Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-03-23
People Have No Idea of San
itatiOny and DiSeaSe-breed-
ing Vermin Is Carried Ev-
eyWhere, Says Upton,
AMERICAN DOCTOR
IS MARTYR TO DUTY
Only Fire Can Check HideOuS
Condition That Threatens to.
DepopuIate Large Part of.
Country,

lay MORNING JOURNAL SPECIAL LEASED wlsGl
London, March 23 U2;15 II. ny
lJust as il took fire to stop the great
plague in London, so fires are needed
TO clear Serbia of typhus Infected
houses and the clothing of the people
must be burned, as the disease is car
ried by vermin which is omnipres-
emit said Sir Thomas Upton tonight
in statement to the Associated Press
i'm which he recounted the conditions
in Serbia where he spent a consider
able time in personal Investigations
Il met on the country roads the
sick. too weak to crawl. Bullock carts
We're gathering them up. often a
woman and children were leading
lbullocks. the husband and father in
the cart raving with fever Scarcely
lenough people remain unstricken to
dig graves which lie exposed in the
cemeteries
situation Beyond Control
THE situation is entirely beyond
/ the control Of the present force which
imperatively needs all the help it can
get-tents, hospitals, doctors, nurses,
modern appliances, and clothing to
replace the garments full of typhus-
! bearing vermin'
/ Describing the hospital at Ghev-
ghe1 where occurred the death of
| DR.. James f. Donnelly of the Ameri-
/ can Red Cross, whom Sir Thomas
calls one of the greatest heroes of
/ the war, he said:
THE place is a village in a bar
rem, uncultVated country the hos
Iptal an old tobacco factory formerly
/ belonging to Abdul Hamid. In ii were
crowded 400 persons, without blank
cts or mattresses or even straW-men
/ lying i'm the clothes in which they
had lived in the trenches for months,
swarming with vermin. All diseases
ItNphus, typhoid, dysentery and small
lpox-were herded together In such
! a state DR.. Donnellv found the hos
Ipital where he had force of six
| American doctors, twelve American
nurses and three Serbian doctors.
Stencil Is Unbcarablc.
When ! visited the hospital three
American doctors and three Serbian
doctors and nine nurses were them
selves sick.
THE patients were waited on by
Austrian prisoners. The fumes OF
/
bearable The patients objected to
the windows being opened and DR..
Donnelly was forced to break the
panes
THE first thing DR.. Donnelly did
on his arrival was to test the water
which ne found infected lie then
mprovised boilers of oil drums, in
which TO boil water for use. The
boilers saved 500 lives, said DR.
Donnelly. He also built ovens in
which to bake the clothes Of the pa
TENTS, but he was not provided with
proper sterlizing apparatus.
NO drawer people exist than the
Serbians; they have never a word OF
complaint In one ward | saw a fever
patient. his magnificent voice boom
ing songs to cheer his comrades.
Some were in a dclirium, calling for
mother
Unused to Sanitation.
lone source of infection is the
army black bread, which is the only
ration Of the troops The patients in
the hospitals receive daily a loaf,
which they put in their bed or un-
der their pillow Later the unused
loaves are bought by peddlers and /
are re-sold, spreading disease among
the people. who are medieval, as far /
as sanitation is concerned. A Serbian
soldier is given rifle, hand grenades
and perhaps part of a uniform, but
otherwise looks after himself, his ra |
tiOns are coarse bread.
THE street cleaning and hospital /
waiting are done by Austrians. who I
are rapidly thinning out from typhus /
and other diseases. The best hospit ,
al in the Balkans is at Belgrade un- |
der DIR. Edward w Ryan, of the |
American contingent, where there !
are 1900 patients.
Or. Ryan kept the hospital neu ,
trail during the Austrian occupation .
and accomplished wonders diplomat I
ically at that time. He is worshppcd |
by the people,
Or Ryan says that the greatest /
labor is keeping the hospital free
from vermin The typhus affects men
the most severely. Women come next,
and children for the most part re-
cover The symptoms in the present
epidemic begin like those Of grip.
The disease lasts fifteen days with
fever and delirium.'
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