Evening star., 1898-08-11
M0NTAUK! HORRORS
Condition of the 9e Camp to Which
Soldiers Are Ordered.
MEN SLEPT M RAIN ALL NIGHT
Sex Troops Unprotected and Long
Without Food.
g fsl-i -
PITIABL STORIES TOLD

| Concerning the distressing conditions pre-
vailing at Montauk Point the New York
| newspapers today, through their represen-
| tatives at the camp yesterday, report as
| follows:
| The New York Times:
| Those of the men who arrived at the
! camp yesterday found anything but a
| pleasant condition of affairs Tuesday
4 night was an awful one in camp The
whole section was .deluged by rain, which
kept falling off and on all day. Yesterday
1 and last night everything from Montauk
Station to Montauk light was in fearful
| condition The half-sand, half-clay road
| which skirts the lake and the camp and
| winds around through the hills had been
| reduced to a beautiful state of sloppiness,
| which grew worse every hour. The road
| last evening looked like cornmeal mush,
| and was of about the same degree of con-
| sistency. Walking through this next
| to impossible, while walking through the
| vines and grass of the dunes was like walk
| ing through ten to eighteen inches of water.
| Bad as the old road was, however, the
| roads constructed since it was decided to
| send the troops were worse.
Their Uncomfortable Lot.
| As for the men of the 9th, the first ar
| rivals of all who had been encamped out
| on the Point, their lot was most uneom-
| Portable Few of their tents were up, prin-
| cipally for the reason that a large portion
| of them We're stalled out on the railroad
| twelve miles away, and the few that were
Up had to be given over to the men who
| were not we'll and to the shelter of provi-
! sions With nothing but their blankets and
ponChos as protection their situation, when
| the heavy rain began to fall, was anything
but pleasant, and one that should not have
fallen to men who are all more or less en-
| ervated by their long stay in Florida and
who are shaken and weak yet from their
| trip from Tampa.
DR.. Ira C. Brown of the 9Th has his hands
| full looking after the sick men of his COM
1rand who remain in his charge. His chief
trouble is in getting milk for his typhoid
patients The men must have milk If they
are to have chance for their lives. and
! milk was worth from 10 to - cents a quart
| at Montauk yesterday, although on Sunday
! it could be bought at Amagansett at the
regular price of cents.
Mrs. Walworth, director general of the
Women's Relief Association, visited the di-
vision hospital yesterday afternoon. and
| found just two carpenters at work where
| two men were doing what they could
| toward getting the f63ring down. but their
| efforts were making but dot in the big
task before them. MH. Walwarth is now
| endeavoring to get mare attention paid 10
| the hospital construction, for she says its
| five hundred beds VIII be needed at once
ana tnat It's total proposed capacity Will De
tested within ten days.
Mrs. Walworth yesterday afternoon
pressed herself as being astonished at the
| state Of unpreparedness in which she found
! the camp, and said it was equaled by moth
| ing she ever saw except the conditions
which existed behind the lines at Santiago.
A Hard. Night.
| The New York Herald:
1t is raining hard in camp, and as there
is no other shelter for the newly arrived
| troops they slept All flight in the rain.
| Last night was 4 hard one for the troops
who have arrived here, for the men were
| trying to get the camp INTO shape. Down at
Amagansett, twelve miles from here, the
railroad blocked with passenger cars
and box cars filled with soldiers, horses,
| mules, baggage and equipments. 1t was
a cold, wet, disagreeable night and every
| one felt the discomfort.
There was little chance for sleep for Gen
eral Young, Lieutenant Weigel and Colonel
| Forwood. The railroad men worked all
night to relieve the congested road. At one
time the tracks at Amagansett were filled
with cars containing detachments of troops
| of different cavalry regiments. The con-
gestion was not relieved until after day
| light.
The trouble was due to the switches not
being completed at Montauk. 1t was the
old story of not being prepared, and the
railroad company blamed the government
for not giving it time.
There We're fifteen army wagons and six
carloads of horses with these troops. Cen
eral Young will be fortunate if he is able
to provide shelter and rations for half of
the troops expected to arrive between now
and Sunday by rail from southern points
and by the transports from Cuba. While
the troops are coming in steadily, the tents
ana other equipments arrive slowly. This
is what worries General Young, and he fire.
quentiy sends dispatches to army headquar-
ters in New York to hurry things up.
Another serious question troubling Gen.
success has yet been made in driving wells
and water for use in the camp is still being
taken from Fort Pond.
Slept In the Rain.
General George M. Randall, who is to
have charge of the infantry in camp, has
arrived. Generals Young and Randall found
The affairs of the camp little improved this
afternoon They both felt chagrined that
many of the soldiers had to sleep out in the
open sand hills last night, with the rain
pouring them.
Those carpenters who went on strike yes
terday for more pay and better accommo-
dation and refused to return to work were
sent away Their places have been filled
by soldiers who know something about car
penter work.
Colonel Woodruff of the comrnissary de-
partment In the army building returned on
tuesday night from a visit of inspection to
the camp at Montauk. Colonel Woodruff
said yesterday that he had found things in
considerable confusion, but not to greater
extent than might be reasonably expected
under the conditions of preparing for the
arrival of a large body of troops. In a few
days, ne said, everything would be running
smoothly.
New York Tribune-Parts of the 9th and
leth Cavalry arrived in camp this evening
and brought with them 800 horses The
wlies said that more sections were on the
way, and all night and through the early
morning hours the5raiiroad will have all it
can do to get thss troops into the camp
Close on the heeisgof 1.-THE regulars will be
the men from Col fRoesevelt's regiment of
hou2n Riders, and behiud them come the
men froIa Fort Mcpherson, and, according
70 ihe advices which ape pouring into camp,
tnere viii be a steady stream of arrivals
mere 1or the next thirty-six hours.
The Long Island railroads facilities will
be severely tested. for these troops must be
moved rapidly and promptly, and every
nerve VIII be strained, to prevent a recur-
renee OF the happenings of last night, when
the road became, eongested, and 1t took
horrs for the last Section of the 9th CavaI-
~ to get from Anagansett to Montalk.
Last night was trying one in camp. The
whole section was deluged by rain. To-
night everything from Montauk station to
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