New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-11-20
YESTERDAYS TESTIMONY IN DETAIL.
WITNESSES TELL or THE CONDITIONS IN CAME

AND FIELD-MANAGEMENr CRITICISED
AND DEFENDED
TT. Commission met with military punctuality at
10 o'clock yesterday morning. Before calling wit
ne.ses an executive session lasting over half an
hour was held The first testimony heard was
given by Mrs. Edwin c. Ais. OF No % East Twer-
ty-nrst-st.. who at Camp Wikoff in September
nursing the sick She told in detail her expe-
rAnces at the camp and gave IT as her opinion
that the food poor and that insufficient atten-
ton paid TO hospital patients She found tina:
OF the hospital wards were overcrowdsd. willis
others entirely empty and closed Her eX-
perience tina: the medical arrangements did
no: suffice to take OF the sick. Some OF the
soldiers. in fact. who Ill that they should
have been in the hospital -efuse' to go for fear OF
being Improperly treated
Mrs. Allis's knowledge % the conditions OF Camp
Wikoff related principally TO the annex hospital
and 20 the sick ot the 18th infantry. She COM
planned that the food was poor and badly cooked.
that sanitary conditions were bad. and tina. as
O consequence the sick and the well suffered from
4 plague OF f!es She found tho men unwilling TO
report sick and 20 the hospitals, and spoke IN
the highest praise o. the sympathy and good fee'-
Ing cyNcci ny the men for each other
NURSES ACCUSED OF CARELESsNESS.
Cross-examined by Ex-Governor Woodbury.. Mrs.
Ants told o. the carelessness OF the hospital nurses
and crderlieg. She could not remember names. but
che sad she heard doctor diagnose soldier s
trouble as Simple intoxication" and the soldier
6ied from typhoid fever two days later. Mrs. Alis
had given tho soldier blackberry brandy just be-
fore he visited the doctor She saw a give
q man m injection OF morphine withou. any author
ity from a doctor.
IN summing up her conclusions Mrs. Allis thought
there were not enough attendants in the hospital
ard that care was taken 10 separate the dying,
the derious and the convalescent patients.
a
Alis said she had had previous experience In
nursing the sick and had never entered hospital
before She said the Womans Relief Association had
been accused Of going to Montauk simply TO find
fault but the proof OF tho falsity OF that charge
lay in the fact tina: they had taken no names Of
offenders but had contentcd themselves with crti-
cisng methods.
Captain Edward n. Plummer who at the out
break of the was In command OF company
o; the 10th Infantry. stationed at For; Sill. Okla
homa and who afterwsrd became brigade quarter
master at General Skaters headquarters in Cuba.
was the next witness. The earlier part OF his ex-
animation was taken up in describing the prelim-
mary work in massng his regiment at Mobile and
the march to Tampa and the voyage to Baiquri.
He explained that brigade quartermaster 1t was
his duty take food 10 the front He left Siboney
on June Is and wen; to Sevllla On June % lie
went to headquarters few miles from Santiago.
and on July he started for the front with wagons
o. ratons Orders from General Shatter stopped
the train because engagement was imminent.
After the fght ne General Shafter and OBJ
tanned permission to follow the ammunition wagons
aud unloaded provisions sufficient for all the men
on the lighting line early in tho evening OF July !
on the fiat at the foot o; San Juan Hill.
LICK OF WAGONS AT SANTIAGO
General Wilson asked Captain Pummer many
questions TO the supply Of wagons and about
their disposition. In reply to direct question II
the TRANSPORTATION under his charge sufficient.
and II :he work satisfactorily accomplished.
Captain Pummer explained that the transportation
was limited. but he DID not believe that more
wagons could have been used because OF the limited
facilities for loading tho wagons In Siboney and tie
narrowness Of the roads over which the supplies
had to be drawn.
Did your wagoners refuse to take the necessary
rations and medical supplies to the trenches az
Santiago" he asked.
we never refused to send all the wagons and
TIE pack mules could he replied Tho roads
wers so bad that frequently could not send
wagons and mules fast enough TO supply the de-
iaand. There times when go, hurry or
dars From motives Of prudence General Shafter
ordered that the wagons should go TOO close
10 the trenches"
in the trenches on Of their inability TO get
eupplies?'
Il heard Of none. On the night Of July met
como men of my own regiment and asked them II