Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-10-21
ONE OF TORREY'S VETERANS.
Captain W, H, Norfolk is in Town and De-
tails How Badly His Regiment Fared
AT Jacksonville Ihrnnph Sickness

at jacksonville Through Sickness,
Captain W. H. Norfolk, of troop D,
TOrreys Rough Riders, the I'd volunteer
cavalry. is registered at the Claire from
Jacksonville, The captain and his troop
enlisted at Salmon City, Idaho, where
they were acting as a troop of state
rangers. So they We're all well season
cd, hardy men, and went into the serv-
ice 81 strong. They had a chance, they
believed, to go to Manila, but the OPEN
ing into Cuba appeared to be sojimme-
diately promising that the boys thought
they would give up their Manila chanc-
es for the Cuban. But, instead of being
sent to Cuba, they were dumped down
at Jacksonville and tied up in camp all
summer long. There We're over 20, 900
men in camp there, but the regiments
We're changing a good deal, and Colonel
airy regiment there. The men We're all
enthusiastic and eager for the fray, and
it was a terrible drop in their fortunes
to be shut out of Cuba and tied up on
the st. Johns river. Then, it was the
beginning of the hot and siekly season,
and the change from the cool, bracing
climate of Idaho to the Florida coast
proved too much for the men, and they
fell sick by the score. The camps We're
kept scrupulously clean, the strictest
hygienic conditions obtained, and the
water drank vas artesian water: but
the violent change of climatic condi-
tions, the subsistence entirely on army
rations and the fall in the spirits of the
the West Indies, upset the troopers and
it finally became so bad that in Fl troop,
for instance, after the guard detail had
been taken out, there remained, on one
occasion, but one mar who was in per-
feet health, the rest being laid up and
unable to attend to their duties. In B
troop the record was four men, so that
the great bulk of the regiment became,
ere long, unfit for n kind of duty.
The doctors did not seem to understand
at the outset that nursing, rather than
drugs, was the requisite thing in ty-
phoid as developed there, and much
valuable time was lost in consequence.
But when the trained nurses Of h Red
Cross arrived the situation assumed a
different and better phase, and the men
were not so long sick and Jared better
in every way.
The captain has resigned and the reg
iment is practically unanimous for mus
tering out, which will probably be short
ly done. The command is at present In
very bad shape from sickness and can
do nothing. 1t has been impossible to
have regimental drill owing to the sick
ness; in fact, there has never been
more than squadron drill, and rarely
that, while troop drills have been few
and far between. Colonel Torrey has
had very little to do with the regiment,
and the lieutenant colonel, John Q.
Cannon, son of the famous Mormon
churchman, early secured a leave OF
absence because of sickness, and went
off to San Augustine, where he manag-
ed to have a better time of it than in
that hot, dusty, fever-stricken camp.
There was one regular army officer de-
tailed to act with the regiment, Second
| Lieutenant Hartford, of the 5th cavalry,
| who was given the rank of major, and
he proved q very efficient officer.
Captain Norfolk expects to remain in
Santa Fe for some little time yet, and
is making warm friends with all of
Roosevelt's Rough Riders within speak
ing and handshaking distance. He Is
an old soldier himself, having previ-
ously served as a non-commissioned
officer in the 18th United States infant
ry; has served also in the national
guard, and, as noted, was captain Of the
| state anger of Idaho.
The captain speaks i'll the highest
terms of his men, who conducted them
selves in the most excellent and soldier
ly manner under the most trying cir
cumstances. In five months not one OF
his troop got into the guard house.
wan ls-I S. n fnln Ar