The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-09-03
WAR ITEMS.


"A surprising number of the German sol.
olers are EDUCATED men, and are, in the fair
sense OF the word, gentlemen.-Mr, Hal
sfedds letter to has Comm ercial.
THE TURoos.
Another story is that the Crown Prince.
hearing of the diabolism Of the Turcos. said
significantly that it would not give him anv
pleasure to see more of those fellows taken
prisoners; and that by curious coInci-
dence no more Turcos had been taken alive.
1t is also stated that one of the tricks of
| Turco-tiahting was to put up dummies in
| wood for Prussians to shoot at as they came
up, placing themselves in ambush to return
| the fire. This did very well for time OF
two, but the Prussians soon found how to
| deal with the fellows in ambuscade. An
other trick was for parcel of Turcos to
throw themselves upon the ,ground, feign-
ing death, and suddenly, rs the Prussian
skirmish line approached, to spring up and
| fire. Following this revelation Of African
strategy, the Germans (the term slips from
my pen as synonymous with PrusSians, and
it is so in fact,) fired upon all the Turcos
they saw, living or dead, and would thrust
their bayonets into the dead ones as they
passed in order to make sure they were not
| living in wait to take 4 chance shot.-Mr.
Halsteads letter.
| The GERMANS admit heavy losses in kill
cd and wounded in the engagements with
Mac Mahon and between Saarbrucken and
Metz. 1t is related that of one Bavarian
regiment three thousand strong(a regiment
here is equal to one of our brigades) only
six hundred were on their feet at the close
of the battle of Woerth, and that all the
| officers OF the regiment, with six eXcep
tions, had fallen, killed or wounded.-Mr.
Hdtstedd.
| SOBER SOLDIERS.
Something has been said of the sweet
| faced peasant girls, coming out in the early
morning, beautiful and bashful, with their
offerings, and l must not omit to say what
good boys the soldiers are. / have not seen
n drunken one in Germany. There were
few private bottles on the train last night,
or if numerous, they were sparingly used
There was but one song that seemed TO have
| a mystery in it that would not bear expla-
nation. This related to a lady repre-
sented as having gone out to take walk
one day, and came home with thousand
| thalers." The boys sang, and knew right
well how to sing too, the favorite old Ger
| man airs, the most popular, perhaps, for
the moment being "The Watch on the
Rhine"
Another thing the boys in the Ameri-
| can army would numerically chaff civilians
about their camps, and had special ami
| mostly to stoveppe hats. a stranger could
not have walked in the rain wearing stove
pipe hat and q blanket as shawl the
length Of a train of fifty cars without hear
ing good deal of his peculiarties of dress,
if not some delicate references to the length
of his nose and the shape of his teeth. An
American citizen dressed in that style, and,
in addition, carrying bottle in one hand,
took the walk described to-day, and the
boys, looking as if, indeed, they saw Curl
Gus subject, said not a word and made not a
noise, but let him 60 in peace with his hat,
and blanket, and bottle.-Mr. HalStead.
THERE is WITH THE ARMY woman seventy
four years of age, running a suffers wagon,
who was with the PruSsians when they
marched to Paris in 1915. She made terri
bic fuss to be permitted to 60 with the
army, and was accepted us a good omen,
provided with q pair of fine horses and q
handsome wagon, and she is lively as a
cricket, and going to Paris, she says, with
the rest.-Mr. Hatstead.
THE AUTHOR of the famous German war
song, " Die IFdcM am Rheia," is still lln-
known. 4 teacher named Mueller, in Gre
field. is the reported poet. But the compo-
ser Of the music, for twenty years resident
of Crcfcld, and now living in reduced cir
cunlStances at Schmakalden, stated years
ago he had received the poem from an
anonymous author in Meurs, and been un-
| able to learn his name.
ALMOST EVERYBODY is familiar with the old
German legend, according to which old
Emperor BarbaroSsa is sleeping a sleep of
cnchantment in the kutihausen mountain,
and will find no rest in the grave till the
unitication Of Germany is completed. Some
young Germans have now hoisted the Ger
| man flag on the old ruin browning the top
of the mountain. The tower OH which the
immense flag was hoisted is tottering, and
| the feat could be executed only at great
risk of life. This incident illustrates the
| dreamy, almost religious, enthusiasm now
! animating the German people.
AN INTELLIGENT GERMANS OPINION OF THE
TURCos.
| He said to NJ. About:
"Don't speak to me of them. They are
| tigers! They cut of the heads and gouge
out the eyes of our wounded, filthy black
beasts that they are! Detestable soldiers :;
they fire without taking aim they rush for
ward like fools, and run away without
knowing why. They did us good deal of
harm with their bayonets, but when the
Wurtemberg cavalry charged them they
| turned their backs"
| l AM ASSURED by several eye-witnesses of
Yesterdays battle,-and their accounts all
agree with each other-soldiers in action
and spectators who CHANGED to near the
ground, that the Prlssian dead fell upon
each other and formed heaps of slain more
than yard high under the fire of this awful
engine, whose rattle-oeath-rattle-could
be heard yesterday amid all the roar of the
heavy artilery.-Letter from Meta in Ne,o
| York Times.
LONDON, September IA special corre-
spondent writes from Paris, on Wednesday,
| that provisions Of all kinds are already
reaching famine prices. Butter, salt, and
potatoes, are double the usual cost, and
meat triple. Tradesmen refuse to sell ex-
cept in limited quantities. Preparations
are being made on vast scale for the
wounded. Colleges, lyceums, schools, and
converts, are converted into hospitals by
order of the Government.
| The accumulation of articles pledged at
the pawubrokers has become so large that
ali pledges are now refused by brokers.