The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-09-07
SHIP NA.l|!..N|'l.E'
Interesting Narrative Of the Mission
Of the Hospital Steamer
NOW in CHINESE WATERS
Generously Loaned for the Noble Ser
vice by Atlantic Transport Com
pany-Its Place In the Boer War.
True to Her Red Cross Flag.

Correspondence Of the Associated Press,
& NEW Y DIRK, Sept. 6.--The American
X hospital-ship Maine arrived In Chinese
waters on Saturday. August 25. So lit
tie Is known in the United States OF her
mission. either present or past, that
ask leave TO acquaint your readers with
what she has accomplished and what
she Still aims to do for the, credit OF our
country In distant parts Of the world.
The idea of n .hospltal-shlp originated
\ with an American lady, the wife OF an
American long resident in South Afrs-
ca. * &.
This; ship, generously loaned by the
4 Atlantic Transport Company, through
its president, Mr.. Bernard Baker, OF
Baltimore. equipped and maintained at
Y the cost Of Americans, and In charge of
American doctors started on an erranl
. Of mercy in December last. for Cape
4 Town., to give aid to the sok and
wounded In the South African war. AS
volunteer ship, supplementary to the
government relief ships, She, was nttcd
out with many comforts and luxurles
such as cannot be demanded In times Of
stress from an over taxed war office. !,
In the harbors of Cape Town and
Durham the Maine received both the
4 British and the Boer wounded. AMI re-
turned in April to Southampton, Eng
land, with full complement OF invalid
ed British soldiers. The number OF pa
tients received on board was 374, lnclul-
ing those treated In port. " ~
Is Sailed to South Africa.
Re-equlpped and rcvictuailad In nine
days. she sailed directly back 10 South
Africa to bring home another shlpload
Of disabled soldiers.
On this, her second return voyage, in
July. was one OF those who sailed out
from Southampton to welcome her.For
me, 1t was the first and the nearest ap-
proach to the horrors of war, and I
found them, even in this. their second
stage, sad and grim. AS our boat APP:
preached the incoming Maine-this
moving hospital. larger III Its number
of BEDS than most OF the large hospitals
Of New York-we saw. her sides and
decks crowded with eager faces; men
everywhere in invalid-chairs, on
stretchers, and on clutches; with legs
gone. arms gone, heads bandaged, and
( all In motley array. No gay trappings
Of dress parade, only here and there 4
cap, a Glengary. or a fatigue Jacket, to
indicate the soldiers uniform. e
Pale Faces Told the Story.
Descending into the first ward
named after Mrs. Whltelaw Reid, the
generous donor and adviser OF Red
Cross work everywhere--we found j: q
number OF patients in the cots. It was
UNNECESSARY to. ask the nature OF their
trouble. for the pale faces and enact
ated bodies bore the unmstakable
stamp of enteric fever-that deadliest
OF, camp followers The ward was
bright and well ventilated. the bed lnen
: fresh and white. and everything scrup-
i ulously clean. Over each bed was sus-
pended the name of Its American donor
men and women with sympathles
broad enough to stretch forth into the
unknown for the unknown.
The ward capacity OF the Maine is 21O
beds. The surgeons and physicians, all
OF them first rank men from our best
American hospitals, the nurses from.the
{ Mills Training School. and the orderlies
were a strong sturdy band, truly l
STAFF upon which to lean. Despite
the comparatively cramped quarters,
modern, scientific treatment had been
carried out In the form OF tub-baths for
the cases OF cnteric fever with crafty
Ing results. ~
Benefit Of Rontgen Ray.
BY means OF an admirable Rontgen-
ray apparatus, sent out from New York,
valuable assistance had been obtained
in the treatment OF gunshot injuries,
and In well-equ!pped laboratory ding
noses In doubtful cases had been made
by meteorological examinations: A
4 strange and a happy fact to be recorded
{ was that during the three weeks voy-
age OF the hospital-ship not 4 single
death occurred.
The patients. below deck, as we'll ag
above, were in excellent spirits, despite