Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-04-14

Nothing is Seen, No Men, No Smoke
The Noise Is Internationally
Sights and Awful Sounds.
One of our war correspondents, In
the course of a private letter to a
friend, gives some vivid pictures OF
the realities of war under modern
conditions:
'As regards my own feelings in a
fight it is very hard to describe;
know when the thing is all over and
am all right | feel much happier. Any
man who has been in modern fight,
where men ars being knocked over all
around, and says he likes it, is liar.
In former days 1t must have been diff
ferent. 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 infantry, after receiving
one volley, could charge, knowing
that until the enemy had loaded
again each man was practically safe.
Nowadays that is all changed.
Nothing is seen, no man, no smoke.
The only thing seen is the dust
thrown up by the bullets. like rain
storm ON the surface of q lake, the
artillery throwing shells, and the
shells bursting. In contrast to this is
the noise which is internal; with oc-
casional lulls it sounds as if n million
kettledrums were being played-a con
slant tra-ra-ra, with the BOOM boom
Of the big guns and the harsher sound
of the pumping of the MaXims, Max
m-Nordenfeldts, and machine guns in
general. The diScord is appalling, as
every gun has a different sound, and
each shell going through the air huns
or whistles according to it's breed. AZ
ter a time you can tell what is COM
ing, or, If 1t is one of your own, what
is going.
THE most terrifying of the enemy's
guns is sort of Hotchkiss, which
fires about five rounds at time and
throws one-pound shell, which
bursts. You are safe nowhere, as a
bullet, fired at an object at 800 yards,
which missed hits and kills at 1900
or 5000. 1t practically means with
these rifles that bullet is never
spent until it hits something and re-
mains there. When a bullet strikes,
you hear nothing; it goes right
through a man and probably travels
on another 1000 yards You hear a
grunt or a gurgle, and the man col
lapses and doubles up; sometimes il
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
bullet At Modder river | went down
with three guns of the Eighteenth
Battery to within 1900 yards and
saw five men go over, one after the
other, but only one killed.
THE worst thing is a bullet wound
in the stomach below the navel which
is mortal. The pain is excruciating,
and they howl like n shot hare; it
sounds like a child screaming, and is
horrible. But you see such a lot of
beastly sights and hear such lot of
heartrending sounds that you become
accustomed to them and callous /
found a wounded Boer at Magersfon-
tein who was shot-evidently while
lying 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.
1t had then broken his collar bone and
taken turn, travelled round his ribs,
and out at bis side. He was not pretty
to look at, but did not seem much the
worse, and while ! gave him water
he explained to me the course of the
bullet. Some of the recoveries are per-
fectly marvellous. | suppose after the
thing is over the doctors will publish
some OF the extraordinary cases which
have passed through their hands,
London News