The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-05-17 00:00:00

A MODEST AND CHIVALROUS SPIRIT

GONE.

The Correspondent of The Times at Bucharest writes to

that journal
In your obituary column at April 17 I saw. the name
of Frederick Lyndon Attwood. A modest and thival-
roas spirit has gone to its long rest, but I hope that a
brief sketch may serve to convey some idea of a man
whose life was devoted to the good of his fellow-beings.
I first met Mr. Attwood at Belgrade in the summer
of 1876, when he came there with the gallant little
band of young English surgeons sent out by the
National Aid Society to assist the sick and wounded
in the Servo-Turkish war. In company with his
comrades, Attwood went to the front, and did noble
service on the battle-fields of Alexinatz and Deli-
grad, until they were recalled to Belgrade to
take charge of the English Hospital estab-
lished there. On the let of December the
National Aid Society decided to close its hospital.
There were then about seventy patients under the
charge of Attwood and his two assistants, Drs. Hume
and Battle. Attwood declared it was cruel to turn
these poor fellows over to the crude care of the native
surgeons and notified the Servian Government and
the National Aid Society that he would indvidually
assume the burden of carrying on the hospital until
the patients could be discharged. The brave hearted
young fellow procured native nurses, and fed them,
together with his assistants, at his own table; he
drew on his own bankers for the funds to keep up the
hospital, and it was maintained until about the let of
April, when the patients were all cured or con-
valescent. Some subscriptions were received from
various sources towards the hospital expenses, but
there was a heavy balance met by his private purse.
"Dr. Attwood was of very delicate phpsique, but
when the Russo-Turkish war broke out he was one of
the first to leave for Constantinople. He knew that
the Russian ambulance was very rich in supplies
and had a numerous staff of surgeons, while the
Turks had nothing. His place was always on the
side of the unfortunate, and therefore he accompanied
the Moslem hosts in the campaign. He was at Shipka
in the summer of 1877, and when Gourko swarmed
over the Balkans and poured his gallant Guardsmen
down the valley towards Adrianople Attwood was in
the neighbourhood of Pangurishte with his ambulance.
One of his assistants, Dr. Sandwith, went to Tatar
Bszardjik with their hospital supplies, but the Russian
cavalry cut him off from returning to Attwood. Hume
and Sandwith retreated to the YEgean Sea with the
troops of Suleiman Pasha, and from there took
steamer to Constantinople. Attwood had net been
heard of since Sandyeith left him on the road to
Tatar Bazardjik—nearly a month had then passed,
and we could but conclude that our gallant friend
had been murdered by the Bashi-Bazouks or by
the Bulgarians. I went to all the Russian head-
quarters, but could find no trace of him; no one knew
of the capture of any English physician in that part
of the country. At last, as we were almost despairing
of ever hearing of Attwood again, we ascertained that
he had been captured by Russian cavalry, and, singu-
larly enough, the squadron was commanded by an
officer he had known as a volunteer in the Servian
army at Alexinatz. The Russian General told
Attwood that he was free to go where he pleased, but
at the same time said there were 120 Turkish
wounded lying at Pang arishte without medical attend-
ance, and that the Russian troops had scarcely any
stares with them on account of their rapid march and
the difficulty of getting supplies over the Balkans in
the dead of winter, so that, under the circumstances,
they could do nothing for those poor suffering
Turks. I saw a letter written by Attwood to this
General saying that he would stay at Pangurishte and
do all he could for the wounded men. In this letter
he made a request for medical stores. Dr. Hume went
up to Tatar Bazardjik with the necessary supplies.
He found Attwood insensible from fever and scarcely
breathing. Hume attended him like a brother, and
after some weeks' delay he was able to bring him to
Pera, still so low that he was generally unconscious.
I know of many noble deeds of charity performed
by the man whose pseful career has thus untimely
ended, but I knew of them only because I was the
means of conveying his gifts to their recipients, so
that they should never know who their benefactor
was. What he did through others I can only imagine,
as he never spoke of those things to any one.
Attwood was a great student and had a deep know-
ledge of his profession, which he exercised chiefly to
relieve the sufferings of those who could not afford to
pay for regular medical attendance. Since his return
from the Turkish Ambulance Service he had been a
constant sufferer from the effects of the campaign.
He will be mourned sincerely by all who knew and
understood him ; but the greater part of those who
would grieve over his early death belong to the
humblest classes, who are beyond the reach of the
Press, and who will never know that their benefactor
is no more."

A SHIP WRECKED BY A WATERSPOUT.

Information has bees received in Liverpool of the
total destruction of a ship and loss of life by a water.
spout. It appears that the ship India, Captain Lessa,
was on a voyage from Rio to New York, and on the
Ist ult. she was about 200 miles from the Cape of the
Delaware, when she got between two waterspouts.
One of them passed forward of the vessel and burst,
falling on her deck, crushing it in, and filling the ship
with water. The crew, with the exception of one
man, who was drowned, got clear of the vessel, and
were picked up by the barque Leon Pancoldo, which
took them on to Philadelphia. The India was a
vessel of 963 tons, and was owned in Oporto.