Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-11-22
WELL EQUIPPED
At TIMES TOO FEW AMBULANCEs
AND LACK OF MEDICINES.
CONDITIONS At CAMP VIKOFF
Testimony of Doctors snd Woman
worker ms to Things That Might
Have Been petter-McKiuley Could
Have Been Shocked.

NEW YORK, November 2l.-Major F.
J. Ives. chief surgeon Of the Third, OF
provisional. division of the Fifth Army
Corps, was the first witness before the
War Investigating Commission to-day
His evidence, summed up, is as foiiows'
my personal opinion is that the army
was well equipped in every respect ex-
cept that at times there were not enough
ambulances and at times there was
lack OF medical supplies. l never Khs"
a time when, IL surgeon took the trou-
BILE TO hustle for medicine, he faileu 10
get all that was needed. When l wished
supplies | mounted my horse ana tooe
after them. and when l could not get
things which were not at Headquarters l
bought them, with the PERMISSION OIL my
superiors."
Or. Louis A. Stlmson, OF New YORK, tes-
tified In regard to conditions at Camp
Wikoff He said the surgeons toid INN
they suffered from lack of competent
male help The witness criticised the sys-
tenn prevailing at the hospitals, when al
lowed patients 10 leave before they We're
well. He thought that the whole coheep-
ton of the camp was wrong.
GOVERNMENT HAD WARNING.
Miss Julia Halstead Chadwick, one OF
the women who worked for the SICK a'
Camn Wikoff. submitted a written state
! ment of the conditions she FOUND theie
/ the latter part OF August, ana tolu Oh 'he
| distribution OF food and drink 10 the
| Rough Riders, negro cavalry ana h'sh'"
| and Twenty-second Infantry.
"Was II possible" Ex-Governor wood
bury asked, "for the camp TO have been
| put I'm better shape by the time you Visit
| ed it in August?' -,..ov
II think so. From the warning given
| In the public accounts OF the great suHer'
/ ing i'm Cuba. the government might nave
been prepared for the emergency
Miss Chadwick went on to tell OF the
insufficient supply Of bedclothlng ana uh
derclothing. She heard that there wa
plenty Of both in store put she N"'"
the soldiers did not have them'
REGULARS WITHOUT FRIENDS
Replying 10 a question as to the sym
pathy that prevailed between orlcers az" ~,
! men. Miss Chadwick said: Ainohs III,
ngicere and men OF the regular army
sn,. The most beautiful and noble devo
ton An officer who looked as Ill as any
80 h,s men came I'D to our carriage an'
banked lis for our kindness 10 MS men
.You know he said. we regulars Law
no friends / replied that the whoie na
ton were their friends, and he burst iht'
years and walked away. 49,,
DIR. William Gilman Thompson, OF thl
city condemned the policy Of aiio"ihi
natients at Camp Wikod hospitals :
leave before they were thoroughly cured
He said the sanitary arrangements Oh VI
camn were bad DR.. Thompson c'alhe
he had been misquoted in the p'per
throughout the country, that maze mn
cav he found uncleanly conditions pre-
yailing at the camp.
COULD HAVE SHOCKED MklNLhf
r. Parrish, lawyer OF the CITY, "n
visited Camp Wikoff several times 'eSli
fled that If President Mckinley, on Ia
visit TO the camp, had placed himsei
his Rarrishs) hands, he could nav
shown MIN some things that would nav
shocked him. Parrish said he saw ais
graceful conditions, but heard no com
plants. He claimed that the generals
charge of the camp were changed 10
often The witness was asked If he say
anv officer OF the army or doctor neslec'
ing mis- duty, but he refused TO answer
and the commission adjourned uhth u
|