Despite the efforts of the post surgeon, medical care was sometimes inadequate to cope with the hazards of the frontier; an August whooping cough epidemic in 1876 claimed the lives of two children at Camp Robinson and was much more severe in the nearby Indian camps. The post surgeon noted in his medical history that “among the remedies employed vaccination has seemed to be very serviceable.”[28] Some deaths at Fort Robinson were due to disease or natural causes, while others were the result of violence. The first burial at Camp Robinson, on July 3, 1875, was that of Pvt. James Brogan, Company A, Ninth Infantry, who died of “congestion of the brain.” Several victims of gunfights were also buried in the post cemetery. In 1876 “California Joe” (Moses Milner), a civilian hired as a scout for the Mackenzie expedition, was shot and killed by Tom Newcomb. The killing was the result of the scout’s efforts to publicly blame Newcomb for a murder he himself had probably committed. Sgt. Frank Owens, Ninth Infantry, killed Pvt. Eugene Carlton of his company while at a ranch nearby, and Surgeon McGillycuddy was unable to save the life of a Sergeant Casey mortally wounded by a trooper at Camp Canby. The main center of entertainment for the men of the garrison was the post trader’s store and saloon. When the Sioux Expedition first established Camp Robinson, Mr. John T. Collins, post trader at Fort Laramie, was appointed acting trader by the expedition commander Col. John Smith. Later Major Paddock became post trader at Camp Robinson and held the position until the 1890’s. In efforts to control the results of drinking sprees which accounted for most of the courtmartial offenses, the post trader at Camp Robinson was required to keep a list of men buying drinks. Enlisted men were allowed only two drinks a day and those were to be three hours apart. Unauthorized sources of whiskey and entertainment, available just off the military reservation, made enforcement of this rule difficult. Holidays were marked by excesses among officers as well as enlisted men; Mrs. McGillycuddy’s diary records, in connection with the New Year period in 1876, “Outfit all drunk.”[29]