The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-09-16 00:00:00

THE HORRORS OF WAR.

The following extract is from the letter of the
i" Special Correspondent of The Times, writing from
Semlin, Sept. 10 :
et •
Deligrad is now Tchernayeff's head-quarter. Ile still has
some troops at Alexinatz which, though they are yet so close
, to it, the Turks have not attempted to enter; bat the civil
community of the town bad entirely quitted it within a day
or so. Every house in it shut up, and its population has
fled to Result and other places. I shall describe what has
been done by the opposing annies since the night of the
let inst., but I think the reader, will be able to obtain
tt mulch clearer idba of both it I first say something of
he apmaranca rciVr assumed by the district of the
wave TallbY, which is the theatre of operations, in
ad Invasion
effee od, f tetrrtihtoisrymowmheicnht
they are engaged in developing. The spectacle which new
. laMrksblifavethaelrey effected, and a
presents itself on that the,atrt thcligh not a very bloody, is
hit exceedinglx dili,trAsthg 6ne. it is that of an utterly
infattial, ecnteat, which is absorbing all the industry and
iiibnAr„rritii teach of the natural resources of Servia, and
,rhiela is already spreading misery among a people who
appear to be singularly apathetic as to what is passing and
as to the results which are sure to follow. There are strong
Indications et the state of things further south from the
time She reaches Jagodina, one of the busiest and most
l'urkish-looking towns in all Servia. It is on the main
• road between Belgrade and Alexlnatz, and nomewhat
more than half-way between the two. In its streets aro the
bullock-waggons on their way forward with Commissariat
supplies, and straggling soldiers, falling back in consequence
of wounds or illness, hang about the doors of small cafes;
but the shops, or rather the bazaars, are all open, and the
ordinary buying and selling are not suspended. The
• great changes caused by the continuance o ithe war do not,
however, make themselves strikingly manifest till the
traveller comes to Turkia, some seven miles farther on,
and do not present themselves in their worst features
till they become almost unendurable at Razanj, the
Inhabited village nearest to Deligrad, and some 21 miles
beyond Tupfir At Parakih and at the email hamlet
91 Ittanotatt, both of which are between Tupria and
Ralanj, one sees nothing but what is in some way or other
honnected with the fighting Ordinary business, except such
Of it as is of the most hand to mouth description, stands sus-
pended, and the Red Cross flag is floating from numerous
small dwelling-houses; tired and wounded men are lying on
the floors of the inns and on the street pavements, and all
the food of the country seems to be passing through in an ,
endless procession of bullock waggons on its way to the army
of the Morava. In the fields and on the hillsides are
encampments of fugitives from the frontiers who are
waiting in misery and fear to see what will be the
end of it. At Bazars' there is a culmination within
a very small compass of all the wretchedness and rottenness of
the whole affair. The little village is a triangular-shaped
one of three short lines of miserable houses, with, in addl.
tion, a few detached cottages, At the nearer end, in the
open space within the triangle, are crowded from sunrise
till far into the night seething crowds of soldiers and
vrazgon-drivers, and of camp followers of both sexes, all
mixed up with oxen and hones and waggons, and supplies.
Women and children, refugees from the frontier, have come
in and taken up open-air quarters in the small gardens
attached to the houses of the village, and beneath a
colonnade which runs along the exterior of the Turkish-
looking village inn. After sunset you cannot walk on a
Yard pavement close to any house without stumbling
over some sleeper. Children are sleeping in hammocks sus-
pended from door-posts, and what seem to be heaps of rags
are families of men, women and children, who, covered with
Old coats and cloaks, and whatever else they have in the shape
of outside clothing, are lying asleep in the open air. The
atmosphere is fcetid with vile smells, and diarrhcea and
dysentery are epidemic. The eating is bad, the water is worse,
and Raz snj with all this horrible misery, is situated in a hole
from which you make a sudden ascent it you are on
Your way to head-quarters. In former letters I have
described Deligrad itself, The village' if such can
be called. consist. of, I think, three houses, two of which are
small calks. Deligrad is a fortified position commanding a
considerable sweep of the Morava Valley north of Alexinatz.
It Is about five miles beyond Itazanj, and apart from its fea-
tures as a position of defence, which have been before re-
ferral to, it has now those ef Ranni as regards the hetero-
geneous mass which crowds the road and the spots to which
the Commissariat sunplies are brought up. There is not likely
L° he a stampede at Deligrad, but if there were to he such a"
ling there it would be on a scale and of a kind which hither-
to has not been reached even by the stamp Eda from
Alexinatz

