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598 Chronicles of the Cape Fear Rwer

a still greater local need, that of a public hospital. The erec-
tion of this building employed his waning powers until it was
nearly finished, and when the summons for his departure came,
he entrusted its completion to his two friends, James Sprunt
and William Gilchrist. It was accomplished mainly through
the wise management of Mr. Gilchrist, who gave it his unceas-
ing attention to the end. The Wilmington Star alluded to the

simple transfer of the property known as the James Walker
Memorial Hospital as follows:

“The formal transfer to the city and county of the James
Walker Memorial Hospital took place yesterday morning at
10 o’clock on the grounds of the new building, on Dickinson
and Rankin Streets.

“The exercises attendant upon the transfer were not of an
elaborate or public nature, in conformity to the wish of the
donor, expressed shortly before his death, but there were as-
sembled at the hospital Mayor A. M. Waddell, members of the
City Council, county commissioners, President Elliott and
members of the new James Walker Memorial Hospital Board,
and Messrs. James Sprunt and William Gilchrist, executors of
the estate of the late Mr. Walker, to whom the municipality and
county are indebted so much for the munificent gift.

“After an informal inspection of the grounds and building,
the party gathered on the front veranda of the hospital and was
called to order. Mr. James Sprunt, representing the executors,
then made the speech of presentation as follows, paying an

eloquent and deserved tribute to the deceased philanthropist,
whom he represented.

“*Mr. Mayor and Aldermen, Mr. Chairman and Commis-
stoners:

“*The devisor of this fine property, bequeathed to our city
and county for the noble purpose of relieving suffering human-
ity, was a man of humility and reserve. With characteristic
diffidence he laid the cornerstone without the usual ceremonies,
and it was his expressed wish that the necessary formalities in
the transfer of the completed hospital be free from ostentation.
We, his executors, therefore, in simplicity tender you the keys
of the James Walker Memorial Hospital, with a grateful sense
of the trust which he reposed in us, and with the hope that it
may long serve the humane object of its generous donor.’

“Mr. William Gilchrist then formally handed the keys of the

Peace Restored 599

building to Mayor Waddell, who responded very briefly and
read the deed making the legal transfer.

“Mr, Elliott next responded with a speech in behalf of the
Board of Managers which was highly fitting the occasion and
characteristic of the speaker.”

From the date of its opening to the present time this laud-
able benefaction has increased in importance until its benign
influence under its wise and beneficent directors has extended
with our increasing population to a degree not dreamed of by
its original founder.

The James Walker Memorial Hospital is governed by a
Board of Managers composed of nine men. The institution is
intended for the treatment of acute disorders, not chronic and
incurable diseases. It is necessary to draw the line between a.
hospital, on the one hand, and such eleemosynary institutions
as the county home; on the other, as Mr. Walker’s intention was
to care for persons receiving the benefits of the former and not
of the latter.

Both pay patients and charity cases are admitted. Any
regular physician residing in New Hanover County may take a
pay case to the hospital and treat it. The hospital charges are
from $7 per week in the wards to $35 for private rooms (the
rooms vary from $17.50 to $35). The resident physician and
three internes act as assistants in these cases. Charity cases are
admitted upon permit from the county superintendent of health,
who must be sure that the patient is a resident of New Hanover
County, in indigent circumstances, not afflicted with a chronic
or incurable disease nor with an infectious disease. ‘The treat-
ment of all charity cases is in the hands of the resident physi-
cian, with the assistance of the internes, and the hospital is
under the control of the resident physician. In 1914 the city
and county appropriated for the maintenance of the hospital
$15,249.99, and this year they will each appropriate $10,000.
The receipts from pay cases in 1914 were $17,438.97.

For the year 1914 there were admitted 1,407 patients, 767
white and 640 colored, 772 pay cases and 635 charity cases.
There were 19,409 days’ treatment, 7,137 being for pay cases
and 12,272 for charity cases. The average number of patients
in the hospital for any day of the year was fifty-three. The
institution can accommodate about eighty patients if they are

properly apportioned as to color and sex.
The hospital is composed of three brick structures, the prin-