The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-08-05 00:00:00

THE WAR.

The following is an extract from the letter of the
Special Correspondent of The Times, under date—

PARATJIN, July 24.
The Servians are now enduring a cruelly painful experience
of the horrors of war, and their conduct in the dark hour of
trial is such as must elevate them in the mind of every
stranger who is a witness of it. That they have suffered
serious losses on the eastern fronticr is now beyond all
doubt

The wounded in the affairs of last week are being brought
into this village and carted through it in great numbers.
Throughout last night and the early hours of this morning
springiees bellock waggons with their loads of wounded
were pulled through tele mud sloughs and over the
desperate pavements of Paratjin. I believe that no fewer
than 88 of them passed the Inn in which I am writing.
Over 800 wounded have entered this village since ten
o'clock last night. From Zeitschar they must have taken
at least three days to reach here ; but they had to be
carried perhaps more than a day's journey from over the
frontier to Zeitechar. It is sad to say, almoat all of
them have cone on from here to Jagodina, another day's
journey, there being neither hospital accommodation nor
surgeons to attend them. Numbers are lying on the fbor of
a café and sitting on chairs outside it, with rifle balls still in
their bodies and limbs, no attempt havieg been as yet made
to treat them. lam afraid that the number of service-
able lives which will be lost in this war from the want
of medical aid will be something fearful to contemplate
hereafter. The little hospitals, or rather ambulances,
here are doing good service. I visited the principal of
them to day—if the word principal can appropriately
be applied to two small rooms in an inn—and there
were cages of breast, leg, and arm wounds, some of which
were of a very aggravated character. The beds had to be
too close together. Windows over the beds were thrown
open, and each patient was supplied with a branch of leaves
to serve as a fan and for beating off the veritable plague of
this place—files, shich allow one no peace. On a rude
wooden tray, suspended from a man's shoulders, were
bandages and probe', salves, and stieking plasters.
Two young women, one of whom I saw acting as
maid of all work in a roadside inn miles away from
here only a few days ago, were acting as nurses, and
a small boy, seated at a rough-looking table, was
copying names and entering particulars as to patients. I
raw what must have been very painful—probing and removal
of akin performed without ehloroform or other anaesthetic.
It would he incorrect to say that the poor fellows who.
endured this treatment did not wince under it; they would
not have been flesh and blood if they had not. But I
can with the utmost truth affirm that though I have
been in many hospitals at home and abroad never did
I witness such manly fortitude as in this small in-
firmary of Parailin. Not an exclamation of any kind,
not the faintest murmur of impatience was uttered by
any sufferer. Now and then, as the hand of the surgeon
moved the instrument, there was a distortion of the features
or a tear of agony rolled down the cheek, but that Was all.
The poor wounded who remained outside, the sufferers who
had not been attended to, uttered no complaint. It pates me
to say that I have no doubt they are there yet with the rifle
balls still in their bodies; but, I venture alto to assert; if
they are, their demeanour is still that of patriot martyrs.
These are dreadful sights for the Serviette to witness at
the commencement of the struggle. For many a year there
has not been war in this country, and one could scarcely
wonder if what has already occurred had damped the
ardour of that enthusiasm which I spoke of in former
letters. But no; the war is as popular at this moment
as when Prince Milan issued his Proclamation. I believe
It is even more so, and spat very good terms indeed
must be shown to have 'been secured by his High-
ness and his Government before he could venture to stop it.
Only last evening the people here put up fresh bunches of
ft ;welts on the numerous national flags erected on the poles
which rise from the battlements of the bridge crossing the
Chernitea ; and as the wounded are carried in fresh
volunteers are marching out, their foremost men
bearing the national standard, with the addition of a
Greek cross painted in its centre. These volunteers
are men and boys of the Reserve, who, anticipating st
call, which may or may not be made on them, are going for-
ward to supply the places at the brave fellows who have been
wounded or have fallen. Arms ere now being served out to
the Reserves, and roe two waiters of my inn have been
called upon to receive theirs. They have responded with
alacrity. . . .