"-"?' V".
,-, Jf "V," fV
THE COURIER.
1
i
iW.-
WAR TAbK.
Old Point Comfort, As the St.
Louis and St. Paul, with General
Rrooke's staff ami General Maine's
command, glided out, lraund for Porto
-Rico, wistful glances followed them;
Santiago's wounded had not, even
now, enough of it! Those who could,
hobbled down to the wharf on crutch
es, with canes, arms in slings and with
heads bandaged, to see these untried
heroes pull out.
Over five hundred of our sick and
wounded are here in the hospital and
tent annex. Generals, colonels, majors,
captains, corporals, privates, cavalry
men and infantrymen Spanish bul
lets leveling all ranks. The stories
they tell one and all make one real
ize fully the needless horrors of .this
war. It is not war. It is a torture,
so great that its detais are too terri
ble for publication. It makes one be
lieve in the reincarnation of the soul
and hell, with Santiago reserved for
hell's deepest cell. Our poor men who
have died there, and who have come
throug'h it, must have paid a penalty
for sins committed in some other ex
istence; surely nothing of -which we
know in this exictence calls for suctr
punishment.
A noticeable thing is that these men
fell of it not at all complainingly -just
as though it were a matter of
course. If they tell you they .lay for
hours where they fell, in the sun, in
the rain, in the mud, jn their own
blood, without food, without water,
fighting land crabs, fighting ants,
watehiug vultures, stung by hornets,
they add "but the best was done for
us that could be done there were so
many to be taken care of."
"These brave boys in blue are at
present brave boys in pajamas. Messed
le pajamas! The government fur
nishes nightshirts for its sick and
wounded, but the women of the coun
try are sending pajamas. These in this
hospital were furnished by the Worn-
an s National Keiiet association, 01
which Mrs. U. S. Grant is president,
and Mrs. Ellen Hardin Walworth is
director-general. And director-general
in every sense of the term is Mrs.
Walworth. She was here personally
with pajamas, crutches, slippers,
nurses and other necessities, with the
consent of General Sternberg, when
the wounded commenced to arrive.
The pajamas, just now, are the only
uniforms some of these soldiers have;
the suits of blue and of brown duck,
worn since the transports were loaded
at Tampa, stiffened with blood and
with Cuban soil, were cut off, thrown
in piles on the outside of tents and
afterward burned. Pajamas, slippers,
tooth brushes and underclothing were
furnished immediately by this asso-
ciation organized to assist sensibly
the government and Uncle Sam will
come to the rescue in due time, and
in dignified, true, military, regulation,
red-tape order. In the meantime, our
wounded and Convalescing sick are
not obliged to stay in bed because of
such a trifle as having no wearing ap
parel. Great fuss and fume have been made
about the Seneca, which arrived in
New York without being properly
equipped for the sick and wounded.
The Seneca is only one, and was no
worse ana prooaoiy not s,o ouu.j uu.
j, gm
asiuDamvuuu.w,.,.. V rrZ
quarantined here the past week. The
pnysician wno uoa m -.
sight sickened him. There were ser
eral of the wounded soldiers without
a stitch of clothing. To dress their
w-ounds before leaving Santiago it was
necessary to cut off uniforms, and the
men were sent on without others hav
ing been supplied. They were with
out medical supplies from the start,
and when they reached this port were
without food and without drinking
water. The fever patients were rav
jng in delirium and all of them were
in desperate condition. They wetre
not allowed to land. Mrs. Nelson A.
Miles, who is stopping at the G.iam
berlin, and several angels, sent out
milk, ice, lemons, food, and such neces
sities as could be gathered up iir the
town.
General Sternberg claims these re
ports are all exaggerated. They are
not exaggerated. They "have not een
exploited "unpatriotically." They are
simply statements of fact.
How are you going to get around a
fact?
If our prisoners of war are sent
back to Spain in the condition our sick
ami wounded are being sent back to
us. God pity the Christian reputation
of the United States.
Who shall be blamed? No one, I
suppose. It is "war." General Shaf
fer was asked to have medical and
other supplies landed first at Santi
ago. He said no men first and sup
plies afterward. Men were lauded,
lighters -were lost, and many supplies
came back to Tampa, just as they
were loaded. The only attention these
wounded men many of them had at
Santiago is what is called the "First
Aid." Many of the men carried the
necessities for this, and dressed their
own wounds. Others had been obliged
in the awful heat and strain, to throw
aside nil accoutrements and had every
thing available stolen by the Cubans.
Incidentally, you ougl t to hear the
soldiers opinions of the Cubans! They
have a sort of respect for the Spaniard
but the Cubans! They don't like them.
They spit out when they mention
them.
Many of our wounded had sunstroke
after tnev were disabled.
