The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-04-10
FAR CORRESPONDENTS.
-oprrs FzoM TIE BLOODY BAT
-rFFIsLDs OF Bulgaria.

n II 1LDS OE b LIZ . X A.
several Half-Fed respondents
81 70 the Temptation of a Good
T,,-nsr and Lost q Fig Battle.
Il IA Won ever know a war correspondent
Il ..u about the times when he was
I ,,.sn r. asks John R. jackson in the New
- World. As q rule his record is only
> heats over his rivals. Mr.. Frederick
;rs-s has been very eloquent of late in
r,,- about the deeds accomplished by
.,libsli Forbes, for whom be readily be-
~. modem Boswell. As a matter of
!, however, Forbes was by no means a
al deserving to be placed on record as a
OF as being the greatest Of
,- correspondents. In Ger
ain way he is deserving of much
-.lit. but not the half that has been given
inn by writer's about the Bulgarian cam
oi7n. He was a ready descriptive writer
/ 4 battles. a hard rider and knew little of
#kstrue or sickness, but he would have been
#.bsstenn often but for the assistance of
visar heads. The London Daily Ne,Cs.
|rbich Forbes represented, had secured
|slscCfahan as its correspondent with
EIe Russians and furthermore made
T. alliance with an American journal
rbch really enabled it to score some OF its
rrestest victories. Thus Forbes description
the crossing of the Danube at Simnitza
could not have reached England a day
kafore the description Of other correspond
mis-. but for the establishment of
|Ssrfectly organized courier route from
bucharest, the capital of Roumania, to
Eronstadt, the first town across the Aus
ran border, where dispatches could be
Freely sent.
| This route | planned and carried out
moving that if dispatches were put in at
4 he Bucharest telegraph Office there they
vould suffer incalculsble delays, or would
|only be allowed to be sent in mutilated
|.hape. Each dispatch in English had to be
accompanied by translation in German
|or in French, and in case of a Russian de-
feat it was certaln that dispatches would
not be sent through at all, and so | made
the Journey from Plocstic across the Carpa-
THAN mountains, and with about twenty
horses placed at RELAYS Of
twenty-five or thirty miles, es-
tablished a route that enabled me to get
Forbes dispatch of the crossing of the
Danube into London twenty-four hours be-
fore the correspondents got theirs through
a description of battle that will pass mus
ter, but not one war correspondent out of
ten knows how to get his dispatch to its
destination first, if the difficulties that pre-
vailed in Roumania and Bulgaria exist.
That route cost many hundreds of dollars
cost me several dangerous journeys through
the desolate Carpathian, through districts
Infested by robbers.
The route was eighty miles long and 1t
was used to great advantage in sending dis
patches for nearly month, until the Rus
slal and Roumanian authorities began to
treat the work OF the correspondents with
more liberality. Both Villiers and Forbes
have always forgotten to credit anybody for
assistance, without which the latter would
have Jared badly. The courier route, Mac
Gahan'S tact and knowledge and Frank
Nlllet's dash enabled the London newspa-
per to win many journalistic victories dur
ing the Bulgarian war that have been cred
ted to Archibald Forbes and to the pluck
of English war correspondents. AS a mat
Ter of fact, it was the American contingent
Of correspondents that did the best field
work, and of the four that followed the
to Constantinople three we're
MacGahan Millet for the Lon
don Daily Ne1OS, Grant for the London
Times, and the English artist, Villiers, for
euo IOAuOA CTUpJbtC,
Nilliers tells some good stories, but he
leaves Others unrecorded that deserve a
place in newspaper history. do not claim
credit for being frst-class man on battle
led. AS a matter of fact it had been
accorded of me that / had the Wagner
labit perniciously bad upon me during that
and that while battles were reg
ng and the air filed with bursting shells /
iat calmly making a translation Of
music drama. True,
)wn up to the soft impeachment for if there
s anything in the world that is less interest
ng than an army of investment waiting for
]rders to attack, or even nine days of can
non duel such as that which occurred before
the second battle of Plevna. l do not know
what it is. l was fully a month with the
Russians in front Of Plevna, always expect
ng events and unable TO leave my post.
some of my colleagues spent their time in
ar different way and they certainly did not
accomplish better results. Even | wished
me day that l had stuck to Wagner
\ little closer. For three weeks |
lad been with four or five others at
Paradim waiting for a battle. 1t was dreary
enough. After ride every morning aud
evening to visit the Russian headquarters.
The rest of the day was spent in brushing
away flies, in foraging for supplies, or in
hut. Food was bad and we oftentimes felt
that life under such conditions was not
worth much. We sat around at night over
Dur tSchdi. would talk of the many good
tishes In far away Bucharest, or in Paris OF
London or New York. Finally one day a
constituencies colleague-I believe it was
Oobson. who was then acting as Mac
tahan's secretary aud assistant, but is now
.he representative of the London Times at
st. Petersburg-made the seductive pro-
position that we should all leave Paradim-
place about five miles from PleYna, and
~ that time the headquarters of Gen.
'Tradener-Just for a day, and visit the
cars headquarters at Gorny Studai, where
be said we might pick up some news, but
where we should certainly get good din
ler at the officers restaurant.
we refused to listen to the tempter at
1rst but that night We all dreamt of lus>
cious beatsteak and delicious roast chickens,
req wine and good cigars, and next time
"neh the lnsldiouS proposition was made
we telL The distance was only thirty-fve
miles. We could put seven or eight horses
INTO my light wagon and go there one day
ana DE back the next. What could happen
u such a short times So next day at noon
We started off for Gorny-Studal, and after
nara drive over billy country we arrived
light.
After finding deserted house for our
llghts shelter we did not delay long in
MAKING our way to the great restaurant,
fhlch was prominent feature in the head
quarters, and which had been the attractive
,ause OF our coming. AS may be readily
Imagined, we ordered a generous dinner,
maj Tl,,NA