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Twenty-fifth Annual Report Board of Trustees Soldiers' Home in Massachusetts at Chelsea • for the year ending June 30 1907 TWENTY-FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT I BOARD OF TRUSTEES Soldiers' Home in Massachusetts AT CHELSEA FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1907 BOSTON: GRIFFITH-STILLINGS PRESS, 368 CONGRESS STREET 190 7 OFFICERS 1907·-8 PRESIDENT. PETER D. SMITH. TREASURER. VICE-PRESIDENT. SECRETARY. WILLIAM M. OLIN. ELISHA T. HARVELL. JOSEPH B. MACCABE. ASSISTANT SECRETARY. CHARLES W. WILCOX. TRUSTEES. HORACE BINNEY SARGENT, Mare Island, Cal. PETER D. S~IITH, Andover. CRANMORE N. WALLACE, Boston. W. SYMINGTON BROWN, Stoneham. EDWARD H. HASKELL, Newton. ANDREW J. BAILEY, Boston. SILAS A. BARTON, Waltham. JOSEPH F. LOVERING, Amesbury. JOHN E. GILMAN, Roxbury. CHARLES W. WILCOX, Milford. ELISHA T. HARVELL, Rockland. JOHN W. HERSEY, Springfield. GEORGE W. MOSES, East Boston. HENRY CABOT LODGE, Nahant. HARRY E. CONVERSE, Malden. JOSEPH B. MACCABE, East Boston. EPHRAIM B. STILLINGS, Boston. ELI W. HALL, Lynn. ALLISON M. STICKNEY, Medford. WILLIAM M. OLIN, Roxbury. DANIEL E. DENNY, Worcester. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. PETER D. S~UTH. ELISHA T. HARVELL. WILLIAM M. OLIN. JOSEPH B. MACCABE. CHARLES W. WILCOX. COMMITTEE ON ADMISSIONS. ELI W. HALL. SILAS A. BARTON. JOSEPH B. MACCABE. FINANCE COMMITTEE. PETER D. SMITH. SILAS A. BARTON. CHARLES W. WILCOX. HARRY E. CONVERSE. ELISHA T. HARVELL. EDWARD H. HASKELL AUDITING COMMITTEE. CRANMORE N. WALLACE. JOHN E. GILMAN. EPHRAIM B. STILLINGS. BUILDING COMMITTEE. PETER D. SMITH. ALLISON M. STICKNEY. SILAS A. BARTON. ELISHA T. HARVELL. A. J. BAILEY. SUPERINTENDENT. COL. CHARLES E. HAPGOOD. ACTING SURGEON. ASSISTANT SURGEON. DR. PHILIP C. MEANS. DR. LAWRENCE R. HILL. CONSULTING SURGEONS. DR. J. COLLINS WARREN Boston. DR. HENRY O. MARCY Boston. DR. ROSCOE E. BROWN Everett. DR. SAMUEL CROWELL . Dorchester. DR. WILLIAM R. CHIPMAN . Chelsea. DR. ARTHUR J. SHAW (Oculist) Boston. DR. GEORGE H. GRAY Lynn. DR: EDWARD P. STARBIRD Roxbury. 4 :fl3equeata an~ JDonationa The following are gratefully remembered by the inmates of the Home: Capt. Joseph B. Thomas, Boston, donation in 1881 of $10,000 00 Miss Elizabeth P. Sever, Salem, Mass., legacy, amount ing with interest to . 4,164 82 Mrs. Caroline M. Barnard, Everett, Mass., furnishing Cudworth Ward, in hospital. 3,200 00 Hon. J. Warren Merrill, Cambridge, donation . •. 1,000 00 Geo. Draper, Esq., Hopedale, Mass., per annum, since the opening of the Home up to the time of death, 100 00 William Montgomery, Esq., United States Hotel, Bos ton, annual donation up to time of death . 100 00 Mrs. Lyman Tucker, Boston, Mass., a Soldiers' Monu ment in Soldiers' Home Lot, Forest Dale Ceme tery, Malden, and legacy of . 2,000 00 Otis E. Weld, Boston, annual donation up to time of death ........ 100 00 Mrs. Ann J. Baker, legacy 300 00 Mrs. Joanna L. Merriam, legacy . 50 00 Capt. Gideon Skull Holmes, legacy 2,620 25 Mrs. Susan M. Weston, legacy . 250 00 Mass. Division Sons of Veterans, furnishing Dormitory in Sargent Hall . 750 00 Moses Wilde, 2d, Cambridge, legacy . 8,300 00 44th Reg't, Mass. Infantry Association, annual donation 50 00 Charles H. Kezar, Salem, Mass., legacy . 100 00 Ladies' Aid Association, for perpetual care of lot in Forest Dale Cemetery. 3,000 00 Ladies' Aid Association, for elevator. • . 1,053 00 Robt. C. Billin/!:s, Boston, bequest, April, 1903 . 5,000 00 Col. Josiah H. Benton, Jr. ....... 100 00 5 lPreatbent' a 1Report To THE TRUSTEES OF THE SOLDIERS' HOME IN MASSACHUSETTS. Gentlemen: I herewith submit my Report with the Annual Report of the officers of the Home. There have been four regular and nine special meetings of the Board. The work of the Home increases year by year, and it requires more time to look after its affairs. My visits have been weekly and sometimes two or three times a week. You will find by the Report of the Superintendent of the Home that we have increased in numbers. The highest number in the Home, 513. We were enabled to do so by putting in additional beds in Sargent Hall. The Home is full to its capacity most of the time, and often we have to turn away many an applicant. If a woithy comrade seeks for hospital treatment we shall always try and make room, even if we have to put beds in the corridors for time being. On June 20, Dr. George W. Jones, Surgeon of the Home, was removed by a majority vote of all the Trustees; and the care of the inmates of the hospital devolved on our Assistant