| Show HORRORS OF nr WAR Graphic Pen Pictures Executed By Correspondents spond ts 4 GHASTLY STORIES TOLl TOLD TOLlI I T TASK OF OP YOUNG MED MEDICAL MEDICAL ICAL OFFICER I Fearful Scenes Among the Dead anti and the theD Dying mg on the th Field Thid Fi In South Africa Sufferings From Prom Dust and Plies rne U de fhe British B tish Soldiers t Correspondence of or the Associated Press London March 3 For real ness for a glimpse into the gory re is realities of war and n the horrors of the j battlefield the private letter of a n ayoung I young medical officer at Spion Kop printed in the Daily Graphic can I scarcely be bs beaten I 1 selected a pass pas he writes over overhung overhung hung bung by steep clay banks b on the top I of ot which ch I Cross fi got bOt up a Red flag I Cases now began hegan to pour down from Kop on stretchers The Boers Beers opened fire on us and three bullets went into the firer fire knocking the sticks about The reason for this fire was not the I IRed Red Cross flag but owing to some Tom Tommies TommIes mies mien who were strolling over to it it either to take cover there or to see what we were doing I promptly or t derod der d them away A 0 few minutes after Boers let fire five shells in quick sue cession in my direction but they fell short and did no harm This sort of or thing went on around me for f r the rest of ot the day but I always kept well in inthe inthe inthe the shelter of the bank From Prom this time to 10 next 1 morning the wounded came through my dressing station as the pass pens was I the only exit from the hill bill I saw sa every case ca e and some of them were mutilated beyond description Cheerfulness of Wounded I Fully wounded and dead who had died on the way passed parsed through my hands The lh cheerfulness of the wounded struck me as an remarkable I men with shattered wounds smoking their pipes and although starving not nota n nota t ta a grumble did I hear Many any a poor chap shot in the morning in the front trenches who could not be reached lay La LaIn in the he blazing sun un all day One old co I onial in with a gray graybeard graybeard graybeard beard walked down leaning on his ri rifle rifle fie he was a mass of wounds one ear cut through by b a bullet his chin neck and chest also shot through by others and his back and legs torn by shell He came In and said he just dropped in into into to let me take his finger off as it was wasso wasso so BO shattered he could not pull the trig trigger trigger ger er of ot his rifle as it got in the way of tho the n t finger which he could use usa us for or he wanted to get back up the hill to pay the Dutchmen out Of course cours I would not let him go back The bullet wounds are beautifully clean just a little round hole and as ne a arule arule aruin rule ruin do not do much damage as they often go through the bone without shattering a it and they do not bleed much The shell wounds are hideous It lt was now frightfully dark and I put one of the lanterns on a stick as asa asa asa a directing light to my pass One of ofa ofa ofa a group of or soldiers returning to the hill tried to run away with it It and I would have lost it I snatched up a rifle from a wounded man and shouted I 1 would shoot him If he did not bring it back He dropped it and ran away awa and it wen went ont but butI I got it again Short Shortly ly after ater this both lanterns went out and anti andI antiI I had a pretty bad had time as the pass often got Sot blocked block with wounded Finally I cound send no more I wounded across the drift drilL and anti had to stack them with the dead in rows on the grass I collected all aU the wounded Officers on stretchers around me mae and gave them thorn brandy brand and a hypodermic of morphia The morning light began to dawn about and lit up the th ghastly faces of the patients around me My M men now n w got get a fire ready and got some more beef bee tea and coffee and andI I had some myself the first meal since my dinner the day before and after giving the wounded some orne as well I sent them on the ambulances across the drift I Commandants Botha and Burgess who w o were wore the Beer Baer generals geneal came now on the scene The former who was the chief general was a smallish thin man with yellowish beard and anti hair hall halland and anti had a magnificent rifle rUle beautifully carved with his name and a text from the Bible He had bad a couple of mounted carrying his ammunition and ard water irater bottle and an Interpreter He H seemed however to understand Eng English lish liEb though he refused to speak it it but now and then said Certainly C certain certainly ly ii I I Identification of the Dead I There were quite a number of or Ger German German man officers I heard beard one of o them had been killed kilted They let our men search the dead for their identification cards i letters and money mone It was as very sad to see the things we found round In their I pockets Christmas cartIs I little pocketbooks with accounts half I finished letters Several of the Boers Boors handed In little things they ther the found a check cheek for lOs a purse with money etc Some of the officers had h d trinkets round their necks One poor chap had a locket with a spray of white heather and we had to cut his name off his shirt hirt and pin it ft to o the locket as a means of or Identification I am sorry sony to i say that a number had bad their fingers cut off otT to get their rings but the time Boers Boera said that they did not see who I Idid did it and were were indignant I Men seized with sunstroke writh writ writhing I ing lag and gasping for lor water were lying l ing i every fifty yards ards or so This Is not a description of oC a battle battlefield battlefield battlefield field but merely the account of the very ordinary practice march made by General hardy Highland brigade to on Feb 3 t as told old by b the correspondent ef of the Stand Standard Standard ard and And the brigade had only marched ten miles when the men thus began to suffer It is only from vivid descriptions descriptions such as come by mail that the climatic conditions c of the veldt can be thoroughly appreciated The correspondent goes good on to say Fortunately the river being close clog by water was procurable and the themen themen themen men all got sot Into camp at the drift by 1 Only a few ef ot the time cases casos ca ps turned out to be very ery serious Two men were sure ere lost altogether one of ot whom horn was found two days later by a patrol of Lancers He was In a n raving raying comB condi condition tion and died shortly after aft being brought Into camp The lessons lessens learned from rom these things are interesting The march clearly showed says the same writer the time danger of oC taking infantry for long dis lis distances tenors in the heat of the day da without a proper water supply It practically decides that the route to Pretoria must be either along a railway or along the rivers Another thing clearly manifested was wae the unsuitability of or the heavy heay beai equipment of the time men for fer a campaign C in South Africa Each man was ivan carry carrying carryIng ing lag ISO rounds of or ammunition In pouches hung on his stomach and at attached attached with an n arrangement of oC straps which resembles r bl time the ordinary mule d hate bare Hung on Ms bis bisback hI back was a heavy overcoat at which since the time march from from Orange river began has so BO far tar as I have observed never been used once Then there Is the th water bottle canteen rifle and other necessary n articles altogether with uniform making up a Q burden of about sixty pounds The kilt is quite unsuitable for ough fiU b a Thorns caught the kilts and tore the bore bare legs 3 of the Highlanders in iq the most cruel manner |
