The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-08-13 00:00:00

•
THE WOUNDED.
A correspondent of the •S'tandard gives the following
graphic account of the arrival of the woundEd at
Mannheim :

At a few minutes before twelves bugle call was heard In
the areete below. It wee not like any military call I had
ever heard, but writ continued, arid! could hear It repeated
in other parts of the town. I went in to arouse my neighbour.
Ile being already asleep, listened for a minute, and at once
declared that it was some drunken man or other making •
row. I could not accept ths explanation, aa even drunken
men in time of war are emenable to some sort of regula-
tions, and although such dismal sounds would be reasonable
enough in London during the night slier the Derby, or
Whit-Monday, or other popular holiday., they would
rcarcely be permitted at Mannheim at the present
time. The bugling continued steadily. The same call
was sounding in three or four eirections, and it was eel.
dent that something serious was the matter. Being con-
vinced teat It wae not a military call, we came to the coo-
elusion that it was the summons of the fire brigade, but no
unusual light was visible in the sky. Presently we could see
helmets gleaming in the gas light as their wearers hurried
down the different 'areas in the direction of the great square
In front of our hotel. This was es idently something serious.
The few soldiers we had seen a`e_mt the town had all worn
their forage cape only, and their appearance in full dress
WBS proof positive that they must be about to march.
If so, it could only be that news had arriv,d of a Prussian
reveise, and that every available men was tele-
graphed for. As the men arrived at the awnelesvou., they
were formed up by a party of officer; stationed there, and
were marched llf in fours. Groups of the townspeople also
came along the streets, and went In the direction the troops
had takeu, and vehicles drove rapidly about.
• • - -

Although the buglers bad Continued to make • most dis-
mal noise during the whole of (hi. time, I only saw two of
the upper elndows open in the great square, and concluded
that the German. are certainly a most phlegmatic race. As
this hotel is the head-onarters of the general commanding
Mannheim, we had now learned the cause of the excitement.
A great battle had been fought, and four hundred and
twenty womid el ware to arrive shortly at the station of the
Ueidelberg live, the call was for the members of the flee
brigade and the astociation for the succour (the wounded
to te in readiness at the station to assist. The helmets we
had seen, then, belonged to the tire brigade, choir uniform
Is a very mintier heats helmet, a short blue frock, fastened in
at the waist with • broad belt, in which is carried • hatchet,
pick, a coil of rope, or either articles useful in eases of fire—
and white flannel trousers.

It was a quarter to one when I reached the station. Here a
Considerable crowd was assembled, and the scene was strange
and wild in the extreme. Along the platform were ten
cresrete, throwing up • red glare, and almost extinguiehing
the light ot the ordinary gee lamps. besides these creasets,
many of the people had long torches. I,pon the platform were
the members of the emulation for the wounded,
distinguished by a white badge, with red cross upon their
arm. Mixed confusedly with them were the members of the
flee brigade, who also formed a he along by the side of the
ststi oh to keep the crowd hack. With them were four or
flee soldier. of • Bavarian Chneseur regiment, who appeared
to be literally the only available infantry in the town. 8r me
of the troopers r a Hessian cavalry regiment mingled with
the crowd, but were not upon duty. By the ride of the Ma-
llon, where the main coal cruises the railway on a level, the
crowd were clustered thick. There was little talking I
never, indeed, saw so Still. crowd. Their dark mass formed
• strong contrast to the life and movement upon the plat-
form, where the bright helmets of police and lire brigade
flashed and glittered in the lurid glare of the cressets, as
their wearers marched hither and thither, making prepara-
tions and receiving orders from their officers, who were dire.
tingithhed by red or white horsehair plumes in their helmet&
On the platform, too, were the general commanding here
and his staff, and particularly corn picnons mere the uniforms
of the officers of one of the scarlet Ilussar regiment., who
arrived here on the previews afternoon on thelr way to bead-
quarters. But eves upon the platform, although there
WAS movement, there was hut little noise, and the orders
were given almost in a 11 Jasper.
-- • •• -

. -
It was believed that the train was cloAss at hand, and the
hush of awed espectai,cy of what was to citric seemed abso-
lutely to weigh up a the crowd. The night was fine and per-
fectly still, and occasionally the silence was so intense
that It was only broken by some boric in the darkness
in the rear of the crowd rattling his harness or pawing the
ground hrpatlently. Here all the public vehicles of tha
town were drawn up in readinces for the reception of the
wounded; here, too, more ominous still in appearance, were
some fifteen or twemy of the buy, narrow, country carts,
which at all times have somewhat the appearance of elongated
conies, hut which filled with straw looked dismally appro.
plate to the purpose for which they were intended. Along
the platform and inside the railings by the side of the station
trete heaps of stretchers for the conveyance of the worst cases,
while near them were two carts w:th water barrels and trays
of glasses to relieve the first urgent need of the sufferers.
Among the crowd around me I heard occasional murmured
talk, and speculation a. to the regiment which had been In
action. From the direction from which the wounded were
coming it was evident that they had formed part of the
Crown Prince's army, which includes the Bader...Hagen%
and it was natural that if a Baden regiment had been in
action Its wounded would be sent up to their own town.
Thus none in the crowd know whether he might not find a
brother or a son among the ghastly freight which was
approaching, Cr whether, worse still, there was now no
brother or son to bring.
• - •• • •