Surgeon, Dr. Philip C. Means, who has performed his duties satisfactorily to the officers of the Home, and with the assistance of an efficient assistant, I think the work can be carried on successfully. Your Executive Committee have had the work well in hand, and I am happy to state that, while our numbers have increased materially, the expense per capita has not. Of course, as the years go by, the cost of maintenance must increase on account of civilian help being employed, for the inmates are getting too old to perform much labor. We have been working on plans for a new hospital most of the year, and I am happy to state that we have selected plans, and they have been approved by the Governor and Council, that will- accommodate 170 or more patients; and ere this Report reaches the hands of the printer work will have been commenced on the new building. At our last Annual 6 Meeting the resignation of Superintendent Charles D. Nash was accepted and the position temporarily filled by the election of R. R. Foster, the Adjutant, as Acting Superintendent; and on November 7 you elected Col. Charles E. Hapgood, Superintendent, and he assumed his duties the latter part of December, and since then the affairs of the Home have progressed satisfactorily to your Executive Com mittee. The officers of the Home are doing all in their power, with the assistance of their helpers, to make the Home what it should be, a place where the unfortunate ones of our country's defenders, who have no one to properly take care of them, can come and spend their last days in peace and quietness. Our Home Lot in Forest Dale Cemetery was nearly filled up and your Executive Committee felt called upon to bring to your attention the purchase of additional space. We found a lot adjoining, con taining 8,636 square feet, which was purchased at an expense of $8,636, with perpetual care. It is very gratifying to call your atten tion to the fact that the deaths in the Home have not been so many as in the previous year. Number died during year 1907 94 Number died during year 1906 99 If you will examine closely the Report, you will find a great many still come to the Home to die. l\Iany are inmates of the Home but a short time before they have to answer the last roll-call. Once more have the market men of Boston come to our assistance and helped to provide for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, for which we should ever feel grateful. Number in Home, June 30, 1906 . 458 Number in Home, June 30, 1907 . 513 Once more we are called to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Ladies' Aid Association, Woman's Relief Corps and Sons and Daugh ters of Veterans, who have been of great assistance to us in caring for the needy veterans. In a short time much of this work will fall to the Sons of Veterans, and it is gratifying to find that they are willing and ready to assist in the noble work we are engaged in. Two grand and noble workers of the Ladies' Aid Society con nected with the Home have been called to pass on to the other side 7 to meet those gone on before, Mrs. Lizabeth A. Turner and Mrs. Micah Dyer. They had both been interested in the Home from its foundation and given much of strength and time to help us in our work. Of the two, I think, Mrs. Turner seemed nearer to the boys, as she was always known as "Our Lizbeth." We sincerely hope that there is some one in the Ladies' Aid, Woman's Relief Corps or Daughters of Veterans who will take up the work that these two noble women have laid down and carry it on as long as there is a needy veteran to be cared for. Memorial Day was observed as usual at Forest Dale Cemetery in the afternoon of May 30. Many of the men of the Home were able to be present and join with Post 191 in scattering flowers and placing a flag at the grave of each departed comrade. We have now 409 graves in Forest Dale Cemetery. Post 191, as has been the custom for many years, had their Memorial Day exercises at the Soldiers' Home Lot. On Sunday morning, April 28, I was called up by telephone and informed that" there was a fire in the Home, but thought they had it under controL" I took cars immediately for Chelsea to find out more definitely the extent of fire. I would call your attention to the Superintendent's Report for an account of the fire, the conduct of the men and the action of the Board of Trustees. Since then we have added 100 carriers and eight fire-escape chutes, as it became evident that something must be done at once in case of fire. We have added a dish-washing machine during the year, which proves of great assistance.