The evening times., 1898-10-13

New York, Oct. lS.-MajO Louis Iiy-
ingstOn Seaman, surgeon of the First
United States Volunteer Engineers, re-
turns from Porto Rico and Santiago
with some views on the maladministra-
tion of army affairs which he says are
not iii 10 print.
Ninety per cent of the men who died
from disease down there" the major
said were murdered-killed by mall
administration and incompetency. / have
discovered a new disease which / mean
to tell the College of Medicine about be-
fore long. / call it Algerian fever-with
an accent on Alger. soldier is taken
sick with a low type of typhoid. There
Is no proper food or medicine wherewith
10 nurse him back to health, and he dies
--of Algerian fever
What, summed up, was the cause of
this? Was there any lack of medical
supplies?"
No one can blame Surgeon General.
Sternberg." Major Seaman said He
sent the medicines. There was no lack
of supplies of all sorts. But through the
imbecility. incompetency and idiocy of
the men in the quartermaster's depart
ment the supplies were not taken care
OF or furnished to the men"
Who were these men?"
Sons Of generals rich mems sons, sons
of politicians and God knows what.
1t was in the Army Building yesterday
that Major Seaman was giving his views
on army matters. With several GONZALES
cents under his charge, he had arrived
from Santiago on the transport OLDHAM
the day before. Col Charles II. G.bson.
field commissioner of the American Re
lief Association and special emissary of
President Mckinley, had been a fellow
passenger There had been hints of a
conflict between these two and Capt. Wal
ter Allen.
From the men who came up on the
transport Obdam and from others We
have heard many complaints about Capt
Allen, military commander of that YES
sell What is your opinion about him?'
Major Seaman was asked by one of a
group of reporters who had assembled
around him.
II don't want to talk about Allen, the
major replied sharply. Il have these
straps on my shoulder. but day Will
come when l will talk
Major the men speak in words of
highest praise of you, but they dislike Al
len, whom they call a martinez. 1t IS said
that he regarded and treated the men
with contempt. and that even you had
great difficulty in getting him ID do his
duty. especially regarding supplies at
Santiago. and that much friction resulted
between you and the captain. Would you
like to make any statement about it, he
was asked.
Not a syllable. What you say is
true
Have YOU any idea as TO what will be
the tenor of Col. Gibsons report?
Il have, indeed Col. Gibson witnessed
the same scenes as / did, and you can
readily believe that his report will be
good one and full of truth.
Was il true that men were starved.
Starvation" interrupted the major,
with much heat. Starved. | should say
they were. Two hundred day died be-
cause of the maladministration in the
uuartermaster's department In Santiago.
Look at my own regiment, First United
States Volunteer Engineers. We started
for Porto Rico early in August. My men.
being engineers were detailed to build
bridges roads, docks. waterworks-the
hardest kind of work.
Three hundred of them built the walls
of Fort Capron. They also had To guard
the iails They had the hardest kind of
work and slept at night in tents that
were often flooded with water. But they
were taken care of throughout the cam
paign Only two died from typhoid. 1t
was not so in other regiments, and 1t
was not so in Santiago.
Gibson can't talk now about matters
in Santiago any more than i can, but
Inc uay wIll come when we will talk.
Il will give you a sample. What did
they put on my ship 10 feed the men with?
I'll tell you. When We left Ponce we had
100 typhoid cases. and they gave us can
ned tomatoes, canned corn. beef and
beans. pork and a little coffee. Had |
given these men a spoonful each of such
diet as was furnished ] would have come
in here with 100 per cent of deaths
Where did | get the supplies? Every
thing these sick men ate on the trip came
from the National Relief Association and
the Red Cross. The Government furnish
ed nothing. Now. that is a nice refiec-
ton on the United States Government,
isn't it? That is Algerism. You can de-
pend on it that Gibson sees this matter as
| do"
1T is said that the investigation now
being held is expected to result mainly
in whitewash," the major was told.
They had better not try whitewash, :.
Major Seaman said. yehemently Cod
help any men who try to whitewash these
facts if they are caught down in that
country. The mower of God Almighty
could not keep the boys hands off them