Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-06-27
MlscEMAN8:
ONE AoAiaar EIGHT.
a Russian Soldiers Defense Of Ms
Comrades.

4 Russian soldiers Defense Of Ms
Comrades.
There is well-known story Of tie
finding upon the battlefield of Ink
erman of the corpses of an English
guardsman and Russian grenadier,
lying breast to breast, each with his
bayonet driven to the very shank in
his opponents body. Such q proof
of hardihood might have satisfied
Leonidas himself; but a still more
memorable example Of the qualities
which characterizes the Russian lines
man occurred during the almost I'M
known seige of the fortified town of
Kitab, in Central Asia. The story is
best told in the words of the Russian
officer who related 1t to our inform
ant:
The town of Kitab lies in q deep,
narrow gulley, surrounded on every
side by steep hills, SO that We could
only bring a small force to bear upon
any one point; and the wall, though
built of dried mud in the Asiatic
fashion, was quite high and strong
enough to be a tough morsel for any
storming party. However, it was de-
cided to try it by escalade, (for you
see we had beaten these fellows so
often that we undervalued them for
oncc), and l was with the detachment
that was told off to do il. But the
whole thing was tissue of blunders
from beginning to end, as bad rs the
storming of Kars Under Mouravieff
in 1855, which was my first taste of
fighting. First and foremost, the
signal for the forlorn hope was given
by some horrid mistake, before the
supports were ready to follow up +;
, ing fire (for the Shekri-Scbzians can
| shoot, and no mistake), without a
man to back us! And when we got
to the wall, 10 and behold, our ladders
! were too short, just as it happened al
7 Kars and there we were being shot
: down like partridges, without 9
I chance of doing anything. Our meI
behaved splendidly, must say some
tried to splice the ladders together
while others attempted to scramble
5 up over each others shoulders, will
the enemy peppering right dowI
h. among them az hard as they coul(
pelt. But it was Of no use. They fel
i one upon another, like fish out of ,
i net ; and one Colonel was hit in tn
a side, and I got bullet in the shout
= der, and the rest dropped one by on
u until there was hardly an officer left
i At last we heard the signal of recall
= but our men were SO mad with thei
!, repulse and their losses, and what no
that they wouldn't retire even whel
: thew were ordered, and just then tn
q enemy seeing how few we were
IS came rushing out upon US in body
o Now it happened that in my com
= pany there were two young fellow
~ who were like a second edition q
IN the "Corsican Brothers."--regular in
le Separates, in fact-and one of theI
Of having got through the fight wit
what he called q slight wound
should have thought it q pretty shar
y one myself, was just turning to n
" tire, when he saw his comrade lyin
< on the ground helpless, with ba
n through his leg. In an instant he ha
- him on his shoulders and was carry
u ing him away, when eight Of the Ell
le envy came rushing upon him at ono
IS Thereupon the rough fellow laid h
a wounded friend upon the ground 9
. gently IS a mother, and standin
~ astride of him, dubbed his musk,
ID and fought the whole eight of the,
s. single-handed, and when the support
n. came up they found one-Shekri-Sel
:, zian lying with his head smashed lii
III an egg-shell, and the Russian wit
as five sword wounds on him, keepin
10 the other seven rasca1s at bay. 81
,e when we praised him, and called hi
hero, he looked at us quite SUI
)" prised-like, and said: "What was
l. to do, father? I couldn't forsake m
le comrade."