The times., 1898-10-06


from camp who had fever on the way
home But they were sent at the urgent
solicitation of friends, and against the
judgment OF surgeons. i gave orders
that great care should be exercised In
sending meen home"
DR.. Connor asked If 1t had been fore
seen that the campaign in Cuba would
last less than thirty days.
No." Gen. Wheeler replied; I'VE went
there expecting to be gone year or two.
Before we left Gen. Miles called the Off
GERS together and told that we would
be there for one or two years"
Was 1t not the expectation that from
25 to 20 per cent of the soldiers would be-
come victims of yellow fever within three
| months?"
1T thought the army would go
| through the yellow fever. Officers were
told that fully 80 per cent of the soldiers
would be affected and quite a percentage
! of those would die and be buried in
| Cuba"
Were any charges preferred or courts
| martial held for cruelty or neglect of SOL
| diers?' asked Mr.. Woodbury..
| Not to my knowledge although inves-
| legations We're made to determine whether
| or not there should be-
| The witness furnished to the commission
! list of camp supplies and equipage fur
nished at Camp Wikof, which. he said.
| 59.G00 men,
THE charge has been made that sur
! geons at Camp Wikoff were drunk while
on duty" said Gen. Wilson. Did you
see or hear of any such cases?''
| one. A civilian told me that a sur
geon, whose name he gave. was under the
| influence of liquor referred the matter
at once to Col. Forwood who told me he
| had heard the same thing The officer
was at once relieved from duty"
1 was anything done with hirn?" asked
/ Capt Howell
Il undertook to find evidence uuon
/ which to prefer charges. but could get
| nothing that was satisfactory and had
/ to give il up"
In answer to question Gen. Wheeler
said: The quartermaster's department.
| promptly furnished us everything asked
! for, and. indeed, everybody showed a
| wonderful zeal in trying to bring the
campaign and the war to a successful
| issue"
How did the condition OF our soldiers
compare with that of the Spaniards ?"
| Capt. Howell asked.
Very favorably They suffered feap-
| fully. and their men were very sick from
the same types of disease as our men.
In 1897, 1900 Spanish soldiers died in
| Cuba
In concluding his testimony Gen
| Wheeler spoke In terms of commenda-
tion of the persons whose statements
had been subjected TO inquiry.
The Commission seemed relieved when
| Gen. Wheeler left the stand. The ma
iority of the Commissioners apparently
! were afraid that Gen. Wheeler might
accidentally let out something that would
/ be unpleasant
Gen Wheeler was thanked by Gen.
Dodge on behalf of the commission for
his full and satisfactory statement and
was excused from further attendance.
The Commission then took a recess.
! The inquiry was resumed at 2 p. m.
with Gen. Henry " Boynton on the
stand. He was asked particularly as 10
| conditions at Camp Thomas. Chickamau-
ga Park, within the limits of which the
camp was located. He had been there
! part OF the time in command and part
of the time in charge of the water sup
| ply.
There had been. he said, about SO. 900
I volunteer troops in camp. Replying to
/ Mr.. Beavers request to state what he
| knew regarding the charges that the Sc
lection of the park as a camp site was
| a mistake. Gen. Boynton said that he
| had been familiar for nine years with the
/ location and that he and the other men,
bers of the Park Commission considered
| IL one of the most healthfui locations in
the United States.
Gen. Boynton named the various
| springs. with their capacity. including the
famous Crayfish springs. the daily out
flow of which is 100000 gallons.
rs there any danger of contamination
in the river above the point at which you
tapped 1t for the camp supply?"
Not the slightest was the emphatic
| response.
The manner of sinking the wells was
| explained by Gen. Boynton, to show that
| they were absolutely inpervious TO sur
face drainage. They were sunk generally
through eighty feet of solid rock. only
! eight of them being less than that depth.
/ To Capt Howell Gen. Boynton said he
and his co-commissioners believed they
| got better water from the wells than
either the river or the springs. the water
I from both of which was identically the
same as shown by analysis and exami-
nation.
WAS the typhoid fever brought there
from outsider" asked Capt. Howell.
| oh yes; everybody knows; all the sur
geons will testify that the fever was
| brought in from the State camps
The healthfulness of the location, Gen.
I Boynton said. was further shown by the
| fact that every foot of the ground in the
woods where the volunteers were caraped
| was reached by the sun every day.
Mr.. Beaver inquired as to the details of
| a three-battalion regiment, width of
company streets, etc, to which Gen.
| Boynton said:
| II am not up with these new tactics
and cannot give you figures, but 1 can
| tell you that none of the camps was
| crowded.
THE general plan of disposing of the
! contents of kitchen sinks" said Gen.
! Boynton. was 10 haul it into the woods
| and dump there. This was in violation
| of specific orders. but it takes a pretty
| large force to police eleven square miles,
| and many of these abuses were not dis
| covered at once"
up to about the mi'1le of July" said
Gen. Boynton, reply a direct Ques-
tion by Mr.. Beaver, The appearance
! of typhoid, 1.-The cas- numbered about
two in the 1000, and : then began to
excite serious concern the officers, and
especially Gen. Brooke At the date of
Gen. Brookes DEPART; re for Cuba the
sick rate was 40 in the I.0e0. which 1 am
told is less than the regular army in
barracks The fever 7 as not violent at
| any time, leading the physicians to be-
! lieve that many of the cases were ma
larial only The highest number of cases
| of typhoid fever at any one time in the
camp was about 400 in total of 56,e0
! men / cannot give the total number of
cases in the history of the camp"
The hospital organization of the camp
and the method of disposing of offal of
the institutions was gone into at length.
How did the men receive their to-
! bacco and other little articles which they
need in camp? Did you have sutlers?"
asked Mr. Beaver.
1--WE had something worse than suffers;