Evening star., 1898-11-16
Why Cooking Utensils and Ambu.
lances Were Not Transported.
QUARFERMASfER JACOBS TESTIMONY
Deficient Supplies to tie Army at
Santiago.
OTHER EVIDENCE GIVEN

Nh-h the war investigation commission
met this morning DR.. Louis A. La Garde,
who was in charge Of the hispitals at Sibo-
ney resumed his testimony He said the
! mortality in the yellow fever hospital at
Siboney was not more than eight per cent.
DIR. Conner asked IL the witness did NOT
| Know that there would be yellow fever in
| Cuba
Dr La GaGde-"I should have known
that such were the probabilities and every
| body should have known that such wore
| the caanc9s in sending army into an In
| fected region in the summer season. Evil
| IDENTIFY the sugeron general did foresee what
| would happen. and his words on this sub
| ject, written before the expedition set ott
| and giving warning against the invasion
! at the time it was undertaken, read hike
| a prophcsy."
tnd,r these conditions he could not under
stand why more complete provision should
| not nave been made for supp ying immune
nurses and he did not know but that the
| corps surgeon had asked for this assist
ance in advarce; he did know that they
We're not adequately provided. Apparently,
| the army depended on the Yellow fever
| experts to say when yellow fever wodlt
| break out
| The Sihoncy Hospitals.
During July 1900 sick and wounded were
admitted to the Siboney hosi sil,ais The
| 1,2U0. The mortality was extremely low.
The mortality in surgical operations was
very high, for the reason that very desper-
ate cases We're operated on with a very
| light hope of saving life when i, was known
| the men would surely die without an opera
tion.
| DIR. Conner-"Has 1t ever happened in mill
| itary surgery that bullet wounds were at
| tended with so little loss of life as at San
| tiago?"
| DR.. La Garde-"No: for the reason that
no battle had ever before been fought be-
| tween two armies with modern weapons.
! The danger of the gunshot wounds inflicted
| by the new arm is generally conceded to be
! less than by the old. Our M. hods today
| Tor rendering assistance on the field obviat-
| ed the danger of blood poisoning to a ma
terial extent. and for those reasons our
| mortality in this campaign was less proba-
| bly, than heretofore
| DR.. Conner remarked that DIR. La Garde
| had made more experiments before the war
| with Spain with respect TO small bullet
wounds than any other man IN the United
States.
| DIR. La Garde explained the effect of the
wounds made by the small-cai.ber bullets,
and showed. that the so-called explosive
effect of those bullets was caused hy coca
slonal smashing OF bones ard carrying
splinters Of bones through the wound.
Or. lie Garde, in reply to q cstion, said
| he had read in medical Journals that Sur
geon General Sternberg had favored having
| no expedition to Cuba before November,
| because he thought il would b disastrous
| to the health of the army. FIR m his own
conversation with Gen Sttrnberg he knew
| that this was the view he took CT the mat
| ter, but he did not know whether he had
ever recommended that the expedition be
delayed for this reason.
Small Average Loss of Life.
The average loss of life among the
wounded who came to the Siboney hospital
the witness said. less than one per
cent. The effect of the bullets used in the
| battles to kill on the spot or the pa
| tient would get well.
There was the greatest difference between
the mortality statistics in this war and the
civil war on account of difference Of bull
let's. The effect of the bullet was believed
to be very effective in removing men from
! the field during fight. and ii would be if
men Were fought in solid columns as they
V ere fifty years ago, out the tactics had
been changed to meet the new condition, so
that the new bullet was of no more effect
than the old one. Its effectiveu IS was
from the fact that bullet of the kind Used
in the with Spain would 30 through
several men if fought in solid bodies.
The witness said the percentage IF deaths
from sickness in Cuba was less than in
camps in the United States. This WAS from
the fact that yellow fever was not gen-r-
ally accompanied by high mortality. They
dreaded typhoid fever more than yellow
fever because in the of the former dis
ease the sickness was of longer duration.
AS rule, yellow fever LASTED but a week
ten days. The fact that the troops in
cuba Were seasoned soldiers, as a rule and
those in the home camps generally green
troops accounted for the difference in the
n ortality to some extent, he sad. Most of
the sickness, he said, occurred from the
r?en lying out at night in nc open and set
ting wet.
Lieut.. Col. Jacobs a Witness.
Lieut. Col. Jacobs, who had charge of the
wagon transportation at BaiqUiri, Cuba,
was placed the stand. When the war
broke out Col Jacobs was the chief quar-
termaster of the department of the Column
bia, stationed at the Vancouver barracks.
He was ordered to proceed to New Orleans
and report TO Gen Shafter for duty He
was then ordered TO Tampa and reported to
Gen. Humpbries. and afterward becama
chief quartermaster Of the 9TH Army Corps.
At Tampa the quartermasters department.
suffered from a congested cond ton on Iha
railroads. which resulted from TIE excessive
demand made upon their facilities. lie said
the railroads did all they could TO handle
the business of the army. The chief
trouble was that there was a Very limited
space in which the ears could b. unloaied.
They could not be got at fast enough TO
unload them all promptly. As fast as they
could be unloaded they were emptied Of
their contents promptly.
Speaking of the transports. the witness
said he did not think they were overcrowd-
ed the trip to Cuba, cons -dering the
shortpess of the journey. Whether they
were so crowded as to affect the hsalth Of
the men he did not know. Tsere were
thirty-six or thirty-seven ira -rts IN
the Shafter expedition. Two barL,s we're
taken along but one of them Y as lost.
Col. Jacobs arrived at Raiquiri June o.
and had cnarGe of wagon ira 50. rita icn.
He thought the first wa gnns ca D c ashore
and were started 10 the front jun 23 He
had 40 or 100 wagons ana 500 p1ck mules.
The pack train became aVailabi. for land
ing the troops Immediately.
Insufficient Transportation.
Gen. Beaver-"Did YOU have sufficient
transportation for s2ch army
Col. Jacobs-"No. AZ lamps We were
ordered TO load fifty wagons ~ Gea. Shaf-
ter and that doubled by Cta. Mics.
Fourteen more were added. 7 q wagons
carried by the detached briga lrought
the entire number ID to 1s9 OF 80
Gen. Beaver-"WEat W uld I; been a
sufiicient number of wagons for iraasp9rta-
rion?'
Col Jacobsz'I think each regiment
should have had a minimum of Eve or SIX
wagons besides pack trains. say this
after having been there. If / aad .poken
before leaving Tampa 1 would have eiveY