Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1900-04-26
PEN PICTURES OF WAR
what q Hattie Is Like Under Modern
OOnditIons-SOme Marvellous
RecOVeries.

One of our war correspondents, in the
course of a private letter TO friend.
gives some vivid pictures of the reaii'
ties Of war under modern conditions:
Asregards my own feelings in fight
tits very hard to describe; ! know when
the thing is all over and / am all right
l feel much happier. Any man who has
been in a modern fight, where men are
being knocked over all around, and
SAYS he likes it, is liar. In former
DAYS It must have been different. The
enemy could be seen. the smoke could
be seen, and rifles had to be reloaded
after every shot. At 1000 yards you
were in comparative safety. The in
fantry, after receiving one volley,
would charge, knowing that until the
enemy had loaded again each man was
practically safe.
Nowadays that is all changed.
Nothing ISIS seen. no man, no smoke. The
only thing seen is the dust thrown up.
by the bullets, like rainstOrm on the
surface of lake, the artillery throw
ing shells, and the shells bursting. In
contrast to this is the noise, which is
INTERVALS with occasional lulls it sounds
as If a million kettledrums were being
played-a constant tra-ra-ra-ra, with
the boom, boom of the big guns and
the harsher sound Of the pumping OF
the Maxims, Hotchkiss, Maxim-Norden-
feldts and machine guns in general.
The discord is appalling, as every gun
has different sound and each shell
going through the air huns or whistles
according to its own breed. After
time YOU can tell what is coming, or,
if 1t is one of your own, what is going.
1.-THE most terrifying of the enemy's
guns is a sort of Hotchkiss, which fires
about five rounds at time and throws
one-pound shell which bursts. You
are safe nowhere, as q bullet, fired at
an object at 500 yards, which misses
hits and kills at 1000 or 5000. 1t prac-
ticallv means with these rifles that a
bullet Is never spent until it hits some
thing and remains there. When bull
let strikes you hear nothing; 1t goes
right through n man and probably
travels on another 1000 yards. You
hear q gfunt or gurgle, and the man
collapses ard doubles up; sometimes If
hit in the arm or leg he spins around
and falls, and probably gets up again
as it is only the shock which knocks
him down, and he hardly feels the bull
let. At Modder river I went down
with three guns Of the Eighteenth bat
terry to within 1 300 yards, and saw five
men 90 over, one after another, but
only one killed.
"The worst thing is a bullet wound
in the stomach, just below the navel
which is mortal The pain Is excruciat-
ing. and they howl like a shot hare; IT
sounds like child screaming. and is
horrible. But you see such lot OF
beastlv sights and hear such lot OF
heartrending sounds that you become
accustomed TO them and callous.
found n wounded Boer at Magersfon-
tein who was shot-evidently while ly-
ing down-through the top of the head
above the right ear; the bullet had
travelled through his head and out at
the back of his jaw on the left side. It
had then broken his cOllarbOne and
taken a turn, Travelled round his ribs.
and out at his side. He was not pretty
to look at, but did not seem much the
worse, and while I gave him water he
explained to me the course of the bull
let. Some Of the recoveries are per-
fectly marvellous. I suppose after the
thing is over the doctors will publish
some of the extraordinary cases which
have passed through their hands. -
London News.