Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-12-28
WOUNDS IN MODERN WARFARE.
Experience Of Our Men In the PhlIippines-
Treatment.

Captain Boltwood, of Ottawa, who
was In the Civil War, and also COM
manded n company in the Twentieth
Kansas, writes interestingly of the ef-
feet of bullets as follows: Great as
have been the improvements I'm fire.
arms, il seems 10 ne that they have
been as great in surgery. In the Civil
War "a man was placed OH a stretcher
and carried back to the field hospital,
without waiting to stanch the flow of
blood, paced on the operating table,
the would prObed for the bullet, or
amputa:ion performed II thought nee
essary. the part bandaged, and, as a
rule, coll water applied for several
DAYS. Many DEATH Of sued. and often
gangrene got in the hospitals with
very fatal effect.
NOW, when man Is wounded, the
hospital men come up, and before the
subject is moved an antiseptic ban
dage is applied. There is no field hos
pital, but the man is placed on a
stretcher and taken to some spot des-
ignated, where he remains until he can
be removed to the base hospital. On
his arrival there the bandage is re-
moved, a new one applied, and TIN
generally not disturbed for week.
No water is applied, and no probing Is
done for the bullet, which, unless To-
Gated neaB the surface, is allowed to
remain until the patient has recovered.
Then it is cut out or allowed to re-
main, as thought best. In case Of
fracture Of the bone, it is frequently
placed In a plaster cast and allowed
time to get wen. NO gangrene has
ever appeared in Manila hospital,
and up to within n short time previous
to our departure but six amputations
of arms or legs had occurred.
"In the matter of firearms, actual
service in the field demonstrates that
theories do not always apply when 1t
comes to actual field service. have
lead ~s oe-naan experiments with the
Mauser rifle, and of the experiments, of
our Government with the 'Krag' and
Lee rifles. All went to show that the
effect Of these guns was something
terrible. The bullets would pass
through at least four bodies. and while
at the point Of entrance the wound
was small, at the point of exit it was
fearfully large. The liver and other
internal parts were reduced to pulp,
and i'm one case nearly half of a mans
skull was torn away.
my observation Of wounds received
in the field was quite to the contrary.
CORTLAND Flemming, of my company,
was shot in the lower abdomen and
the bullet removed from near the
spine. He is now well. Sergeant
Morse was shot near the temple, the
ball passing, ii Is said, through two
thicknesses of the skull, boring out six
inches in the rear Of the point of en-
trance. He reported for duty in three
weeks. Lieut. Colonel Wallace was
shot entirely through the body, the
ball passing through the lungs. He re-
ported for duty i'm thirty days.
Compared with the Springfield or
Remington the 'Krag' or 'Mauser
wounds are slight. At Bacalor, where
We used more 'Krags' than Spring
fields, and where nearly hundred
dead were found on the field, it was
the opinion of the surgeon that three
fOurths of them had been killed by
Springfield bullets. If the Springfield
had The range Of the 'Krag: believe it
would be the most effective army rife
In the world.
"A circumstance came under my no.
tice which was to me of great interest.
Captain Flanders company was sta
toned i'm a railroad building at the
Rio Grande and about $50 yards from
the enemies works. The building was
hardwood frame, the timber being
eight inches square, the spaces filed
with brick, making a four-inch wall
Single bricks We're removed I'm places
and used as loopholes to fire through.
Although under fire at short range for
twenty-four hours, not "a bullet passed
through the brick, many of them not
even penetrating far enough to stick,
while every one that struck the tim
Der passed through. Rice dykes ore
and half to two feet thick also prove
good protection"