The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-06-27


| the strongest sort OF hint. and know that
| In nine cases out of ten If you want CO.
h f. account Of what happened IN an s ac-
Roman Catholic priest
But 1t is very difficult to get details.
nave met perhaps a dozen or so OF Y. Z. S.
ana IN every case they explained that tney
did the first thing that came to hand with
out worrying about alternatives. one man
headed E,,su charge into q mass OF Af aI5
they are interested in their work, and cut
down five of them. All he said was: We'll,
tney We're there and they wouldn't go away:
What was man to do? Write EN- note?''
vAnother man / questioned was doctor.
Army doctors. by the way have special
make the most of them. Their duty COM
pels them to Keep near the hring, ana most
Of them run right up and lie down, keeping
an eye on the wounded
1t is heartbreaking thing for doctor
who has pulled a likely young private of
twenty-five through the typhoid fever and
set him on his feet and watched him de-
velop, to see the youngster with casual
bullet. 1t must have been this feeling that
made my friend do the old, old splendid
thing that never gets stale-rescue and at
tend to the wounded under fire. He got his
cross, but all he said was: Il didn't want
any unauthorized consutations-or ampu-
tations-while I was medical officer in
charge. 'Tisnt etiquette
His own head was very nearly ampu-
tated as he was tying up an artery--it was
blind, bad bushfghting, with smoke-puffs
popping in and out among high grass and
never a man visihle-but he. only grunted
when his helmet was cracked across by a
bullet, and went on twiddling the tourni-
quet
AS have limited in most of our little af-
fa1rS, our enemy knows nothing about the
Geneva convention or the treatment of
wounded, but fires at doctor on his face
value as white man. One cannot blame
them-it is their custom, but 1t is exceed
ingly awkward when our doctors take care
of their wounded who do not understand
these things, and try to go on fighting in
hospital.
There is a rather a funny story of a
wounded Sudanese--what the soldiers called
a "fuzzy'-who was carefully attended in
hospital after a fight. AS soOa he had
any strength again he proposed to native
orderly that they two should massacre the
wounded in the. other beds. and when the
doctor came in he was trying to work out
his plan. The doctor had a very unpleasant
scuff1e with the supplemented man. but at
last he slipped the chloroform bag over his
nose. The man understood bullets and was
not afraid of them, but this magic stuff
that sent him to sleep cowed him altogeth-
err, and he gave no more trouble.
DOCTORS UNDER FIRE.
So a doctors life is always a little haz-
ardous and, besides his professional duties,
he may find himself senior officer in charge
of what is left of the command, if the 9TH
ers have been shot down. AS doctors are
always full of theories, believe they rath-
er like this. Some of them have run out to
know that a dying man may have a last
message to give and it eases him to die
with friend to hold his hand. This is
most noble thing to do under fire. Chap
lains have done it also, but it is part of
what they suppose to be their duty.
Another V. Z. OF my acquaintance-he is
anything but a doctor-once saved a troop
er whose horse had been killed. His argu-
ment was rather original The man was on
foot and the enemy-Zulus this time and
they are beautiful fghters-was coming
down at run, and he said very decentlY
that he did not see his way to periling his
officers life by double-weignting the only
horse there was
To this his officer answered.
IF you don't get up behind me, I'll get
off and IN give you such a ;, licking as
was more afraid of fists than assegais, and
the good horse pulled them both out Of the
scrape. Now by the regulations an officer
who insults or threatens with violence
subordinate of his service is liable to lose
his commission and to be declared Gin
capable of serving the Queen in any ca
pacty," but for some reason or other the
trooper never reported his superior.
The humor and honor of fighting is by
no means all on one side. Some thirty
years since there was a war in New Yea
land against the Maoris, who, though they
tortured prisoners and occasionally ate
man, like fighting for its own sake One of
their chiefs cut off a detachment of our
men in a stockade, where he might have
starved them out. He found they We're
short Of provisions and sent in canoeful
of pig and potatoes, with the message that
it was no fun to fight weak men, but he
would be happy to meet them after full
meal.
AS to honor, the Beers in South Africa
did very pretty thing. The war against
them was one of the many bright jewels
in II, Englands crown cut and set by Mr..
remember that they beat us horse and foot
from one end to the other. They were
splendid fighters in their own way-at nine
hphind
rife, with their horse ready in the back
ground.
After one battle, in which they had wiped
out an English regiment and killed a gen.
eral, they were at some pains to find the
generals sword and return it TO his widow.
saying that the Lord was on their side, and
they had killed a brave man and were sorry
for it.
We got very little out of that war except
straight Two or three men won the cross
for saving wounded under fire One officer
after seven of his mess had been killed at
Laing's Neck, picked up wounded com
rade who was shot dead in his arms, but
he went out again and saved two more
men. Much the same kind Of thing hap
pened at ,Wesselstroem and Hajuta-both
defeats for us. The only good thing in the
whole wretched business was that we abode
by the issue of the first fights instead Of
turning on an entire army corps and ruin
ing the Beers utterly. as some unwise peo-
pie thought was our duty.
There are many cases in which men, very
young as a rule have forced their way
through a stockade of thorns that hook, or
bamboos that cut, and held on in the face
of heavy fire for just so long as served to
bring up their comrades. Those who have
done this say that the getting in is exct-
ing enough, but the bad time when the
minutes drag like hours, lies between the
first scuff1e with the angry faces in the
smoke and the Hi, get out o this!' that
shows the others are tumbling UP behind
They say it is as bad as the old Rugby
union game of football, when you get off
the ball just as slowly as you dare, that
your own side may have time to come up
and shove
CUSHING'S COURAGE.
Most men, after they have been shot
over little only want lead to do good
work so the result of a young mans dar-
ing is often out of all proportion to his
actual performances. For instance, when
your Lieutenant Gushing torpedoed the reb-
ell ram Albemarle he only risked his life
it was all that he had about him, of course
but he could have risked it just as much
on an open deck in an engagement. STILL
that particular way of risking made it pos
sible and easy for the crew of the launch
to follow his lead and do ten times more
than any one of them would have done
alone.
All courage does not lie in furious valor
Here is a case which never won notice be-
cause very few people talked about tia
case of the courage of Ulysses, one might
say.
x column of troops, heavily weighted
WITH eli and VIZ Cd had driftpd into a