Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-01-03
WAR SCENES.
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X The dreadful aspect of the battlefield
outside Paris, after the great sortie,. is
thus described by correspondent OF the
London Times:
There is a park just at the extreme
end of the village Villiers, on the Paris
side. Before and all around it ragged the
battle on both days-the 30th of Novcm-
ber and I'd OF December. The chateau
is officers quarters. How, il suffered
There Is scarcely window-sash left in
one side of it, and to approach il there
is no necessity to make use OF the en-
trance gate The wall is smashed from
top to bottom in dozen places.
/ entered near the gate, and the first
sight | saw was ten dead Saxons IN
row. Their faces were covered, and
three of their comrades watched over
them. Passing through the park in the
direction Of Paris, walked out through
an embrasure in the wall, and came
upon rising ground. 1t was one OF the
hottest parts of the battlefield, anG al
most the center of the scene Of fighting.
Heavens, what a. sight To see the men
advancing under fire of the forts, ana
falling at every step; to see the French
and the Saxons amid that horridA din Of
artillery shooting one smother down Win
chassepot and needle-gun; to hear the
''hurrahs" followed by volley, and as
the smoke cleared away to find the lines
thinned and living men advancing over
the PROSTATE bodies of dead and dying
was horrible, but nothing like so horrible
as the sight of this battlefield, with hum
dreds of dead lying there in the cold air,
the sun shining on their ghastly features
and stiff forms, while the cannon on
Avron and Nogent were laundering with
sounds which shook the earth for miles
round.
One of the first great groups | came
upon, was composed OF sixty French
| soldiers. A few Saxons and Wurtem-
burgers lay around them; but the Ger
mans had already removed and laid in
their last sleeping-place most OF their
dead The center Of the group was
formed of close line of forty-six. You
could not have placed a body between
any two. They fell shoulder to shoulder,
Just as they had stood to fire. BY far
the greater humber Of them were on their
backs, with their feet to Paris and their
heads to Villiers. Alas, it was painfully
evident that many of them, and of others
whom / saw subsequently, had not died
Iinstantaneously, but had lived probably
MANY hours without hand to lend them
succor, and in piercing snow and frost,
| One poor fellow lay ON his face. He
had two rifle wounds in his back. he
had partly stripped himself, and he died
with a hand on each bullet hole. Seve-
raj had taken of, their knapsacks and
placed them under their heads and so
pillowed had breathed their last breath.
Others clenched their water-bottles in
one hand, but had been unable to remove
the cork, and died without being able to
wet their lips in their last agony Some,
in their suffering, had burrowed their
faces in the thick clay on which they lay,
and turned their bloody and earth
stained faces before they expired. Two
saw who had their arms fixed and their
fists clenched, as if, while dying, they
we're engaged in pugilistic encounter.
Only very few were on their sides. These
had their knapsaeks under their heads.
There were men on whose faces
beamed the smile of an infant, and
whose countenances were like handsome
wax-work. The expression of others
was that of terrible agony. Every fea.
ture was contortedi their legs had been
convulsiyely jerked up until their knees
stuck into their stomachs, and their nm.
ger and thumb nails had been squeezed
until they became riyeted to the palms
of their hands. Behind, before, and at
the corners Of this line of forty-six dead
men were others, Saxon and French.
One had a frightfui wound in the face.
He had pulled his hands up into his
sleeves to warm them, but his cap had
fallen off and the blood clotted on his
hair till it was all in bloody mats.
Near him was another who had taken
biscuit from his knapsack and the bot
tie from his side, and had partaken Of a
, little of both. More than one of the
slain had died with the hands clasped in
PRAYER; and near one found a little
plaster medallion of the Blessed Virgin.
A portion of the edge had been shot of
it. The chassepots and needle guns
we're still in many dead mans hand
and lying between his arm and his body
Similar were the sights all over the
plateau between Villiers and Brie, and
Villiers and Champigny; and among this
eorpses were knapsacks, helmets, ,shakoes
bayonets, and many letter sealed and
directed TO relatives and friends in Ger
many and France. Near cemetery
situated on the battlefield itself, saw
between two and three hundred dead
e soldiers collected closely together; they
i had been removed from where they had
a fallen and collected in that spot fol
s. burial ''.''''''--. .a,J i
81 All we're regulars, and a considerable
% proportion of them were men of at least
twenty-five or thirty years Of age There
were dead nearer to Paris than any spot
Twisted, though the Notifications were
much too close to be at all agreeable
y and Neuilly-sur-Marne and Fontenay
sous-Bois seemed to be within few min
utes' distance on my right and left
hope there were no wounded No ar
4 mistice for the removal Of the dead anc
wounded had been agreed to; but botf
sides had been removing them by night
So late as last night some of The. German
wounded Fsrn found among the dead
and are nov in hospital. What mus
have been their suferings in snow anC
frost since the I'd instant, for they haC
been lying ont day and night slnoe then
if not since the 30th. -,..... .,f-
y The Fire at the spOttswOOd.
NJ Ar Iaih who was puhhshed a