Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1899-08-12

roIIing NILS, out the enCampmeng was
surrounded and cut through by swamps
The infantry lay on the low seashore
where chill night winds and heavy
mists made fall underwear necessity
for we'll men. Repeated demands failed
to bring flannels, even for the sick, IN.
til public generosity came to the rescue,
ard even then summer weights were
supplied. Grimes artillerymen made
themselves shirts out Of coarse grain
sacking.
Candidly, words fail to describe the
situation as found it from Aug. 20 to
80, and this not at the hospitals, but in
the quarters of supposed we'll men.
On every side heard the one cry, some.
times equaling in terrible suggestiveness
those narrowing lines Of Longfellow:
Oh, the famine and the feverl
Oh, the wasting Of the faminei
Oh, the blasting Of the feveri
Stories Of exalted daring and heroism
have failed to remove from my mind
its first impression, which was that
was in pest camp.
An extreme example Of distress was
the Eighth regulars which was just out
If Camp Detention when visited TIE
quarters. It had been among the last to
leave Cuba. About 40 sick were left at
Santiago, many having been sent north
earlier. and there were 90 technically
sick at Montauk. This regiment came
up on the transport Mobile. where IL
died from the ranks Of we'll men as
against 8 deaths among the sick on the
hospital ship Olivette. When asked
the commandment how many men he
duty, he answered, "Nonep For ex-
PLANTATION I was invited to walk through
the company streets. Every tent had
from two to four PROSTATE men rolled in
blankets, their faces the picture Of deep
and prolonged suffering, due, as was
stated, to general debility and fever.
Every regiment had sad story Of sick
in quarters, not varying, relatively,
from the following statement taken
verbatim at the headquarters Of the
Second Massachusetts:
Went to Cuba, o35 strong; electives on paper
at Montauk, 500: fit for duty, 80. Came north
on the Mobile; over 400 sick all the way from
Santiago; left "a sick Of yellow fever in Cuba
under care Of an officer surgeon and ten
men, besides about 20 sick in Santiago hospi.
tails. Have put in Montauk hospital 81 sick
and suffered In all 90 deaths Colonel Clark
thinks that $50 men will be disabled for life
from hardships, fever and wounds.
For the sick in quarters at Camp Wi
koff there was no government medicine
and no aid up to Sept |. Coarse field
rations formed the staple diet until
they got into the hospital. Half the du-
ty men were too weak to walk from the
wharf to Camp Detention. One trans
port came to tho offing flying a flag Of
distress and signaled: "Men starving.
Send food" On the 28th Of August out
Of Is fever applicants for the general
hospital 12, having a temperature Of 100,
were sent back to the regiments. Colonel
Forwood said that his hospital carried
already a third more than its normal
capacity, and 100 was not q high tenn
perature.
There were positively no medicines
for the camp sick in the government
supplies. saw acquisitions reiterating
demands that had been repeated daily
many times, and heard official state
ments made to cover a whole division.
while Colonel Forwood admitted as
much for the entire camp. Knowledge
Of this lack Of medicine reached Gener-
al Wheeler late on Aug. 81, and on the
2sth there was a council Of surgeons
lasting five hours. At this council it
transpired that there were 5000 sick
soldiers in the camp out Of about IL, 900
men, including those who had not been
in Cuba; also that there was no medi-
cine except for the 2. 900 actually in hos
pital. General Wheeler took the matter
in hand, cutting red tape and wiring
rush orders for medicine, as we'll as
outfits for division hospitals to receive
the overflow at the general hospital.
BY the way, General Wheeler was
the man for the hour at Camp Wikoff, as