These cases,
here in the hospital, are the most diffi
cult to control. David 15. McClure,
one of the Oklahoma Rough Riders,
one of these wounded who had suu-
st,.0ke, sat n the edge of his cot,
in
Ward 23, arrayed in pink pajamas,
with a green shade over his eyes. He
said, "those Rougli Riders fell so fast
they made a carpet of brown duck on
the hillside." He, with the rest, had
nothing to eat from Friday morning
until Saturday noon. At noon a com
pany of the Thirty-third Michigan
came by and divided their rations with
the wounded.
One poor fellow, who was wounded
on the first day, July 1, was not found
until July 3. He had crawled out to
the roadside and was lying there un
conscious. He was shot in the leg.
He had packed the wound with mud to
stop tJle fl3W of D00d. The leg was
amputated and his life saved. An-
otiier soldier tells of lying in the
snade of some bushes. A short dis-
tance from him -was another wounded
soldier, lying out in the open, uncon-
sC;ous. presentlv he noticed that
shots were falling near this soldier
the shots came nearer and nearer
a sharpshooter was getting better and
better aim. He himself could not
move to save his comrade he could
not arouse him. Finally 'the sharp
shooter had his aim perfected and
with another shot the wounded and
unconscious soldier was deud. A
Sious Indian cannot fight better
from concealment than these Snan-
lsu soldiers.
return io me nospuai nere. Tne
goiaiers call it .leaven." About 450
are ln Jarge tentSj haxinir floors and
iron cots with comfortable furnish
ings, while the officers and severest
surgical cases are in the hospital
proper. This post hospital was
equipped for fifty or seventy-five pa
tients. W3ien Major De Witt received
word thalt the wiounded would com
mence to arrive at 2 p. m., he had but
are now ready
with our
and Novelties. Also a
Whips and Robes in
best line of Bicj'cles.
Billmeyer
A
is, r
IH, SPIDERS,
Don t forget that the freshest fruits and vegetables are
the healthiest, especially at this time of the year. Al
ways to be had at
b M SICJXZ
GOOD LUCK GROCERY
TELEPHONE 626,
sxgrexBeBaxx!9xs
six hours to make preparations. The
tents were up, with the flooring laid,
and in 't'he store house were five hun
dred cots. Without going into details
suffice to say that, thanks to the won
derful executive ability conceded to
Major De Witt, at nine o'clock that
night two hundred and sixteen men
had had their wounds dressed, had
been lathed and tucked in between
pure white sheets in white night
shirts, on comfortable cots, with a
supply such as they had only dreamed
of for weeks.
Wounds are not the worst trouble
surgeons and nurses contend with at
this hospital. It is typhoid fever, and
the 'typhoid brought from Chicka
mauga. Yesterday it was the final
"lights out" for one of the Third Illi
nois; today, for one of the Fourth
Pennsylvania. Both of these patients
with twenty-five more, the majority
from the Third Illinois, were brought
to the hospital as their regiments
sailed away. They were all sick when
thpv lpft.C.nmn Thnmns hnf w !.,
;mis 1o -,,, and thought thev would be
- - " - j .--j- u...uU.9 usv ..i uu..
well if they could but get to Newport
News. They marched to Rossville to
take train those who did not fall
by the roadside, to be picked up by
the wagons and on reaching- Newport
News they were laid on the ground in
the rain. They were given the "dog
tents," shelter tents, after a few hours,
but still lay on the wet gronnd.
They were accustomed to rain. Two
weeks before I saw the Illinois
.-
regi-
for the summer season
new line of
fH
v
fine line of Harness, wW
the city. Largest and v
pr
& Sadler. ,
9S99999999999
(
1107 O STREET.
ments stand parade for three hours
and a half in the greatest down pour
of rain I ever witnessed. They were
1eing reviewed, and were listening to
a speech by Governor Tanner. I was
in a curtained carriage. Governor
Tanner and his staff wore mackin
toshes. The Illinois soldiers were not
wildly enthusiastic over their gov
ernor. Their blue uniforms were
probably too heavy with water for
enthusiasm.
Some of these who are lying here
with typhoid fever tell me they had
been drinking "red water" near Kel
ley's field at Chickamauga the wells
are low. General Itrooke, while I was
in Chickamauga, had allowed the own
ers of pure springs to cut off the sup
ply of good drinking water. He would
not be blackmailed into paying an ex
orbitant price for the springs. Of
course, the government should not be
compelled to pay for water. The lives
of men do not cost th'e government
anything; still, the horses an., mules,
which do cost something, get sick on
bad water. I should think, bv wav of
parenthesis, that the government
would take the springs of pure water
and tell the owners to troto t n.,t
of the way of our guns. Town Topics.
- 0 ww
-JohD,5' said Mrs. Dumley at the
supper table. "I was to th lnri;.
funeral today."
' Indeed,'' asked her husband. "Whose
WR3 it
nh r jm't u T i
.u -'- -"" ""- umy went ror
the ride."
