The times., 1898-12-06
Another Sitting of the Alger
Relief Commission.
ABUSES ACKNOWLEDGED
fcers - Some Allegations Denied
The Difficulty in Procuring Sup
plies - Careless Transfers of the
Sick Soldiers Pleasure Parties
Used the Ambulances.

able gentlemen VINO nave In nanu the
arduous and extremely difficult task of
clearing Secretary Alger and the War
Department of the charge of cruel neglect
and absolute Incompetence, better known
as the Alger Relief Commission, in the
treatment and management of troops in
the late American-Spanish controversy
resumed its iabors at the Lemon Building,
in this city, yesterday Two sessions
We're held during the day, one in the
morning. the other in the afternoon.
The committee has been treading a
pretty rocky road recently, but yesterday
was a season of some relief for II.
Though the testimony given by the sew
eral gentlemen called was not of the sort
from which genuine satisfaction could be
derived, il was not of the scorching kind
that has heretofore come out, and there
was much to be thankful for in this.
Col. ]. G. c. Lee, who had charge of
quartermaster's stores at Camp Thomas
Chickamauga. said that the law regu-
lated the issue of tents and that he had
acted in accordance with it. There might
have been an insufficiency in hospital
tentage, but that was no fault of his
department. Officers, from jor gen.
erals down, had used hospital tents for
their own conveniences. II was against
army regulations to do SO, but they did
IL. He cited as an instance a colonel who
drew two of these tents. one of which he
lived in, while he messed in the other.
Such use of hospital tents il was inferred
from Col. Lees testimony was what
hax
for the sick.
Profuse i'm His Prnise.
Major Ira c. Brown the next wit
ness. He served as a surgeon at Fernan-
dina. Tampa and Montauk. He was at
Montauk from early in August until the
Sth of November Major Brown was a
nice little man with a bullet head, stub
by. terra Gotta beard, eyeglasses and mild
voice. He was apparently delighted with
himself and his work in the army. He
was profuse in his praise of hospital work
at Montauk Medicines Were in abund-
ance, clothing iii ample supply. and the
work of the doctors the best he ever saw
Only two doctors were unfit for their po-
sitions,
No Crovding of Dead Men.
As 10 dead men being crowded into cof-
fms thai were too small Major Brown
said he knew of no such thing having hap
pened. lie ordered the collins. They
Were plain ones-cost probably s. apiece.
They were up TO six feet two inches in
length. He did not see why a six-foot-
two-inch dead man should have been
stuffed into a siX-foot box. Dead men
were not carried around mattresses.
When one was taken from the hospital. all
OF the clothing, bedding. etc, used about
him was taken out also. Some of it was
burned; all others which could be used
again without danger fumigated and re-
turned. When the first man died, no
chaplain was in camp.-and he read the
burial service. After that time, TWO cler-
gymen were always on hand. Referring
10 the transfer of men from the general
hospital to New York. he acknowledged
that men Were removed TO make room for
others in more serious condition The
largest number removed in one day was
Jos. DIR. Brown said If a reputable sur
geon in New York had charged that men
were sent away who should not have been
removed, he would be inclined to believe
it. The men were examined at Montauk
before transfer, and the minimum num-
ber sent away was 200. He remarked that
he became so disgusted with the provision
Tor the transportation Of furloushed men
that he made an arrangement to have the
men get their papers Immediately so they
would not have to wait at the station.
There was delay in getting the laundry
at Montauk going. but the statement that
soiled and disease-breeding clothes We're
slowed under the hospital floor was not
true. The hospital floor was from six to
fourteen inches above the ground and the
air was as fresh there a. II was anywhere
about the camp and the clothing stored
there was not of a pestilence-creating
character
There were plenty Of sheets, blankets,
pillow cases. etc. The Red Cross how
ever, furnished about $500 blankets and
the same number of sheets and pillow
slips. These supplies in sufficient number
were ordered by the Government but
when they arrived at camp. through the
carelessness of the railroads it was diff
cult to get them. owing to the confused
way in which the cars were handled in
the yards
MIX for the sick was in abundance
There was so much milk that ii was in
the way. Everybody sent milk When
he left Montauk there We're enough cans
lying around to equip two bigger dairies
than the United States now holds Ice
was scarce. The Red Cross furnished
four or five carloads. A carload lasted
about a week.
When asked by DR.. Connor why ii was
that a society like the Red Cross could
obtain ice promptly and the United States
Government could not. Major Brown hes
itated. He finally concluded 1t was all the
fault of the railroads. The surgeon gen.
eral had given order that the hospitals
were to have anything, everything that
money could buy.
Out of about $50 cases of typhoid fever
at Montauk, 40 had died The transferr-
ing of sick to the hospitals was done in an
irregular way. 1t was impossible to tell
where many of the men who reached the
general hospital came from. what allied
them or who they were. Perhaps I5 per
cent of the sick got there in this way
There Were forty ambulances. Twenty of
these were without tongues. 1t was true
that ambulances were employed in carry
ing officers and other parties-pleasure
parties, as 1t were-when they should have
been in use caring for the sick. This was
stopped. however, after II had gone on a
short time. There We're never enough am
balances.
There were plenty of doctors Some doc
tors had thirty-eight patients. This was
not an over-task, Major Brown said. for 4
capable man. The doctor who couldn't at
tend properly to thirty-eight sick soldiers
a day ought to quit the profession. The
sick We're all together. When it was as
certained that patient had typhoid fever,
and it could be done without danger TO his
life. he was removed to typhoid ward.
There We're at the hospital l01 Sisters of
Charity and 1872 others, acting as nurses.
There were eight trained male nurses.
Officers Would Not Have It.