The Osceola times., 1877-10-06
IN THE RUSSIAN CAMPS.


IN THE RUSSIAN CAMPS.
Horrible g secne-Turkish soldiers Prefer
Death 10 Transp sportasion-Their nag
ged unsfsruns and spicssid Arms.
Poradim, where General Lotoff has his
headquarters before Plevna, is if possible,
still more wretched place than Gorni.
Studen, Hadji Koi, and the other villages
near by. When rain comes one feels
utterly wretched, being obliged to huddle
into habitation which the bugs dispute
with him. and where the presence Of the
initiated scorpion is quite probable.
The roads from Poradim towards the old
battlefield of Plevna.--it seems already as
II the affair occurred a century ago---are In
an indie scribably bad condition q retreat
along them would be almost an impossi-
bility so that it seems as If the Russians
must 20 ahead in any case. Hundreds
of dead still lie unburied on this terrible
field, and, sad to relate, hut true, the
ownerless dogs that infest this country
have eaten the corpse of many brave
hero. This is one Of the most revolving
features of the present campaign. There
has been no chance for the Russians to
give Christian burial to these untortu-
mates they lay too near the entrench.
ments from which the Turks can at any
time pour forth a murderous fire. The
stencil from the field, in this terrible
climate, is rimply intolerable for human
beings one is compelled to fly as rapidly
as possible; even the horses scream with
disgust when they are compelled to ap-
proach this chastity array of the results
of violent death. Here and there lie
multilated bodier, rotting in the sun and
rain. Such spectacles sometimes move
the Russian soldiers to terrible threats of
vengeance, which their officers will not
allow them to fulfill. The soldiers have
murmured few times at the very kind
treatment accorded by the Russian
authorities to their prisoners. But am
inclined to think that it Furnishes the
Turk worse to send him way into the
north of Russia than it would to kill him
on the "no quarter" principle. He
would take the death at the hands OF. his
enemy as a sure passport into Paradise
but he feels keenly the long journey
away from home, and especially from
Mussulman habits. Foreign countries
have no charm for him; he detests and
despises them Il am, Of course, speaking
of the rank and file now, and home
sickness frequently drives the Turk to
suicide. Cases Of this kind happened
repeatedly when Suleiman Pasha's army
was operating in Herzegovina and in
Montenegro. l have seen q great many
Turkish prisoners, and it must be ad.
mitted that they looked pretty thoroughly
punished. The other day, while crossing
an immense sandy expAnse, dotted here
and there only by friendly wells, rising
their lnng sweeps like skinny arms,
beckoning the traveller to approach and
be refreshed, came upon six hundred
escorted by about forty soldiers,
toiling along the wastes of this Oriental
desert. The procession was picturesque
enough, certainly, but 1t was full OF
misery. There were three officers in an
OK. .cart-imagine journeying across the
desert in an ox-cart---who served 20 well
TO illustrate some types common in the
Turkish army that will describe them
for you. One was the traditional ragged
captain, who has not been paid for two
or three years and whose Europesn-like
uniform is q mass Of rags and patches
10 see such scarecrow sfficer equipped
with eloquent side afms---a beautiful
Damascus blade and an American revol-
ver--csn not but provoke q smile. But
the captains mien was a. proud ~ though
his pockets were loaded with gold, and
when he pulled his blue tattered coat
about him, and turned his bronze colored
face toward the sky with grim dignity,
he seemed TO be invoking the spproba.
tion of Allah for his patience and self.
denial. The second was an officer OF
high rank.--evidently Of Asiatic birth,
and one Of the old-school Turks, who do
not believe that the infidel has any right
70 live, and who has proud memories
about the grandeur Of the Turkish empire
once on q time. He wore q turban.
gracefully folded around his head, but
pushed back from a broad and rather
impressive brow. He looked neither to
the righ, nor the left as the procession
passed; his arms were folded on his
breast, and his gaze was proudly fixed on
vacancy. He was made of the stuff
which prompts the fanatical Turk to
order the Wholesale slaughter Of Chris
tians, a. at Eski and Jeni. Saghra, at
Lovca and Plevna, at Phillipopolis and
Adianople, at Kazanlik and Ksrabunar.
His clothes were rich and his arms were
decorated with silver and gems. Why
the Russians allew these fellows To retain
their swords have not yet been able to
discover. tits certain that II the emperor
had not made many express commands
concerning the exercise of mercy and
courtesy towards the enemy, some Of
hese superior Turkish officers would
have Jared very badly. The third
prisoner In the ox-cart was q thorough
type Of the commander Of irregulars, a
brigand, II there was one. professional
murder, who weuld prefer to cut throat
rather than TO spare life, whose hatred
for the Russian. was only an excuse for
the exercise Of his villianous trade. This
man reminded me, while gazing at his
face, Of fox and tiger, He had all
the slyness Of the one and ~ ssas;cions
ferocity and blood thirstiness> the end wi
written on his mean, low b / IshcIld
any rial ,