The evening times., 1898-09-14


took his commanding officers recommen-
dation. and he spoke to all in the same
strain
The officers debated the question and
came to the conclusion that they would
he mixed up with the sick anyhow and
decided for the valley Capt. Dodds sided
with them, but from the time he made
his way down from the conference some
of those who saw him say he acted as II
he had a premonition OF What was 10
follow, though his smile never lost Its
cheerfulness or his voice its tone OF nope
His duties afterward were attended 10
with his usual faithfulness. In time he
was stricken down, and his commander,
quoting his physician, notified headquar-
ters at Santiago that Had this man had
proper attention he need not have died
Five days elapsed before news was re-
ceived from the first SiXty-hYe volunteer
nurses sent to the yellow fever post Ihe
news was that forty-four of them were
down and must be replaced. Again Major
Markley went among his command ana
exhorted them to do all they could FOR
the sick. Then forty-four new volun-
teers started for the post. Again aud
again were calls made, and patches OF
twelve fifteen, twelve six, and so on vol
unteered. Each day was marked by the
departure of new men to take the place
of those who fell victims TO the fever.
In the meantime Major Markley and
his officers were hard at work putting the
camp into sanitary condition owing 10
the absence of the utensils needed in a
camp of sickness, the pollution of the
camp was enormous. OF all disagreeable
tasks the work of keeping hospital
camp clean is perhaps the most obnoX-
ious At Siboney this work was most
revolving, but the half-sick men of the
Twenty-fourth went at II with dogged
| resolution. They dragged the dead sand
| crabs from under the cots with inproyis-
| ed rakes made with barrel nails, they
| performed the trying duties involved in
| nursing fever patients under the dread
| full conditions that existed, and they re-
| strained the fever-craZed patients. Night
| would close down full of anxiety to the
| we'll in that far-away hostile country,
| lonely and desOlate TO the sick.
In one day 341 sick We're reported in
| camp. DR.. La Garde, of Louisiana. head
of the yellow fever hospital, began to
| break down under the strain. Not an
| hour of the night, scarcely an hour of the
day, was he absent from his post, bat
| Ting with the great disadvantage of lack
| of some of the simplest drugs against an
| insdious foe that gave no rest. No Soon
| er was one patient on the road to re-
| covery, or dead, than a dozen new ones
| claimed his attention. DR.. Echeverria,
of Tampa, who had exceptional success in
| treating the fever, was also bending under
| the strain.
| Outside the hospital Major Markley was
| calling for details for this and details for
| that and at roll call a tottering, worn
| out line of soldiers answered TO their
names The major would announce the
4. -
of the men were unable on account of ill
ness to perform duty they should fall out
Not man would leavs the line, and the
| details would march away. Within an
| hour or two generally some of the men
| would return, acknowledge they were too
| weak TO continue their work and be or
| dered to their tents. So reduced were the
regiments that sergeants became cooks for
| the time, corporals privates, and Major
| Markley himself did corporal duty. Spade
| in hand, he would show how the work
| was to be done, or with tent pin labor
| with his bakers dozen to erect tent on
| new ground. This task of moving tents
| to new locations to avoid unsanitary con-
ditions was a daily and exhausting one
| The hardest part of 1t was digging the
| trenches around the tent, work which the
men were physically unable to do. AS q
through the tents and under the cots OF
the men sick with fever. and matter:
| could hardly be worse. But the major
| held on, going among the patients anG
| joking them into better spirits or humor
| ously scolding them for some breach OF
| hygienic rules.
| One evening twelve female and twenty
| two male nurses came into the camp
having been sent thither by the army
| hospital agent In New Orleans. Their ar
| rival was unexpected; for many day:
| the hospital at Siboney seemed forgotten
| by the outside world, and all there seem
ed to have been left to their fate AS IL
the great plague in London, when. the
| perishing were aided with food hung or
| long poles, nothing seemed TO get into
| Siboney save what. was showed in. Some
| times a visitor would call down from tht
| hilltop some inquiry as TO the good tim,
| the Twenty-fourth was having; or tn.
train on the railroad would put off some
ice for the weary men to come and ge
for the sick DR.. La Garde and DR.
| Echeverria, nervous and nearly exhaust
ed, had no aid from fellow-physicians
Over in Santiago, only few miles away
there were doctors and supplies in plen
ty, but it seemed impossible to get then
to Siboney. So the arrival of the nurse:
was a surprise.
Major Markiey discovered that thel
were not all up to the tricks of nursing
especially nursing where cots touched on
another, and half-dead men watched thei
neighhor die in the next cot The nev
| nurses were not pleased with the pros
| poets, but the major got at them, and
using all his diplomacy, he succeeded II
| marching the new arrivals to the sicl
tents. There they gave him three cheer
and promised to do their best. The sit
uation having improved somewhat. Dr.
La Garde, broken down, left for tn
United States to recuperate.
So for forty days the Twenty-fourtl
stayed at Siboney, carrying only IS
names on the muster roll, against 600 ant
odd that landed for the attack on Santl
| ago. Perhaps these forty days with al
their scenes of distress may accentuat'
the fact that this was the first instano'
that a whole regiment. worn out will
fighting on battlefield of unusual Sc