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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 12, 1918)
' ^ % i /<fs f. Ml I - ''x Jj ^ yy ? r^l PEP Pep is the criterion by which . the efficiency of any organiza tion may be judged. Pep is the trade name for Vim, Vigor, and Vitality. Learn the College yells with pep. Learn your I. D. R. with pep. Get that old A. & M. spirit pep all the time, everywhere, with everything. Pep is the word. Let pep characterize your every action. VOL. XXVI Published Weekly by the Students’ Association of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, OCTOBER 12, 1918. NUMBER 1. Denies That Sick Men Were Neglected Either in Atten tion, Medicine or Food. Says that Supplies were Telegraphed For From San Antonio and that Red Cross Aid Was Not Refused BARRACKS FIVE. The action of the.county council of defense and several other prominent and patriotic citizens in bringing to the attention of the war department the horrible conditions existing at College is to be highly commended. From time to time rumors of mal treatment of the sick soldiers had sifted out, but there was no action taken in the matter. Citizens and members of the Red Cross visited “Barracks Five” and returned with tales that would sicken the staunch est heart. They told of the unsan itary conditions and the lack of care and attention. It is said that one boy was given up for dead and a sheet drawn over his form. His uncle came to see how he was getting along and discovered signs of life and being unable to get a doctor worked all night over the boy. The “corpse” recovered and is now fast getting well. Other boys begged the uncle to work with them and he did start to treat several but was stopped by someone in authority. Permission has been refused the local Red Cross to nurse the military sick, although the government has ordered them to go into these camps and cantonements and do what they can to relieve the situation. Persons who have volunteered their aid have been told that they could do noth ing. Parents who have asked to remove their boys to the local hospit al have been told that this could not be done. It is too late to try and remedy the present situation by getting a new hospital built. The harm has been done and 20 corpses have been sent from Barracks Five to homes where darkened shades are drawn and where mothers and sis- (Continued on page 5) CAPT. GIBSON’S STATEMENT. The folio wine - ^ta'f-a.nient was giv en out today by thr acting surgeo i John F. Gibson, Captain M. C., in reply to editorial and article in Bry an Eagle: 1. The statement that a boy “died” and was resuscitated by his uncle and that no physician was avail able all night is incorrect. 2. The local Red Cross aid was not refused, no such aid was offered till noon Thursday and was then ac cepted. 3. Regarding refusal of author ities to allow removal of sick sol diers to civilian hospital in Bryan. Attention is called to the fact that the Bryan Hospital is entirely in adequate to care for the sick in Bry an in the present epidemic. 4. At the time the editorial was written the deaths were only thir teen not twenty as stated. It is probable that the Eagle knew of only eleven deaths. Only three of these deaths occurred in barracks five, and these men took a turn for the worse very suddenly and were too ill to he moved. All the other deaths oc curred in the College Hospital. 5. The statement that any man went eighteen hours without nour ishment and that there was no ice water is incorrect. 6. The man who died partially clothed is the same one whp was too ill t6 move. He was taken so sud denly and dangerously ill that it was considered dangerous to try to re move his clothes at this time. Every thing possible was done for him. 7. Regarding lack of care and at tention of the men everything was done which was possible under the circumstances. Needed supplies were telegraphed for from San An- (Continued on page 5) MAJOR IKE ASBBDRN SEVERELY WOUNDED ATHIETIC CXTLOCK AT A. & Pi. FOR 18-19 ANSWERED COUNTRY’S FIRST TEAM LIGHT BUT FAST—SOME CALL AND ROSE RAPIDLY— GOOD GAMES WILL BE SEEN POPULAR WITH MEN j —PLAY ARMY TEAMS AND OFFICERS. DURING OCTOBER. Major Ike Ashburn, for three year's publictv secretary of tWe Col lege, and one of the most popular men ever identified with the institu tion, was seriously wounded in ac tion Sept. 14, according to advices which his relatives in the state have War time and the converting of the cadet corn- into an S. A. T. O. unit has had a -reat effect upon, ath letics this year jt A. & M. for sched ules, time for practice, eligibility rules and many other changes have had to be made. On account of S. A. T. C. rulings, no college games are permitted dur ing the month of October but this does not mean that A. & M. fans will not see plenty of football this month. Contracts have been made with several army teams to fill the October dates and as soon as this present wave of sickness is over. MAJ. IKE ASHBURN. received from the adjutant general’s department. No particulars were given in the telegram further than that his injuries were serious. His battalion formed part of a re view of American troops through the streets of Liverpool on July 4, as they were en route. to France, and Major Ashburn was among the offi cers whom the lord mayor of Liver pool entertained at lunch that day. Upon arrival in France he was de tailed to a field officers school for a period of final instructions and had been in action only a few days when he was wounded. His many friends here and throughout the state will hope for his early recovery. ■ TUBBY GRAVES All Southwestern Aggie Coach. the quarantine lifted, and matters commence running smoothly once more, plenty of football will be had