White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1919-01-26

FOL days mere nave Deen pouring
back to our shores tens of thousands
OF khaki heroes. Their tales of wal
adventure have thrilled the hosts of
civilian newspaper readers. In the
glamor of their heroism there has been
lost to sight the less romantic, yet
equally essential, work of other
branches of military service, repre-
sentatives of which have returned
with the warriors and have received
but scant attention. For instance,
tied up at the army piers in Hoboken
are two former Ward liners. now the
hospital ships Comfort and Mercy.
Each brought back to port In one week
upward of 400 badly injured soldiers,
many of whom were such desperate
cases that operations were necessary
while the ships were breasting terrific
seas on the way home.
The coast liners have been convert
ed from all semblance, except In out
ward lines. TO passenger ships. Each
is equipped with up-to-date hospital
apparatus, and each, so that expert
meDts may be made even at sea, has
VII tHt lODi1oei dtth u 4 suId,
tenanted by sheep, guinea pigs. white
mice, rabbits and chickens. There is
an abundance of available material for
dlssecting and germ studying expert
ments.
Equipped as Hospital.
The Communicated ships have lost
the scores Of magnificent staterooms
that delighted peace-time passengers.
Most of them have been ripped out to
make way for berths for wounded
men. The dining rooms have been
converted into wards. Reading and
smoking rooms have beer made Into
laboratories, and operating rooms.
dressing rooms. instrument lockers,
disinfecting chambers, sterilizing
quarters, bandage s~torerooms, etc.
On each OF the vessels is n large
operating room on the promenade
deck, lighted with fully half a hun
dred bulbs and equipped with six OPP
Grating tables. Adjoining is n smaller
room where minor operations are per-
formed.
Separate wards have been estab-
fiNlith " t9Ft wi II hVc tdrtrs ~
surgical patients, contagious diseases
and for minor ailments.
The medical personnel of each OF
the hospital ships, an aggregate of for
~ for both, comprises expert special
lists who have volunteered for navy
service during the war n who have
been doing superb work In emergen-
cies on the sea.
Neither of The ships was originally
Intended to transport wounded men
home. Both were sent to foreign wa
ters as floating hospitals attached TO
our fleets, TO be In readiness TO re-
ceive wounded cases Immediately az
ter n naval battle or n scrimmage
with submarines.
Encountered Bad Weather.
II vas with great difficulty that they
weathered the severe December storms
that impeded the progress of such
ships as the Mauretania, the Adriatic,
the Lapland, the orea and the Mime
knhda.
A sort of sub-hospltal ship has been
working at Hoboken for some weeks
In conjunction with the arrival of
manned and sick troopers. She Is the
S~hlnnecock, under command of Lieut..
Collins, which in peace times used to
ply between Moptauk Point and Block
Island.
She, too, has been equipped for
hold many berths and cots. Every
day. sometimes two or three times a
day. she edges against a returning
transport and takes way wounded
men, landing them at the base hos
pItal on Ellis Island or the Fox Hills
hospital on Staten Island.
Good samaritana
Not a small part of the work of
transferring the men has been looked
after by scores of Red Cross nurses
under command of Col. Dorothy @.
Smyley, head of the ambulance divis-
ion of the Red Cross. Her workers
have seen to II. with the cooperation
of the National League for Women's
Service, that casy-rlding military am
balances have been at the piers In
sufficient numbers. Red Cross nurses
accompany each ambulance and re-
main with the transferred patients
until they have been safely placed on
hospital cots.
A less vital, perhaps, but neyerthe-
less important work done by the Red
Cross women has been In the greet
ings extended the returning troops.
They have been Mt the pier edges
every time Transports have pulled In,
good weather or bad, waving flags,
swapping jests, illnglng cigarettes
and newspapers. boarding the ships
when they had locked, and going
among the men with tobacco, ehoco-
late and other comforts that ave
drawn from many Of them such ex-
presslons as: "Geei but you women