As the time wore on, and there were no signs of the ap
pearance of the train, the leas interested or less enthus-
iastic of the crowd moved gently away. Two o'clock Passed;
three o'clock, and now the numbers outside the station were
reduced by nearly a half. There was little stir now even
open the plait. tin The men of the fire brigade and the
members of the association stood iu quiet knots, or eat down
and dosed upon the treasels they IMO pr-anti; to use. The
Ore in the cresatts waned, mid no fresh torches were
lighted. A faint light began to break in the east, and the
atmosphere, which had at one o'clock toes oppressively low
and hot, w as now by contrast unpleasantly cool. by lour o'clock
it was broad daylight, and now the crowd began rapidly to in. again. The anheimers are early tiger., and as he AIM
spread abroad they hurried down to the station, wail at a
quarter-past four, when the signal Was given that the train
was at last really at hand, the numbers [resent mutt have
been at least double that which had gathered during the
night. Now, too, women as well as men were iiresont, and
as the shrill whiat'e of the engine was heard outside the sta.
thin the excitement was extreme rind painful As the long
train of closed horse-boxes slowly pawed along the station and
drew np, pat tly to and partly beyond it, there WOo a perfect and
complete hush in the multitude. These closed wagnons, with
merely a Blight opening at the thor her air, with sometime. a
silent figure leaning on them, were more painful to look at
than any number of open carriages could have been. The
silent mystery of the ghtatly freight of these funeral cars waa
appidlitig. What did they contain r Dead men or living?
So great was this awe that even when the train stopped and
the work of relief began it was cooducted almost noiselessly.
The men told off for the duty hurried along with their glacare
of water. The egures at the door took them and Lauded
there in. lhe stretcher parties took up then. peisj, aud the.
doctors gave their directions in voices which, although low,
could be beard at a considerable distance.
Now the w.Ak of emptying the traM began, and went on
quietly huts apt ditiously. 1 yere was no moventent upou the
part et the wounded to alight until the doctor eiders d them
go to do. Weakness, pain, and fat igue b a I taken away all power
of volition. As truck after truck was emptied, those who could
walk were assisted to the vehicles, those who could not were
tenderly lifted eat into thy stretchers and carried by hand
to the hospital. The crowd made way for them as they passed
set in perfect silence. There was scarce a word spoken,
Every face of the lookers-ru wore a drawn expression of pain,
as if the sufferings they looked upon were contagious.
Women cried quietly, thinking, poor things, of their absent
loved ones as much as of the poor lads before teem.
There was much in the appearance of the wounded
to harrow the Deans. The wounds had tern dressed before the men were dispatched, and probably the
worst ease, had not been ferwarded. All the men had their
greatimats round their shoulders, so that it was di Moult to
see the nature or position of the wound In the invitrity of
cases. A very large number hail horn hit lu the arM et
shoulder —some had their heads band 9,74; and although
many of those carried upon the stretchers appeared in the
last stage of exhaustion— and indeed some were insenaible—
I think that the majority of these cadet were leg hits, and that
the appearance was due to loas of blood and pain. I hanks
that none of the eases which at the time of exami-
nation appear" ri very stratus would have teen 2...awarde4
so far irons the scone of /.1011 es Idenehetm.
Bat It was not wounded men alone that the t:.ain con-
tali eat There were others rh, re whose hearts were
even more sol, onti wioas spirits NW(' more broken
tna i thcae Di the wouieled These latter, in-
wive, Put-leg male the pain under which they were for
the time. thane, Inn podi ton not altogether Unenviable be
their comrades still at the fret. TlLry are for the moat part
wounded slightly ; they will return to their falcate'
decorated anti honoured, and it is improbable that any of
them will recover atialcontly to take any f urther part in
the war, or to incur any turiher danger. the French,
upon the contrary, are going as prisoners among a
people they hate. They surfer the pain of having
fought nuttucceesruliy. Tee only engagement of the war
In which they will be able to take part hat been a defeat
The) did not shah , but were forwarded at once to Berlin. I
did not wait to see the whole of the wounded taken out of
their carriages, but returned to my hotel at half-past Ave for
• few hours' sleep before writing this letter.
Another train with wounded men has since arrived, the
total number up to the present Um* being 460' ;nor, are ex-
rooted. These are all Prussinns, the wounded Barariana
bertha been Seat eastward late their own conning.