The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-06-05
Ml1gih. eagle
TRYING TO SEE MOLTKE
MURAT HALsTEAD's EXPERIENCE AT
ST. AVOID IN 1870.

Field Marshal, Though He Slept In the
Same Hotel with the Astute Com
mander-CfviIians Among Soldiers.
When I was about crossing the Rhine
In the first week of August, 1870, attempt
ing to witness the invasion of France by
the armies of Germany, my equipment was
belt of French gold, Partisan silk hat
and a Scotch cap, suit of gray clothes
and brown blanket, field glass and
travelling bag with a shoulder strap, and
the bag contained portfolio, with writing
materials, some cakes of chocolate, a
change of Undertaking with two pairs OF
socks, bunch of cigars, box of matches
and pocket knife with one large blade
and small corkscrew; also combination
fork and spoon, and glass cup in leather
case Ny trunks had been expressed to
London, and my valise was abandoned st
Mannheim.
Nv plan of campaign was based on the
theory that the army Of invasion must fol-
low the railroads, and I camped out, as it
were, in a coupe car VI. D. Conway, then
of London, was my companion, philoso-
pher and friend, and we were resolved to
see the big war. We did not buy railway
tickets, as there was none for sale, and our
original strength was in misunderstand-
ing orders and disregarding all expostula-
lions | remember to have been utterly
unable to comprehend even very good En-
plish "a it was spoken. just before taking
possession of a car, where we had no bust
ness whatever to be, we succeeded in pur-
chasing loaf of bread and two bottles of
wine, one red, one white, and these were
our reserved stores.
We proceeded in fine style for eight
miles, when we reached the town where
Thomas Mast, the artist, was born, and
there, for that or some other reason, was
detention Of eleven hours, occupied in lit
erary labors.
The second night out we struck a small,
wet town-HombGrg- the watering
place or the great seaport-and by aston
ishing luck got a room with bed in it,
and it seemed that all night there was an
astounding tramping in the street. This
might have been a dream, but / was as
sured a heavy column of troops passed
through and were in a hurry. A cheerful
young man with gift of tongues stated
That the king and Bismarck and Moltke
had been there but ''the day before yester-
day."
ENTERING FRANCE.
This was good news, for it was assurance
that we were not too late. The cheerful
young man said of course the king was
known by everybody, there was no mis-
taking him, and Bismarck was 'the man
with the tigers eye," while Moltke was
tall and slender, pale and thin faced, and
said nothing, but you could tell he knew
everything.
We were ordered not to cross the frontier
into France, but evsded that restriction by
climbing into car and distributing cigars
so plenty among the soldiers that the in
specting officers did not make out that
civilians were improperly present. The
train in which we thus invaded France
stopped within two miles of St. Avoid,
and walking across the country there
were the king and Bismarck and Moltke
apparently waiting for us. The king bowed
graciously from a window above the post
Office, o two story stone house, and Bis
marck, walking in front of headquarters,
was told of the presence of American ed
itors, and was at pains at once to tell them
he was pleased to see them, that there was
no reason why they should starye, and we
were welcome on account of the millions
of German blood ia America.
Moltke was not visible, but / had occa-
sion to know where he was. l was putting
up at the Hotel de Paris, and that meant
was allowed to sit in the barroom and TO
sleep on billiard table. The latter cere-
mony | managed with my Paris hat for
pillow. l had ascertained that hat must
go. As it was the only one in the army, it
seemed to remind the soldiers in enormous
numbers of something amusing, and they
grew so hilarious that their cordial mani
festations became monotonous, in the sense
that Mark Twain uses that word.
/ should not have minded phase of I'M
popularity on account of my hat, but ex-
cess of appreciation was embarrassing.
Therefore / concluded TO use it as a pillow
just once, and leave it in the house as a
mysterious souvenir. 1t was very good as
q support for the head, but somewhat stiff
at first.
DISTURBED AT MIDNIGHT.
About half way between midnight and
daylight became conscious of the pres
ence, in the door which opened on a court,
of a tall man wearing a Prussian cap and
buttons, and that he was asking in French
whether Moltke was there. 1 sat up on my
couch (Which was restful change of po-
sitionl and the tall man and myself strug-
gled with the language of the country. |
had just succeeded in saying that Moltke
was not in that room to the best of my
knowledge and belief, when a man with
dripping candle emerged from what the
novelists would call a secret passage and
stated that the field marshal had the apart
ment Immediately above. So | have slept
under the same roof with him 1t has oc-
CURED to me since that the tall man with
the buttons was an orderly sent to Moltke
with dispatches that the French were not
trying to defend the line of the Moselle
above Metz.
The next day an officer, who was pleased
TO air his English and carried small
volume containing Shakespeare's plays in
painfully small print, told me that if l
wanted TO see the great general he was
soon to cross the railroad by a stone bridge
which carried the turnpike over it, and l
placed myself by the roadside, as with a
sharp turn it entered the bridge. Pres
entity a squad Of lancers appeared, their
pennons fuCtering under the sparkling
spears, and then came a carriage drawn by
four horses, guided by booted and spurred
positions, and behind it another squad of
lancers. In the carriage was the field mar
shall, and the top that sheltered him from
the sun was one that dropped. protecting
the single seat.
The speed of the turnout was rapid,
plunging, Gathering Irot. There was a
deep limestone dust on the road. and just
as the carriage whirled for the bridge