The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1898-11-10
General Dodge Says Taking of
Testimony by the Commission
Is Nearly Done.
An Accumulation of Documents
That Would Fill a Large
Sized Room.
DR.. G. A. Smith Of Clinton, Ia..
Tells More About Conditions
at Camp Thomas.
Shortage Of About Everything a
Sick Soldier Would Be Likely
to Need.

~ 1NCSNe
CHICAGO. Nov. 9.-The war investi-
eating committee continued the exam
ination of witnesses General Dodge,
chairman of the committee. says that he
| GAN begin to see an end of the long in
vestigation. After some evidence has
been heard at Detroit the committee
will go 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 an 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.. Connor the accumulation of
papers and documents in the possession
of the committee would fill large sized
room. They consist of army surgeons
reports, letters from private soldiers and
nurses, complaints. reports of quarter
masters and commissaries, and mass
of testimony which has been heard by
the committee.
Dr. G.. A. Smith of Clinton, Ia, was
| the first witness. From Aug. 9 to Sept.
10 he was in charge of the Second divi-
sion, Third army corps, at Camp Thomas.
Had Nothing to Work With.
DR.. Smith said: when assumed my
duties, July IA, I found g. shortage of
tents and cots. The patients in the hos
pital were crowded on account of tent
shortage. Some oe he patients were
lying on the ground on account of lack
of cots. There was no pH0V1s4Un made
for feeding the sick other thin the ra-
tons issued to the soldiers in the regular
seevice, except such as was brought in
by charitable organizations, principal of
which was the Red Cross society ard
the National Relief association. In the
pharmacy there were at that time no in
testinal antiSeptics, although the COM
handing officer informed me when |
made requisition that he had made re-
peated efforts to set them, The phar-
macy at f that time-and indeed,
until it was ordered closed and
I turned the stores over to the
government On the 9th of Septen-
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 d
tile and an ordinary jack knife for q
Gpatula. There were no pill boxes Or
powder papers. The stewards dis
ponsel tablets and pills in any paper
they could secure and they were carried
70 the wards in that shape; and owing
to the prevalence Of dampness at nigh
they would become by morning a sticky
mass not fit for use"
Ie then went on to say that the med
ical supplies did improve after the 1st
OF August, but up to that time there
had been great scarcity Of suitable
supplies.
The Water Was SlusE.
In speaking Of the water supply fur
risAed the hospital, DR.. Smith said:
The water that was furnished for
TIE Use of these hospitals up to Aug.
wa* that taken from the pipe line from
Chica&"l2i&;;~t .-Goez. nd it was so full
OF sodi-49nG t1iaG 1t was simply slush,
and was not water.
There We're no floors in any of the
hospital tents at the time I reported for
duty at that hospital. The first tent
was foored soon after the middle OF
July, although some were not foored
until long after that. The floors in the
tents of the Fifty-second Iowa, the First
Maine and the Fifteenth Missouri were
al Laid after the troops had left the
park and were never occupied by the
soldiers. and never had cots placed in
them. In fact, | 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 tonursing in that hospital,
we had no trained nurses All the
nursing was done by orderlies and many
OF them were densely ignorant, and
when Twas in charge of the wards of
the Second brigade I had two men who
could neither read nor write, and three
men who die not know the meaning of
"A NJ. or P. NJ. when written.
In regard to the sinks, disinfection
dlid III esiltdSS, ScsiSt Iilc uotlOl, liSIb
back Of Tic tents ct tbs 5ecal.d JI@atse
f4eEe WaoeB casspooI when Contained
most OF tie WesteI from the camp and
that remained q 5tagnant pool nnoll
some time n August. One great
trouble in my Judgment was the shall
lowness of the SINKS.
Acted as an Irritant.
In speak .ng 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 DIR. 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