MR. GEORGE SMITH THE ASSYRIAN
EXPLORER.
The Daily Telegraph of Monday published the fol-
lowing :
" We have received from Mr. John Parsons, of Aleppo,
particulars of the death of Mr. George Smith, the As-
°Yrlan explorer. Mr. Parsons says On Tuesday, the 11th
'natant, the assistant of Mr. Smith entered this town with
the news that his leader was lying prostrate with sickness
and fatigue, 70 miles to the north-east. The bearer of these
_alarming tidings had come to Aleppo for the purpose of pro-
Curing litter, as Mr. George Smith was quite unable to con.
tinue his ourney on horseback. On receipt of the news I
blade up my mind to go myself as quickly as possible to the
aaalstance of Mr. Smith; and at five o'clock the same after-
noon' started in the saddle, accompanied by the assistant,
taking with me a tatravan, or country litter, commonly
bY ladies of rank. We travelled till eleven p m.,
When we camped by a mill-stream to take a little sleep and
to rest the mules. At three a.m. on Saturday, the 12th, we
tesnnied our jmrney, making good progress until two in the
afternoon, when the heat brought us to a halt till seven
,s 1 ro, • at which hour we continued travelling. At eleven
We lost our road, but fortunately came upon the
...`.raran which had made a halt on its way to Mossul. Mr.
atatthewson, Mr. Smith's assistant, slept in the tatravan,
and I made myself as comfortable as I could in my cloak,
~,tll my saddle for a pillow. At three o'clock on Sunday
n—yrnlng I roused the muleteer, and again we moved
—ward- Having galloped in advance till I imagined I
144in2t have got pretty near the village a which Mr. Smith
Perceived some Arab horsemen to my left, and
—",_Log up to them I inquired my whereabouts, and also
taaed them if they knew anything of a sick man. One of them
',allied out to be the head man of the village, and be told me
t in half an hour's ride I should reach the village where
roll% lay. His information was correct, and I found the
'an'ona Assyrian savant stretched on a blanket in a
rserable hut, that differed probably not at all from
.44. i of one of the primeval people whose history he knew so
I '9". Ile asked me if I was a doctor, to which question
answered 'No,' adding that I trusted he did not
'ant one, and that I should be most happy to
I:ender him any assistance in my power. Ile told me that
he tonged for some better food, that his stomach turned
ruin the black 'flip jack,' as we sometimes call the
road of the country, and yawant (curded milk). I at
_Once knocked a chicken on the head, and proceeded to pre-
tieexe it in as appetising a manner as possible, as a grill.
ate heartily, drank a bottle of beer which had come in the
lllttravan, and declared that he felt much better, and that a
tle cookery like mine would soon set him up. Towards the
welsesning (Sunday) he felt worse but on my telling him it
noY's birthday he said, 'Well, let us have something
good for dinner, and we will drink your son's health and
Prosperity. I killed a couple of chickens and made
an omelette which would have instantly procured me
Int' dismissal had I been chef in Europe to a respectable
irnllY, but which we managed to enjoy heartily. My
boy's health we drank in a glass of St. Julien, Smith pro-
r°ong a toast that he might be 'a better man than his
.ather.' On Monday the patient was not so well, and said
na would move no further till he had medical assistance;
tellatthewson was sent off to ride to Aleppo for a doctor.
17„,1aY quiet till Tuesday. when Smith asked me to get on a
: so I harneued up the tatravan, and got him as far as
benbey, where we arrived at midday. He was much ex-
•l•alisted, and I really feared he would die as he was being
Fiken out of the tatravan. Having made a fire, I procured
ft.tni a cup of strong tea with an egg beat up, a drink which
much liked. This revived him, and I got him to lie down.
xi Wednesday morning his assistant arrived with the doctor
and with the intelligence that Mrs_ Skene (the Aleppo
Lquata's wife) was coming on with a more comfortable litter,
rds, Pillows, and other comforts. Her arrival seemed
Vtich to cheer him and he was at once made as com-
fortable as possible. At midnight I roused up our care-
'tan, which consisted of two tatravrns, eight horsemen,
taY servant, who had come with Mrs. Skene, he being a very
good man, the cawasses of the Consulate, and the eight
cartidgis. At two I had all ready and got off, but we missed
the road in the dark, and went on blindly for about two
hours. At last, coming to a track, I took a cawass, and fol-
lowed him at a gallop for about three miles, when we came
to a village. All were asleep: but by firing off our pistols
We managed to wake up one of the inhabitants, who put us
Lti the way for the Aleppo road, and the cawass riding
back brought the caravan on. At five we rested for a
cup of tea, and got a dozen eggs from some Arab tents,
When Smith made a good breakfast, eating two.
At seven I mounted my horse, and after eleven
,2itlrs' hard riding I reached Aleppo. A room was got ready
'4 the Consulate, and on Friday morning at eight Smith
!rrived. I saw at once that the change in his condition was
ilreat that there was no hope for his life, although he
:1131DItared somewhat better towards night. He passed away
ititurday at six p.m, having literally sacrificed his life to
,!..r.a conscientious discharge of his duties, depriving himself
n those little comforts and luxuries which in this barbarous
irl_itry are an absolute necessity to a European traveller,
),L7,aa hurled on Sunday, and was laid by the site of Burk-
-"`“46. the Oriental savant and traveller, who died here."