The Portland daily press., 1898-10-06

mistaken in charging that the chic
source Of water supply was "a we'll al on
rod from pest pond. - be said tn
well was 400 yards from the pond.
Gen. Wheeler saidEhe had encouraged
1.-THE closest inspection from visitors ant
had asked men to visit the hospitals ant
report the complaints of men. He hat
also been glad to have the assistance O.
visiting physicians in determining ths
conditions. He had issued an order tt
prevent the use of ambulances by visitors
Gen. Wheeler sold Surgeon Genera
Sternberg on his visit to the camp hat
strongly commended the conduct OF the
camp.
Replying to criticisms by DR.. Newton
referring especially to the failure to have
the camp at Montauk provided prior tt
1.-THE beginning of the war, Gen. Wheeler
said that was impossible to forsse Una
the troops would return at SO early a date
Mr.. Howell asked why there mao 10 10
been court martial investigator OF tnt
charges against DR.. Tabor in the Fafre1'
case. Gen. Wheeler replied that ne con
sidered that the iniative Of o court-mar'
tial should be taken by tie MasnlngIoI
authorities He also said that ne mac
encountered no obstacles in securing sucn
supplies as he had made requisition for.
In addition to using the money allowed
to buy provisions, he had used 1t for other
| purposes to add to the comfort OF the men,
buying clothing. blankets, tents, bed
sacks, putting up the laundry, etc. ne
| thought there were tents enough to make
| 50, 900 men comfortable, while there were
never more than 90, 900 men at one time.
1 Gen. Wheeler said that he had heard Of
but one case in which surgeon had be-
come Intoxicated. The man was relieved
from duty.
| Gen. Dodge asked the witness for gen
eral expression of his opinion as to the
conduct of the various bureaus OF the
war department.. Replying, he praised
the work of all the supply departments,
saying they were actuated by zeal and
characterized by intelligence. He had
found the medical department. from zen.
Sternberg down to be efficient and anx-
department.. This same was true OF the
ordnance, commissary and other depart
ments. Gen. Wheeler said the mortality
among the Spanish soldiers was quite
equal to that among the American
This completed Gen. Wheeler's testi-
Gen. H. v. Boynton next took the
stand. He said that since July 8, he had
been on duty at Camp Thomas as an
army officer. Recently his especial duty
had been to look after the camps water
supply. at present he was in command
of the camp. He thought 81, 900 the larg-
DSStA
In camp at any one time. Generals
| Brooke, Wade and Breckinridge had been
| in command successfully Of the camp.
| Gen. Beaver called Gen. Boynton's at
tention to the criticism of the camp site,
and asked him bis opinion of the looa.
tion. Gen. Boynton, who has been
member of the park commission for nine
years, said that the park had always been
considered one Of the most healthy spots
lin the country. There had never been a
| death in the park force and never a case
of typhoid fever. Out of 2, 800 men en-
ployed there, there were only seven deaths
and none of them were due to typhoid.
| in which the park was situated, there
had been only IL cases of typhoid fever.
| The park was $50 to 700 feet above the
| sea level and the land was rolling and
| we'll drained, being free from swamps
| The whole park was underlald by mag
nesian limestone and 1T was from under
| this that most of the water was secured.
There were three sources for the supply,
a number Of springs, the river and ar
tesian wells. There were now 81 OF these
wells, and there were nine when the
camp site was selected.
| The five springs, SO far as he knew,
were inexhaustible and only one had been
exhausted during the occupancy OF the
| camp by the troops.
| The wells were also apparently mex
haustible. In addition to these 1900, 600
gallons were pumped every "a hours from
| the river and this water distributed
! through the camp by means of pipes. The
river water supply. was not designed
iginally for drinking purposes, but for
cooking, washing, and other such uses
| However, the water had been found to
be quite pure. The stream was fed
| wholly by mountain springs, including
| the big Crawfish springs. The river
| water had been analysed three times
| chemically and once bacteriologically
nounced pure and entirely suitable Tor
drinking and Edomest:c purposes. ten.
Boynton remarked: sit was impossible
| for the river water to be contaminated. l
know all about that and do not consider
there is any foundation for that charge.
| There were no towns or villages ABOVE
| the camp toward the source of the Chick :
amauga river and there were no resi-
| dences on it between the camp and Craw-
| fish springs There was no sewage empty
| ing into the stream. In some instances
the water was filtered.
| Gen. Boynton said that while there was
plenty of water of good quality Tor the
| in recently in barrels from springs Iour
| or five miles outside This was done be-
cause of the suspicion of some OF the sur
geons concerning the water in the camp.
When the men began to get SICK tne
surgeons insisted upon going away from
the camp for the water.
He said there were no sinks nearer the
wells than 200 feet. The surface OF the
ground was an impervious Gay and the
wells were all drilled through solid rock.
1t was impossible for the water to be
contaminated from the sinks. Ihe wells
were oemented and there was nc possl-
bility of polluting from the surface.
The only typhoid fever in the camp was
| brought in from the outside. The volun-
teers were located in the wooden portion
of the park, bat the wood was insufficient
for shade. 1t could be- easily penetrated
lby the sunshine. The surface was We'l
lowered with wild grass. A small mum :
lFer of the troops were located in Flat.
WOODS He did not consider this part OF
the site especially desirable, but IT was
dry. He had never heard of mildew form
ing in the camp on account of dampness.
Gen. Boynton asserted that the camp
| was not crowded Gen. Brooke had him
self selected the ground for each regiment
and brigade. Gen. Boynton said that the
sinks were from 80 to so feet from tho
tents and that in some instances the
IL for n