The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-08-09
ELSIE REASONER RETURNS
THE SALT LAKE GIRL is BACK
FROM CUBA.
Gives Her Views of Affairs at ST.
honey to the New York Tribune
Wonderful Valor of Our Soldiers.

girl, who, after doing good service with
the bureau of publicity and promotion
at the Omaha exposition, went to Cuba
with one of the Red Cross ships, has
just returned to New York, and the
Tribune of that city has the following
article regarding her:
Miss Elsie Reasoner of Chicago, who
went to Cuba about a month ago for
the purpose of studying the work in
the hospitals where the wounded and
sick soldiers were treated, and also a
woman's part in the campaign, arrived
in this city on Wednesday, looking
as though she had been exposed TO the
Cuban climate for many days. Her
complexion was a deep bronze and her
hands were much tanned. She is young,
of medium stature, has an exceedingly
active temperament, and looks as
though 'roughing it" out-of-doors in a
country like Cuba would be a pleasure
for her. When seen by a Tribune re-
porter she had nothing except words of
praise for the name in which the
soldiers were cared for in the hospitals.
Briefly summarized, her story of
what she saw was that CHASTITY and
horrid sights of wounded and sick men
met the eyes at every move, n that
the women nurses were brought face
to face in the performance of their
duties with these conditions, but none
of them fiinched or Shirked or were
found incapable of relieving the dis
tress or responding to the many calls
for them. 1t was mostly at Siboney
that she spent her time in Cuba in
carrying out the special purpose of
her visit there. where she landed under
the auspices of the Red Cross. AT
Siboney h met the nurses n the
doctors of the Red Cross, and carefully
watched them as they went about car
ing for the men who a been shot
down or were suffering from fevers.
Without those physicians and nurses
and without the supplies of food and
clothing got to the front under the per-
sonal supervision of Miss Clara Barton,
she believes a great calamity would
have happened to the army.
Soon after the soldiers had faced
fire." said Miss Reasoaer, word was
received by those miles in the real of
the troops that the boys OF Uncle Sam
had been fighting on empty stOmachs,
and that there was little prospect of
their getting anything to eat quickly,
unless the rmy r~ations, which were
still where they were thrown from the
landing place, were carried over the
rough roads to them.
General Shafter called upon Miss
Barton to do her best to help me hun
SIy lTOOpS. bcSlQeS IOOQ, the Iutil Will
ed a change of clothing, for they had
long been exposed to the brief rain
storms, and at night and when the
firing was on had lain in the trenches.
which were veritable breeding places
of malaria"
Miss Reasoner said that General
Shafter had no need to call a second
time upon Miss Barton for aid Quick
~ and skilfully she had the supplies
from tho Ctnro that bod haan franc-
ferred from the Red Cross ships to
the land loaded on carts drawn by
mules and sent to the men. Her sup
plies reached many of the men before
any others did, n she also fed a
large portion of the army for some
time.
TT was not the climate" continued
Miss Reasoner, that caused so much
sickness among the troops, but because
they marched in wet clothes for hours,
lay in the trenches made by digging
up the moistened earth, and, further,
owing to the fac that the ground was
surface drained. 1 am firmly convinced
that Siboney would be a perfectly
place if there were proper
drainage. The fevers the men mostly
suffered from were malarial, and not
yellow Jack as reported. In fact, 1
did not see one person down with the
yellow fever. Such a small quantity
of ice was on hand that a man from
Chicago got a fine horse in exchange
for a piece of ice.