The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-06-01
FRONTIER BATTLEFIELDs.
An Amateur CampaiEner Describes
His First Battle at 8IiIOuna Pass.

4 His First Battle at liiIOuna Pass.
London Gable in New York Sun.
It takes long time to tell the story
of war, even when the beginning and
the end of it are only seven days apart
Perhaps the fighting will have begun
afresh when this letter is read, but every
body in Europe believes to-day that the
Intervention OF peace negotiation stage is
now close at hand. 1t will be many DAYS.
however before the scores of correspond
ents and other spectators of the week of
hghting have finished telling about what
they saw Some Of the narratives lose
holhlhg IN interest by being somewhat be-
lated. Indeed, they viii be read Just as
edsSTly when they become merely a part
Oh tne routine history of the closing years
OF the nineteenth century. And for those
VINO ENJOY the comedy of war 1 doubt if
anything more entertaining can be found
.han ". w. Stevens account of his first
the editor of the Daily Mail:
one band of Greeks came inside last
nlsht' remarked Charlie, as his large red
ace met my awakening eyes. 'Where?'
haryai ON shoot all night; bin shooting
81 thought it was only another Krania
aIlalr-Greek reservists disguised as bri-
gands two days shooting, and the mat
Ter handed over to be settled between
Constantinople and Athens. However
harya Is not far-perhaps fifteen miles or
80. 1 would go and spend the night. So
hdu them pack up my bed and box of
| 1000 ana load it on a Dack-saddIa I
mounted the Beetle, as nv larger and
more brazen-mouthed pony is called
mounted Charlie on the Flea which is the
naiHe oi the one which trots like the gas
III siphon' and off we went to karya.
ne road to Karya-which the Turks
can hoskui-is like the road 10 everywhere
else in this country. Now IN nov doD,n
| mere precipice on the right, there A tor
rent on the left, stones everywhere
proxies everywhere, baggage animals ev-
| eIyWhere. But as we struggled on the
harya road there came a new experience.
Pop' pop; pop, pop, pop; pop, pop, pop,
pop pop; pop. 1t was not very different
from the sound of shooting pheasants.
put l knew they were shooting men. Nv
Heart began to try to beat in time with
the pops. When four or five came togeth-
er L wondered how many were down that
ume, ana | hurried on lest both sides
| Snould De Killed out before 1 got there. So
| turned corner, and came on the village
OF karya-small and ramshackle and dir
| ", wedged into a recess under hills like
cataractS suddenly turned to stone above
| these the solemn Wilderness Of Olympus
| olympus is the back scene of Karya; its
| foreground was the battle.
There was broad valley. perhaps a
mile to a coupe Of miles across; at the
other side of it gray-green hills, part
| stones part young grass, part wood The
| NILS rose to various Submissions or five
| in all, though these were hardly indiHd-
| ual enough to make the Whole thing more
than a crested ridge; you might as well
call 1t one hill as five. / suppose they are
| 5000 feet or 1900 feet high, and quite
| steep Along them runs the frontier; you
| can recognize il by the little dabs of white
| which stand for blockhouses. Acros " the
| valley came the pops-sometimes rare and
distinct sometimes a rapid popp.e when
| all the separate reports ran into each
| other. II sounded like machine that was
now going round slowly, now quickly
| Every now and then the pops were varied
by BOOM Here and there a tiny patch
| of dirty smoke curled languidly off the
| broad hillside. That VAS the battle
| Through a glass / watched it for a long
| time from the pasha's headquarters. and I
| made out some black dots on a tongue
| about one-third of the way up. That was
a battery of artillery. At the very top
was a line rather like the leg of a beetle
| under a microscope; that was a battalion
of infantry. Pop, popple, boom, little
black dots, and little black streaks; that
| was ALL
mo- there was a little more of it. On
| the other side of the tricking burn in
which Karya does not wash was the hos
| pital, and they were bringing in wounded.
l went over and went in. OF course, it
reeked of iodoform, hospitals do But,
| though iodoform is not a smell that al
lows rivals to live with it, there was dis
tinctly another SMELL Blood. And there
was another sound besides the sort of rus
tie which rises out of the swift, half
stealthy movements of a hospital staff
Groans, walls, sentences cried out aloud in
SIR
sound like mans voice, and a fretful
passionate information like a childs There
came to meet me at the door a very young
surgeon, an Albanian, as fair as an Eng
lishman, with a skin like strawberries and
cream hair like vine tendrils, eyes as sim
pie as a baby's, and as compassionate as
a good woman s-the most beautiful man
l ever saw. He wore a blue overall his
sleeves were tucked above the elbow. and
to the elbow and above it they were clot-
ted with blood. Yet, though it sounds like
gushing, that young man looked to me
like an angel. The wounded turned on
their beds and looked at me with eyes
that felt as If they would bore through me
One man yelled aloud like a beast. and
flung off the coverings from his wound
A white-beared captain shot through the
thigh showed his wound with a smile Of
humorous patience. But beast or humor-
Gus gentleman. the beautiful young Aha
Man looked at all with the same clear
pitiful eyes, tormented them with the same
quick, unsparing, mercful hand
1T was pleasanter to go out into the SIN
and listen to the battle. 1t still popped ON
now fast, now slow, as II the gods were
opening much champagne for a picnic on
Olympus. / went no nearer H. for saw
a little SILVER of excitement run round
group of aides-de-camp, and went TO ash
about It. This last Greek outrage was ZOO
much, 1 heard; war was declared. and the
Marshal Pasha would advance in force 10
morrow all along the line. jumped on
the Beetle, turned round the tired horse
not yet unladen of his baggage. and start
ed full scramble back TO headquarters
The fight / left TO crackle out II A. ulrad
A war correspondents place is not win
the firing line, but behind the generai
STAFF, and il ever l have any harrouin,.
adventures In that romantic position
will tell you.
"But there was no doubt about A. vvar
long promised long delayed-war wbicn'
IN my letter posted the night before 7
had solemnly declared not to be coming
war was on us at last. As l rode alone
the valley path the sound Of rife n "a 80