The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1898-11-09
An Accumulation Of Documents
That Would Fill a Large
Sized Room.
DR.. G.. A. Smith Of Clinton. H.,
Tells More About Conditions
at Camp Thomas.
Shortage Of About Everything a
Sick Soldier Would Be Likely
to Need.

CHICAGO, Nov. 9.-lhe war lnveStl.
eating committee continued the exam
ination of witnesses. General Dodge,
chairman Of the committee. says that he
can begin to see al end Of the long in
vestigation. After some evidence has
been heard at Detroit the committee
will 60 to Washington. They have yet
TO visit Camp Meade. Pa, but it is likely
that this camp will not be reached until
after the return to Washington.
AS IN official body members Of the
committee have inspected since their
appointment Camp Alger, Va; Jack
sonville. Fernandina. Fort Miami, At
lanta, Tampa, ADMISSION, Huntsville,
Chickamauga. Lexington, Cincinnati.
Fort Thomas and Chicago. According
SO DR.. Conner the accumulation of
papers and documents in the possession
of the committee would fill a large sized
room. They consist Of army surgeons
reports. letters from private soldiers and
nurses, complaints. reports of quarter
masters and commissaries. and a mass
Of testimony which has been heard by
the committee.
DR.. G.. A. Smith Of Clinton, Ia, was
the first witness. From Aug. 8 to Sept.
10 he was in charge of the Second divi-
sion. Third armycorps. at Camp Thomas.
Had Nothing to Work With.
DR.. Smith said: When l assumed my
duties. July IA. l found a shortage of
tents and cots. The patients in the hos
pital We're crowded on account of tent
shortage. Some of the patients were
lying on the ground on ccoun of lack
Of cots. There was no provision made
for feeding the sick other than the ra-
tons issued to the soldiers in the regular
s~eevice. except such as was brought in
by charitable organizations, principal of
which was the Red Cross society and
the National Relief association. In the
pharmacy there We're at that time no in
testlnal antiseptics. although the COM
handing officer Informed me when |
made a requisition that he had made re-
peated efforts to get them. The phar-
macy at that time-and indeed.
until it was ordered closed and
| turned the stores over to the
government on the 9th Of Septem-
ber-never had any proper equipment
for doing pharmaceutical work. There
Were no scales to measure with and the
hospital stewards used a board for a
tile and an ordinary jack knife for a
spatula. There Were no pill boxes or
powder papers. The stewards dis
pensed tablets and pills in any paper
they could secure and they We're carried
to the wards in that shape: and owing
to the prevalence of dampness at night
they would become by morning a sticky
mass not fit for use
He hen went on to say that the med
zeal supplies did improve after the 1st
Of August, but up to that time there
had been a great scarcity of suitable
supplies.
The Water Was Slush.
In speaking Of the water supply fur
nished the hospital, DR.. Smith said:
The water hat was furnished for
the use Of these hospitals up to Aug. !
was that taken from the pipe line from
Chicaamauga creek, and it was so full
Of sediment that it was simply slush.
and was not water.
There We're no floors in any Of the
hospital tents at the time | reported for
duty at that hospital. The first tent
was l1OoItl SDOll dllcI Illr ulllulp OK
July. although some We're not foored
until long after that. The floors in the
tents of the Fifty-second Iowa. the First
Maine and the Fifteenth Missouri were
all laid after the troops had left the
park and Were never occupied by the
soldiers. and neve had cots placed in
them. In fact, l might state that the
floors were laid after orders had been
received to pack goods preparatory to
leaving for Admission.
Had No Trained Nurses.
"In regard to nursing in that hospital.
we had no trained nurses. All the
nursing was done by orderlies and many
Of them were densely ignorant, and
when l was in charge of the wards Of
the Second brigade l had two men who
could neither read nor write, and three
men who did not know the meaning OF
"A. NJ. or P. NJ when written.
'ln regard to the sinks, disinfection
and drainage" said the doctor, fright
back Of the tents Of the Second brigade
there was a cesspool which contained
that remained a stagnant pool until
some time in August. One great
trouble in my judgment was the shal.
lowness Of the sinks"
Acted as an Irritant.
In speaking of the infection Of the
camp the doctor expressed himself as
being of the opinion that a large part of
the typhoid fever germs was carried
around by the flies which invaded the
grounds. In DR.. Smiths judgment the
water supply was not contaminated by
sewerage carried into it from the camp,
but mainly by an inorganic sediment
which acted as an irritant on the mems
digestive organs and caused in many
cases dysentery and other intestinal
diseases.