Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-07-22
NEW YORK LETTER.
First Night at Anchor in Goods
Country" on the Olivette
How the Last Hours Before Landing Were
rassed-Major Appel and His surgical
skill-How the wounded Men Got Their
FIRST Batch of Fresh Morning Papers.


NEW YORK. July 2o.-.spccial No
set Of men were ever more truly hQnorcd
by the inhabitants Of this town than the
wounded officers and soldiers who reached
here by the hospital steamer Olivettc on
saturday night They have been the SUBJ
jet Of almost unrestricted newspaper
space ever since. while as "a topic Of con-
ver-atIau' they have easily led all others.
even surprising the formal turning over
Of Santiago dc Cuba 20 General Shafter on
Sunday.
Tho scene on board the ONvctte on her
arrival of the quarantine station has been
well described by many pens. yet some Of
its aspects have not been and cannot AIDE
Cuately be presented. The talk Of the
men not YET taken ashore in the middle OF
the night while the vessel swung idly al
anchor waiting tlr davhrcak ana the
louccd for moment Of landing was one Of
the most interesting features II the entire
episode.
do you sec the shore over thore. Jim.
questioned O. man with 10Th arms ban
dagel and "slur-' To comrlde whose
head was swatAgl In liugn.
jim indicated that Dc saw.
Waal ola boy. air't il "a comfort 70
know that our folks can land on that shore
cus-eJ Nluser bullets whine all round
en-.
Jim oss-r-cl. and thea. turning 20
civilian. ly courtesy allowed 20 pass the
night GA board -l O., T. De near awcunlsa
friend c--aved 10 give an imitation Of the
Nau-er whine.
'Ju-tfIra joke. whom we would be lying
IN the bushes near Santiago. De said.
the boys would sometimes make that iu-
fcrual kissing and throw q T-ltl. against
a bush. That would always make every
body duck. There never was a man that
didn want 70 dodge at sound q bullet,
! don Gaze how brave be- might be, and
that no T.pc dream neither
Don [ talk any more about them bull
lots, Bill chimed in the man with the
bound up face. We re IN Gods country
now where we raadu h5ar c-n siss any
more. q rather tax about ing ashore
and getting fresh eggs 20 eat. say, ny
friend ITO the civilian you don know
how good IL j taste 20 -,t Ma fresh soft
boiled eggs again. and We rc going 20 get
en- tom .rrCw sure.
Major Appel.
Some ot tho Non slept as usual most q
that fir night at anchor 90 the edge Of
'G1l $ own country. but more than halt
kept their eyes open as long ae they could
gazing lonE.ucly and lovingly at the shore
not more than $40 yards away.
Meantime il the captain cabin just
ahaft and below the bridge Captain Steven
son and Major Appell medical officer in
charge. sat together and discussed TIL
work u b. done On tho morrow. Major
Appel j. a man Il medium size. with
clear blue eyes and a quiet manner lie
has long been IN the army medical and
surgical service and j. a man Of great
professional skill and Judgment This j.
fully borne out by the astonishing fact
that notwithstanding the presence on the
/ Ohvette Of scores Of men most dangerous
+ ~ wounded there has not been a death
from a wound for weeks nor has an am
putatiOn been rendered Necessary by i'm
proper healing.
some Of the recoyeries now in progress
among the soldiers brought north on the
Oliyette are truly marvellous. Two or
/ three men wounded in the head and obliged
I 10 part with little sections %! the brain. vet
able 10 walk about, Joking and laughing
and smoking couteutedly. were pointed
out on saturday night 20 the civilian on
! board ono man who will not walk Tor a
/ long time was talking cheertully a. he lay
in his berth
Want 20 see where the Dagocs pumped
me- be said. turning down the blanket
/ that covered him and exposing five ban
daged wounds in the chest and dangerous
/ " close TO the abdomen. Pretty Well
banged up, ain !: Going 10 get ont all
right, al right. though. and I hope in
time 10 20 back and pay EN- what I owe
/ en-! Either Of my lungs shot through
J Both Of en-. But. p~haw, they ve got
this thing down 50 fine now that they
! don't worry about a lrtlc matter like
wound through the brerher,. 20 long,
old chap. feel like Speaking 10 every
good American see as If he were an olu
friend Of mine now.
Patient Heroes.
One Of the most surprising features az
the night before landing on board the Oil
. vetto was the absence Of moaning or groan-
ing or grUmlliug among the wounded
{ men. There was absolutely none among
those who We're awake. though occasional
" one would CRY ont in his sleep and wax
en-, and when that happened nurse would
hurry 10 the side Of the sufferer 10 see II
the pain might be relieved
soon after the sun arose, however, the
mon began TO give signs of impatieuce.
II did seem 10 them that time had never
moved So slowly before, and they all felt
that they must get ashore az once yet
even then there was 10 crumbEug. no
crankiness whatever. 50 FAR as the civilian
could observe Major Appel was asJir
very carly awaiting orders as TO the dock
ing Of the boat and looking after the rou-
tine Of the vessel exactly as If the men
were 10 remain Indefinitely on board.
Not long after 6 the quarantine boat
Governor Flower put of. bringing orders,
and prepared 70 take ashore n number OF
wounded officers who We're 10 be Quartercd
On staten Island instead of al one Of the
Brooklyn hospitals. The Governor Flower
also brought on board the first detachment
of reporters young chaps with keen eyes
in spite OF the fact that they had had only
a few hours sleep after having done the
story Of the Olivette's arrival for the morn
ing editions and had slept but little if AT
all after finishing that assignment
But neither the reporters nor the mes
sengers with the orders were the earliest
visitors that morning. They were two
men in a rowboat with a consignment of
the morning papers-six Of each. As
they rowed alongside one Of the men called
out:
Here are some papers, boys, but you
must give promise before you get 'em.
You mustn't drop any money down. We
want TO blow you off TO the news. We
couldn't stand it TO furnish every man
with paper but there's enough to help
you ont some All right: Well, then,
take EN- and divide EN- around as well as
! Won can -