The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-07-29
From Our War Correspondent

/
surgeons for drugs and supplies. but it
stands ready at any moment TO put its
nurses ut the service of the sick sol
dierS.
Speaking on this very question Of nurs-
| ing DR.. G. Frank Iydston, author of
| several standard books on medicine and
| until recently in charge of the surgical
] ward at the Division Hospital here says:
"A case of meningitis ut the Division
| Hospital was under treatment by ice
| bags applied to the head. | found one
| morning that the bag was filed with
warm water. the ice having evidently
| long since melted. On inquiry | was
told by the nurse that he had not sup
| piled fresh ice because the man who
| preceded him hadn't told him to do so.
| The warm water treatment had been
in use for about five hours. With an in
| telligcnt. woman nurse, such thing
could not have happened. l will declare
| myself most emphatically as being in
| favor of female nurses, first. last and all
| the time. If the government cannot be
made to see the matter in proper light
| let competent and experienced male
| nurses be employed as the only war
rantable compromise"
Let it not be inferred from what I
| iidNc NI1tttH tiiIS HoSpitdl anu It's
shortcomings that l charge criminal neg
| ligence on the part of anyone. That
| is not my intention. | have no Other
| desire than to state the truth. Many
of the men in charge of this hospital.
| from the chief surgeon down. are hard
| workers. efficient and conscientious.
| Having made tremendous sacrifices to
| come here they are trying to do their
duty. But they are .'over-cropped.' As
| have previously stated the hospital of
| which they are in charge is too large
| for Il camp in time of peace. The fault
| is in the system rather than in the sur
geons. OF course here and there you
will find n shirker: more often though
| it is lack of system and deficiency of
preparation. Lieutenant Colonel l.. NJ.
| Maus. the head of the medical depart
! ment of the Seventh Army Corps. is not
| only conscientious and painstaking. but
/ he is also eminent in medical science.
Between him. though. and the sick sol
! der in the field or hospital is n long
cry and the best of intentions mTy be
| defeated by red tape, negligence and in
competence or anyone of these.
| Here is n case in point. More than
month ago an order was promulgated in
all regiments that soldiers having such
| IHA SftUl titltttS dS WbtUu ull0t tUtIli lbI
active service in the field be discharged
TO this end all such were requested to
present themselves for examination by
the chief surgeon of the regiment. Among
the number, in the North Carolina camp
was young Ben Hardy, of the Raleigh
company, son of Mr.. III. Il. Hardy, Of
the News and Observer His application
| was promptly granted and the paper
started on its journey Washington-w
/ for the dozen or more endorsements that
| have to be put on it. 1t began the jour
ney with twenty-siX other papers of eX
actly the same kind When they started
| the boy was in a bad way. drawn alm0st
doubleday reason of sickness. The
promise was that the discharge would
come in a few days. A week passed and
it did not come, a second week and a
third and now month had gone by
All the while the boy was getting weaker
J Finally Monday all the discharges except
! Hardy's came. Investigation showed
that his had been lost at the Division
IdIospital and had never gone to Washing
ton at all. Then came the attempt to
| get the boy Il furlough, and even this
took three days Of hard red tape work.
/ | Know the fact that Harly's disability
was incurred i'll line of duty, emitting
him to a pension had something to do
with the delay, but that is no excuse
for pigeon-holing his discharge papers and
| keeping him in a hot, unhealthy camp
until his health is seriously impaired.
| Somebody has Numbered, and it was not
| the regimental surgeons. either.
! Ma or c. w. Robertson, chief surgeon
| of the Fiftieth Iowa regiment, has been
| promoted TO the office of Division Sur
| IIn will Iaoun fhic b,
hospital at Fort Mcpherson, Atlanta.
Ga, where he has been assigned to duty.
Captain Chadwick is having n store
house built for the commissary stores
belonging to his company.
Members Of the Raleigh company were
busy yesterday improving their quar-
tors. Sand was hauled in to fill up low
places and floors were put in the tents.
Mrs. A. j. Crawford, wife of Captain
Crawford, has returned to her home in
Raleigh. She has been here for a month
Lieut.. Alphonso Avery, Of the Second
North Carolina regiment, is in the city
Sergeant w. A. Webb, of the Asheville
company, has gone home on ten days
furlough.
Walter l.. Hess, of the Concord com
pany, has been granted furlough for
seven days. He went home Tuesday
might.
| Colonel Eugene Harrell has been ap-
Iponted acting commssary during the abb
scnce of Lieut. Smith. Fourteen tents
| for this department arrived yesterday
and will be pitched along the road way.
near the canteen. Thirteen of them will
he used for storage of the food sup
lpy. larger one will be used as office
land quarters for the commiSsary
| The government has discontinued tho
issue Of ice in camp for the preservation
Of fresh meats. Up to yesterday $50
Ipounds of ice were daily given to each
regiment.
The order requiring all soldiers visit
ing the city to have passes has been
revoked and hereafter "the boys" will DE