The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-02-10

Russia and Turkey began operations.
Newspaper correspondents are liable TO
be treated as spies. There is no cores
pondent Of note who have not been
taken prisoner. We have been one IN
France, Spain, Servia, Bulgaria, Hun
gary, Austria and Turkey. In Russia
the correspondents were not bothered
with censorship. You gave your word
of honor not to reveal any Of the armys
movements. Each newspaper was com
PEELED to send file to headquarters,
where it was the duty Of the officers to
read each correspondents report.
always pitied that official from the bot
tom Of my heart. predicted for him
an early suicide or speedy lunacy, but
he lived through it, The correspon-
dents were all numbered, and wore large
brass badges upon their arms. THE
style was afterward changed to a badgs
Of colors. The passport was written
upon the back of each correspondents
photo and appropriately stamped with
the official seal. A duplicate photo was
kept on file. | saw eighty of these at
headquarters, and must say the group
is not an overwhelming testimonial to
the good looks of the profession. The
majority of the correspondents in Rus
sia were Americans. I've already men
toned McGaine, and it is needless to
say he was an Ohio man. Laughter
and applause. All your great men are
from Ohio. McGaine was laboring
under severe trials. Just before the war
he had broken an ankle, and when
saw him it was encased in plaster Of
paris. On the march his horse fell over
precipice and upon its rider, breaking
the bone in the same place. he was
lifted upon the back Of another animal
and in that position went the whole en-
gagement which followed. But poor
McGaine fell martyr to privation, and
he died of fever near Consfantinople
while nursing a number of his fellow~
countrymen who lay there sick. A few
days after he volunteered his services
we laid him in his narrow grave, SO
many miles from home, surrounded by
sorrowing mourners of dozen national
tiles. ! remember one correspondent
who came to me in dire distress. He
had been ordered to get between the
armies, and to use either ones wire as
it suited his time and convenience, an
order which had he obeyed would have
given him a sure chance Of being hung
if he escaped being shot. One of my
confreres on the NS7US instead of going
to bed one night spent his time ramb-
ling about town, and during that had
Knocked down half dozen men. He
left the lines, and a few days afterward
| heard of him. He had referred the
commander to me to identify him. |
found him in charge of the soldiers
stretched over the pole of an ox-cart.
The officer asked me what to do with
him. told him he'd do me favor
if he'd have him shot. They didn't
shoot him. They carried him on that
ox-cart about FIVE hundred miles, and
dumped him over into Hungarian terri
tory. He isn't following the avocation
of a correspondent now. The lecturer
gave a graphic picture of the crossing of
the Danube under fire, and said that
the life of correspondent in Bulgaria
was like gypsying, with battle or two
thrown in. He spoke Of one Of his col
leagues, Villiers, who thought it would
add to his martial aspect by going to
bed with his spurs on. Then he refer
red to Andreas, their cook, remarking
that he was a plain sort Of cook him
self. in fact very plain sort of a one.
He'd learned one thing, however, and
that was that he couldn't fry lean meat
without any fat, butter or lard, without
burning the meat and the frying>pan,
too. He said after he returned from
Bucharest the hotels charged him double
price for his meals, and he feared that
they had lost money on it, too. Villiers
and himself were the only civilian spec
tators of the attack upon Plevna in 1877.
He gave a graphic description of that
engagement with the note: "You here
to-, day know not how hard it is for a
correspondent to sit down under such
circumstances and write, with accuracy,
an account Of the battle, with the brain
on fire and bursting pulses. / loved my
horse. He was good friend, and had
once saved my life, Surrounded by
Bashi-Bazouks, made my escape, and
mile after mile we went on our way to
Sistova. Six miles short Of that place
my animal staggered and fell down,
and | had to tramp on the rest of the
way with the saddle on my head, and
from there told the world the news of
the catastrophe.
"The Zulu war was my last campaign,
and the cost Of the telegraphic news
from the frontier to the London news
papers was about $4,000 week, and
number of the owners of reactionary
papers were heard to groan that they
were sorry Benjamin Franklin had ever
been invented, and the correspondents
were. too"
The lecturer closed the treat of the
afternoon by giving an account of an
African battle field