Evening star., 1898-10-21
NURSES WELL TREATED
Continuation of Miss Copslands Testimony
Before War Commission.
DR.. Kent Tells of the Assistance Fur
nfshed by the Red Cross
Society.

| In concluding her testimony before the
war investigating commission at Jackson
Vile, Fla, yesterday Miss Copeland. chief
nurse at the Sd Division hospital, spoke
| In commendation of the conouct of the
hospitals. She said that the nurses were
| we'll treated and apparently much respect
| ed She said the nurses had their own
| tent quarters, where there was the privacy
| demanded by their sex. They had in the
beginning of their stay there bearded at
hotel, but now they had their own mess
and preferred it. Miss Copeland said that
| when the nurses first came to the camp
| there was only one nurse to each forty or
sixty patients, but this condition had been
| steadily improved. There was also in the
| beginning some scarcity of appliances for
the sick, such as hot water bottles, which,
| while not a necessity, were often a COM
| fort. She spoke of some nurses who had
| made complaints, but they were of the
| kind of persons who are never satisfied
with any situation. One Philadelphia
| nurse had made severe criticisms. but she
| was of the kind who would leave a patient
| to whom she had just given bath to at
tend to some other er-and before drying
| him.
| DIR. Pitcher on the Stand.
DR.. James E. Pitcher of the regular
army, depot surgeon for the 7th Army
Corps, said that since the early days OF
| the camp there had been no difficulty in Sc
curing abundance of medical supplies,
| and that they were much more plentiful
and of greater variety than was usual in
| the regular army. In the first history
OF the camp supplies were ordered from
Tampa, and 1t was difficult sometimes i'm
| possible. to secure supplies. He thought
| the medical staff here were efficient as ply
sicianS, but they were without administra-
tive ability MANY of them knew nothing
of formulating acquisitions and were not
disposed to learn. To this DR.. Pitcher at
| tributed the fact that SO much of relief
society supplies were asked in preference
| to those furnished by the government lie
| thought that If the physicians had under
| stood this line of their business they need
| not have called Upon the relief associations
| to such an extert. Still, the relief associa-
| tions were supplied with ready money and
could supply all articles required imme-
diately. Furthermore, there was no re-
| sponstbility on the part of the surgeons for
| the articles secured from outside sources,
there was for government supplies.
DR.. Conner pressed DR.. Pitcher closely
| on this point. saying to him that the coun-
| try full of the report that the medical
| department Of the government was not ca
| pable of meeting the demands made upon
| it, and that but for the aid of such relief
| societies the Red Cross there would
have been actual suffering. To this DR..
| Pitcher replied that such was not the case,
and he maintained the sufficiency of the
government to take good care of its own
! sick. He said that 1t would have been un-
gracious not to accept the aid offered by
! the relief societies.
Fresh Meat Sometimes Poor.
| Captain John W. Swatek of Company l.,
| I'd Illinois, complained that on two or three
| occasions the fresh meat furnished his
men had been poor, but said that on all
| other occasions the food had been good
| and ample. General Dodge told the cap
| tain that there had been complaint from
| almost every man in the company in re-
gard to their breakfasts and suppers. Cap
tain Swatek replied that he had eaten the
same food given the men, and that 1t was
satisfactory to him. He said however,
| that he did not ordinarily inspect the meats
| Of the men. Sergeant A. F. Lorenzon OF
the same company admitted that there was
| some complaint among the men, but he
| thought the complaints were due to the
| fact that the men were homesick.
Colonel Taylor of the 4th Virginia Regi-
ment said he had no complaint whatever
! to make concerning any department of the
| government, and that he knew Of no case
of wilful neglect
Lieutenant Morrow, acting commissary of
the Sd Nebraska. Colonel Bryans regiment,
testified to the generally good character OF
| the commissary supplies.
Col. Bryan Excused.
Colonel w. J. Bryan was next called. He
asked to be excused from testifying, re-
questing that his lieutenant colonel be ex-
amined in his stead
You will, 1 have no doubt, understand
| my reasons for the request" he said.
Il think the request very proper and rea-
sonable,' responded Governor Beaver, and
as the entire commission aSsented to this
concession Colonel Bryan excused,
with the request to send up his lieutenant
colonel
W. T. Durbin of the 161st Indiana said
har foVu Nlais IRON, m
and that they were generally trivial.
DR.. Alexander Kent pastor of the Peo-
pies Church at Washington and field agent
at Jacksonville for the Red Cross, was
questioned concerning the operations of the
Red Cross at this point. He said he had
been received very cordially by the army
surgeons and he had co-operated with
them. He had noticed the absence of sheets
and pillow cases at the I'd Division hos
pital in its early history. This was in mid
summer, and many men lay uncovered on
| account of the short supply of blankets
He supplied the deficiency, and the sup
ply had been thoroughly appreciated by
the doctors. There was also at that time
shortage of tents and food suitable to
typhoid fever patients. He had undertaken
to supply the deficiency and had distrib-
uted TWO car loads of the necessary deli
cacies.
Demands on the Red Cross.
1T seemed" he said, las If the hospital
was arranged upon a smaller scale than
was demanded, and as consequence there
was constant demand upon the Red Cross
to supply the deficiency" DR.. Kent said
he had heard many complaints concerning
misconduct at the hospitals, and many of
them were apparently we'll vouched for,
| but they had not generally proved well
founded when investigated.
Replying to a question, he said he thought
1t had been very difficult to get medical
men Of sufficient administrative ability to
S1rrt inc f1iS
hospital. Before the female nurses were
secured the nurses, who were men of the
hospital corps, were not capable. They
were not intelligent as a class and while
some of them were doggedly faithful, they
failed to meet the requirements They did
not, for instance, seem to regard it of con-
sequence If flies were crawling in and out
of sick mans mouth with impunity, and
he had seen many as six cases of this
kind at time Since the trained nurses
| had been secured the sick were better cared
for than at home. He thought the govern
ment should send COWS to Cuba in ad-
! vance Of the army to supply fever patients
l