Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-03-31
HORRORS or BOER WAR
Young Medical Officer Depicts
Them In a Private Letter.
BED GROSS WORK AT sPIoN KoP.


Pass Blocked with the Dead and
wounded - Remarkable Fortitude
of an Old CoIoniaI-Wounded and
Dying Men showed the Greatest
Bravery-DescrfDtion of wounds.
For real ghastliness, for glimpse in
to the CORY realities of war and the
horrors Of the battlefield, the private
letter of young medical officer at
Sp;on kop, printed In the London Dali
| ly Graphic, can scarcely be beaten.
Il selected a pass" he writes, "over-
hung by steep clay banks, on the top
of which 1 got up Red Cross flag.
Cases now began to pour down from
Spion kop on strctchers. The Beers
opened fire on us, and three bullets
went into the fire, knocking the sticks
about. The reason for this fire was
not the Red Cross flag, but owing TO
some 'Tommies' who We're strolling
over to 1t, either to take cover there or
TO see what we were doing. / prompt
| ly ordered them away. A few min
utes after the Beers let fire FIVE shells
In quick succession In my direction,
| but they fell short and did no harm
This sort of thing went on round me
for the rest of the day, but | always
kept well In the shelter of the bank
| From this time to 10 O'Clock next
morning the wounded came through
my dressing station, as the pass was
the only exit from the hill l saw ev-
cry case. and some of them were mu-
tilated beyond description.
Fully $50 wounded and dead, who
| had died on the way, passed through
my hands. The cheerfulness of the
wounded struck me as remarkable
men with shattered wounds smoking
their pipes, and. although starving, not
a grumble did l hear. Many poor
chap shot In tire morning In the front
trenches who ccyk1 not be reached
lay In the blazing sun all day. One
old colonial In Thornycroft's. with a
gray beard, walked down. leaning on
his rifle. He was a mass of wounds.
one ear cut through by bullet. his
chin. neck and chest also shot through
by others and his back and legs torn
by shells. He came In and said he
just dropped In to let me take his fin
ger off, as 1t was so shattered he could
not pull the trigger of his rifle, as 1t
got In the way Of the next finger which
he could use, for he wanted to get back
IN the hill to lay the Dutchmen out
OF course l would not let him go back
The bullet wounds are beautifully
clean, just little round hole, and as
n rule. do not do much damage, as
they often go through the bone with
out SCATTERING 1t, and they don't bleed
much. The shell wounds are hideous.
at was frightfully dark, and / put
one of the lanterns on a stick as di-
recting light to my pass. One of a
group of soldiers returning to the hill
tried to run away with n, and would
have lost 1t, only snatched up rife
! from a wounded man and shouted that
| | would shoot him II he did not bring
1t back. He dropped It and ran away,
and It went out. but | got 1t again.
! Shortly after this both lanterns went
out, and l had pretty bad time, as
| the pass often got blocked with wound
ed. Finally l could send no more
wounded across the drift and had to
| stack them with the dead in rows on
the grass. / collected all the wounded
officers on stretchers around me and
! gave them brandy and a hypodermic
| of morphia.
"The morning light began to dawn
! about 4:30 o'clock and lighted up the
| CHASTITY faces of the patients around
me. My men now got fire ready and
| got some beef tea and coffee, and
| had some myself. the first meal since
my dinner the day before, and after
/ giving the wounded some as well |
/ sent them on the ambulances across
| the drift.
"Commandants Botha and Burgess,
who were the Boer generals, now came
on the scene. The former, who was
| the chief general, was a smallish, thin
man, with yellowish beard and hair,
and had a magnificent rifle, beautiful
ly carved with his name and text
from the Bible. He had a couple Of
mounted Kafiirs, carrying his ammuni-
/ tiOn and water bottles, ana an inter-
prefer. He seemed, however to I'M
derstand English, though he refused to
speak it, but now and then said, Ger
tainly, certainly There were quite a
number Of German officers. l heard
one Of them had been killed. They let
our men search the dead for their
Identification cards, letters and money.
1t was very sad to see the things we
found in their pockets-love letters,
Christmas cards, little pocketbooks
with accounts and half written letters.
Several of the Beers handed in little
things they found-a check for 10 shil-
llngs, a purse with money, etc. Some
of the officers had trinkets around their
necks. One poor chap had a locket
with a spray of white heather, and we
had TO cut his name off his shirt and
pin it to the locket as a means of
idpntificatlOn | am sorry to say that