heard by the com
 mittee. ...- Dr. G. A. Smith, of Linton, Iowa. was
 the first witness today. From August to
 September 10 he was in charge of the sec
 oId divisionj third army hospital at Camp
 Thomas. pr. Smith said:
 When assumed my duties July 14 I
 found a shortage of tents and cots. The pa tients in the hospital were crowded on ac-
 count of tent shortage. Some of the pa- tients were lying on the ground on account Of lack of cots. There were no provisions made for feeding the sick, other than the ratons issued to the soldiers in the regular service, except such as were brought in by charitable organizations, principal of which were the Red Cross society and the Ma tional Relief.
 No Anti-Septics -st- "In the pharmacy there was at that time no intestinal antiseptics, although the com handing officer informed me when made requisition that he had made repea ted efforts to get them The pharmacy at that time, and indeed, until it was order ed closed and turned the stores over to the | government on the 9th of September, never mad any proper equipment for doing pha r. maceutica work There we're no scales to measure; with, the hospital steward used a board for time and an ordinary jack | kDile for spectacle. There were no pill DoxeS or powder papers. The stewards dis pensed, tablets.and pills in any paper they could secure, and they were carried to the
 wards in that, shape, and owing to the prev
 alence or dampness at night, they would
 become sticky mass not fit for use.''
 lie went. onto say that the medical SUD-
 plies did improve after the 1st of August, but up to that time there had been a, great
 scarcity of suitable supplies.
 In speaking of the water supply furnished
 the hospital pr, Smith said: "The water
 that was furnished for the use of these hospitals up to- August 1 was taken from
 the Chickamauga creek, and 1t was so full
 Of sediment that it was simply sIush. and
 was not water"
 think that fully one-half of our sheets.
 pillow cases. and pajamas were furnished
 by charitable institutions of various kinds
 and that practically all the nourishment
 provided for seriously sick men was furn-
 ished by the Red Cross Society and the
 National Relief association. We obtained all our ices and milk from other sources than the government. I was told that it was expected there would be a hospital fund on hand large enough to purcha SC these things. The United States govern
 ment dld not supply any special diet or delicacies for sick men; these were ob- tained from the relief associations" Brooke Was to Blame
 Witness thought the bad reputation of the Second division hospital was due to the
 fact that it had been located with the idea
 that It was to be maintained for only a
 few weeks and proper provision was not
 made for drainage "I believe that Gen.
 eral Brooke who was in command of the
 First army corps, and also in command of
 Chickamauga Park was Instrumental in
 defecting large bulk of the supplies into
 the First corps, to the detriment of the
 Second division hospital.
 Mrs. Trumbul White of Chicago who
 went to Cuba with Miss Clara Barton on
 the Texas and assisted the latter for a con
 siderable time at Siboney, gave as her
 opinion that there was great lack of at tendants at fever hospitals at Siboney, and also a scarcity of supplies.
 Rev. George Hoover, Chicago clergy man, whose son died in the Second division hospital at Jacksonville, said: 'In the hos pital there seemed to be a lack of medi- cne-some of the simpler medicines. In talking with the quartermaster, nurses and others, found what thought was an un- necessary fear of stating facts For in- stance, no one would talk to me without saying: You must not give my name, or I will be subject to punishment
 'It seemed to me that there were not enough nurses there. Having had experi- | ence along these lines in the civil war, I | was satisfied at Jacksonville that there was | somebody there either incompetent or else | cruelty neglectful"
 First Lieutenant Charles McQuiston, of the Fourth infantry, who served as quar- termaster and regimental commissary un- til July 1. and remained in Cuba in other capacities until the close of the campaign sad that at Tampa and afterwards in Gu ba his regiment almost always had the full supplies allowed by the army regulations "I know of no complaint being made by any member of my regiment" he said. Not Fit to Drink
 Colonel Edward c. Young, of the First Illinois cavalry, said At Chickamauga
 our quartermasters supplies were fairly ad- equate and prompt. The water, however,
 was not fit to drink half the time." Colonel Marcus Kavanaugh, of the Sev- enth Illinois Volunteer infantry, who was at Camp Alger nearly three months, said his regiment had not half as much hard ships and deprivations as they had when they went into the service. The mistakes which happened. if they were mistakes. were those which resulted from lack of experience.
 At the evening session Dr. Frederick K
 Witness, secretary of the Illinois army and navy league. who visited Chiekamauga
 Tampa and Jacksonville during the war,
 submitted report he had made to Secre-
 tary Alger commenting conditions in the | ,n, ll,rls irfa