Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-12-15
STARTLING CHARGES,
They Are Made BY a Returned
Red Cross Nurse,
SAD SCENES At MANILA.
Scores Of Soldier Boys Dying For Want
Of Proper Food.
UTTER WOE IN THE HOSPITALS.
Indifference of Ofciais-Petty Con.
siderations OF Rank - sauabbies
over Precedencc--sicI< Men Takinn
Poison 10 End Their Despair.
Poison Ia End Their Despair.

HONOLULU, December :. via SAN
! FRANCISCO. December IL The United
states transport scanda has arris sed here
from Manila. which place she left Novem-
Der 18th. She brings a number Of officers.
ulnety-one discharged and furoughed
men. and two Red-Cross nurses. She
brings the largest mail that ever left Ma
nia-zl5 -"oks for San Francisco and one
for Honolulu.
Miss Schaeffer, a Red-Cross nurse, who
went from Honolulu to Manila. arriving
there September 26ih. returned here. sho
makes startling charges as 20 the way
sick United states soldiers are taken care
of In Manila Miss schaener makes the
following statement:
Scores OF soldier boys are dying IN the
hospitals al Manila. just for want OF pro-
per nouTlshment. They say the govern
ment allows 60 cents a day foe each pa
tent. You can save dozens Of lives there
on . cents a day.
"Oh, the utter woe OF the hospitals: the
helplessness Of theml Men as bright. as
noble. as God ever made, given up 10
death; hoping for it. seeking it, taking
poison, doing anything that will end the
despair that comes upon them.
DEAD-HOUSE NEVER EMPTY.
Seeing nothing before them but days OF
pain aud nights OF wretchedness; without
proper food. alone, with no one to give
them sympathy, to cheer, 10 write 20
friends, To sooth the aching brow, OF
moistcn parched lips. il by sheer endu-
rance Of nature or ohstinacy Of vitality
they do get better, there Is before them
nothing but the stu more chesriess De.
rtd or c0nNalescence, with .tho prOba-
buitY ~ Z rslqpss md che Old WsArii.oss
Of despair 70 be- suffered again. No wcn-
der there are six or seven funerals a day.
No wonder the dead-hOuse Is never empty.
And outside the hospital. and even In H.
such indifference, Petty considerations
OF rank aud position. squabbles over pre-
cedence; lack OF consideration In pre-
scuDing and preparing food. white men
are dying, not merely OF heart hunger,
but for want of nourishment.
II have gone through the wards dav
after. day, ana l spoke 20 this one ana
that, and they poured out their woes.
Men who do not wear their hearts on
their sleeve cried FOR the pure agony Of
their loneliness and despair, MADE poig-
nant and vivid by their own telling II.
so MUCH INEXPERIENCEi
Il do not mean that the attendants in
the hospitals are careless, or Indifferent.
Many are trying 10 90 their best But
there is SO much inexperience; 80 many
clogs 10 those who would do much. 10
think OF an attendants going through A
ward with pail OF broth ladl.ng ID out
20 the hity or sixty patients indiscdiml-
nately by the cupfuL In the whole pail
lhete was not enough nourishment for
one, even II II were made OF the best
material But what II really Is made OF
shut my eyes and refuse 20 imagine. In
"a whole ward there Is not more than one
nurse with experience. and FOR helpers.
only one or two awkward boys, who. per-
maps, never saw a sick room before.''