El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-08-26
STORY OF HORROR.
A Terrible Record of Neglect And
Mismanagement.


department is hive of industry night
and day. Officials are working like
bees. to get under shelter before the
storm, which they know is headed for
the department. bursts.
Indications are that the terrible sys-
tenn of red tape which has been in
vogue during times of peace will be
speedily abolished and the department
put in charge of generals and army Of
ficers swko can instantly accomplish
what is needed.
An example of the red tape system
is shown in the following incident
On August 11th President Mckinley
decided that all men in hospitals
should be allowed sixty cents day
for the purchase of delicacies. An or
der to this effect was issued the same
day, but was not put into force until
last night, it having been pigeonholed.
This allowance not being in force was
responsible for many deaths of sick and
wounded heroes.
| At Montauk Point, when the fir.t
sick arrived, it was ordered that GER
tain patients should have only milk.
When the milk came it was sour. A
man of the Seventy-first New York
had his teeth loOsened by fever.
He was famished. He Bit into piece
of hard tack, and nine of his front
teeth came out.
Montauk is still a place of horror.
Accounts of Alger's visit there are
deeply significant. Six hundred SOL
diers received MIN at the railroad
station. Not q cheer arose but instead
a few Kisses. Jack Hawthorne, grand
son of Nathaniel Hawthorne. is q
private at camp Wikoff. His mother
went to see him yesterday and this
morning told the following story in
New York:
Jacks name was called by his COM
rades. 1 got him up from the cot in
the tent, put my arms about his poor
shrunken body and cried. Presently
1 felt him swerve in my arms, and
called for help. His comrades caught
him as he fell in dead faint. When
Jack recovered his comrades helped
him into q carriage aud drove him to
the hospital where he got thirty days.
| furlough.
'In Jacks tent one man lay as sick
as Jack. They were lying on the
damp sand without blankets. The
mems tents are horrible. The officers
tents are beautifully hoOred. Jack
aud a sick comrade were compelled to
carry flooring from the station on their
backs.
"We left the camp with Jack wrap
ped in q horse blanket, and no clothes
but greasy underskirt and pair of
shoes, both lefts. He tainted when we
reached home, but said during the
night that Brooke, his tent mate, who
had yellow fever before Jack, nearly
died Sunday from exhaustion.
"Jack and three others carried him
| two miles to the hospital, where he was
denied admittance, his captain saying
he was all right. Another boy in the
same tent was too weak to turn over on
the ground. l sent a lady to him to-
day to drive him to the hospital, if he
did not die last night"
This story is but one of thousands of
similar tales of hardship and neglect
at this camp alone. Conditions are
equally as bad at all the other
camps. The bright exceptions to these
are the armies of Miles and Merritt
These generals never saved the feel
ings. of the home bureaus, but got what
they demanded and their troops were
quartered we'll.
MONTAUK POINT, Aug. 26.-The
transport Mohawk with the ''Presi-
dents own" Eighth Ohio regiment, is
still unable to disembark its troops.
The men tell stories of horrors impos-
sible to describe or believe. They say
they were utterly starved, and obliged
to occupy vessel capable of carrying
comfortably only four hundred.
| Oftwelve hundred who left Santiago,
$40 are this morning unable to stand.
before night. A soldier not a member
of the ''President's own tells a ter
rible story of the regiments suffer-
ing. The food was rotten and amount
ed to only about quarter rations. The
medical corps was taken from the reg
iment as soon as it arrived in Cuba.
| They had insufficient medical attend
ance since. They had no blankets. When
the men left Cuba, they were oblig-
ed to sleep on the wet decks without
cover. The officers, however, lived on
the best of everything. The men of
the regiment will wire charpes tn the
president as soon as they reach land.
CLEVELAND, Aug. Pa Cleveland
soldier starved to death in the trench
es before Santiago. This is the con-
struction placed upon the death OF
Private John Prouty, of the Eighth
United States infantry. Prouty died
on July % in the hospital at Santiago
His sister, Mrs. Jennie Staffield. has
received a letter from comrade. and
the bible and dairy of the dead soldier.
These entries were made in the
diary:
July 21-I am so hungry.
July 22-These half ratiops are not