The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-03-13
HORRORS OF The WAR
Graphic Pen Pictures Executed
By Correspondents.
CHASTITY STORIES TOLD
TERRIBLE TASK OF YOUNG NED
IcAL OFFICER.
Fearful Scenes Among the Dead and
the Dying on the Field In South
Afriea-Sufferings From Dust and
Flies Undergone By the British
Soldiers.

Soldiers.
Correspondence Of the Associated Press.)
London, March S.-For real ghastli-
ness, for a glimpse into the CORY re-
alities OF war, and the horrors Of the
battlefield, the private letter of a
young medical officer at Spion Kop,
printed in the Daily 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 a Red Cross flag.
Cases now began to pour down from
SplOn hop on StretcherS. The Beers
opened fire on Us, and three bullets
went into the fire, knocking the sticks
about.
1.-The reason for this fire was not the
Red Cross flag, but owing to some Tom
mics who were strolling over TO it.
either to take cover there or to see
what we %ere doing. 1 promptly or
dered them away. A few minutes after
| Beers let fire five shells in quick sue
cessiOn in my direction. but they fell
short, and did no harm This sort of
thing went on around me for the rest
Of the day, but 1 always kept we'll 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. 1 saw every
case, and some of them were mutilated
| beyond description.
CheerfuIness of Wounded
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 1 hear. Many a poor
| chap, shot in the morning in the front
/ trenches, who could not be reached, lay
] in the blazing sun all day. One old CO.
iOnlal in Th0rneycrOft's, with a gray
beard, walked down leaning on his ri
| fie; he was a mass of wounds-one ear
| cut through by a bullet, his chin, neck
and chest also shot through by others,
and his back and legs torn by shell.
| He came in and said he just dropped in
| to let me take his finger off, as il was
80 shattered he could not pull the trig-
ger of his rife, as it got in the way of
the next finger, which he could use,
for he wanted to get back up the hill
to pay the Dutchmen out OF course,
l would not let him go back.
THE bullet wounds are beautifully
clean-just little round hOle-and as a
rule do not 90 much damage, as they
often go through the bone without
shattering it, and they do not bleed
much. The shell wounds are hideOuS.
ct was now frightfully dark, and I
put one of the lanterns on a stick as
a directing light to my pass. One OF
a group of soldiers returning to the hill
tried to run away with it, and l would
have lost it, only 1 snatched up a rifle
! from a wounded man and shouted ]
would shoot him if he did not bring it
| back. He dropped it and ran away, and
! it went out; but. I got it again. Short
/ ~ after this both lanterns went out and
/ often got blocked with wounded
Finally I cOund send no more
/ wounded across the drift, and had to
/ stack them with the dead in rows on
! the grass. l collected all the wounded
! officers on stretehers around me, and
/ gave them brandy and a hypodermic
/ of mOrphia. The morning light began
/ TO dawn about 4:30, and lit up the
/ CHASTITY faces of the patients around
/ me. My men now got a fire ready and
I got some more beef tea and coffee, and
/ 1 had some myself-the first meal since
my dinner the day before; and after
/ giving the wounded some as well, I
J sent them on the ambUlance5 across
4 the drift.
I Commandments BOtha and Burgess,
who were the Boer generals, came now
on the scene. The former, who was
! the chief general, was smaIlish, thin
man. with yellowish beard and hair,
and had a magnificent rifle, beautifully
carved with his name and a text from
the Bible. He had a couple Of mounted
/ kaffirs carrying his ammunition ard
water bottle, and an Interpreter. He
! seemed however, to understand Eng
/ lish, though he refused to speak it. but
now and then said Certainly, certain
/ ly'
Identification of the Dead.
There were quite a number of Ger
man officers. 1 heard one of them had
been killed. They let our men search
the dead for their Identification cards,
letters and money. II was very sad
to see the things we found in their
I Observation-Disclosures. Christmas cards,
little DOcketbOOks with accounts, half
/ finished letters. Several OF the Beers
handed in little things they found-a
check for los. purse with money, etc.
Some of the officers had trinkets round
their necks. One poor chap had a
locket with spray Of white heather,
and We had 10 cut his name off his
shirt and pin il 10 the lOcket as q
/ means Of Identification. 1 am sorry to
say that a number had their fingers
/ cut of to get their rings, but the
Beers said that they did not see whe
did it, and We're indignant.
Men seized with sunstroke. with
ing and gasping for water, were lying
every fifty yards or So
This is not a description of a battle
| field, but merely the account Of the
very ordinary practice march made by
General Macdonald's hardy Highland
brigade to KoodoOsberg on Feb. ), as
told by the correspondent Of the Stand
ard. And the brigade had only marched
ten miles when the men thus began "a
suffer 1t is only from vivid descFip-
tons, such as come by mail
that the climatic conditions of the
Veldt can be thoroughly appreciated
The correspondent goes on to say:
Fortunately, the river being Close
by. water was procurable, and the
men all got into camp a. the drift by
O'Clock. Only few Of the casns turned
out to be very serious. Two men we're
lost altogether, one of whom was
found two DAYS later by a patrol OF
Lancers. He was in a raving cOn0i-
ton. ard died shortly after being
brought into camp"
The lessons learned from these things
are interesting The march clearly
showed says the same writer "thG
danger of taking infantry for long dis
tanoes in the heat of the day without
a proper water supply-it practically
decides that the route 20 Pretoria must
be either along a railway or along the
rivers
Another thing clearly manifested
was the unsuitabiIity of the heavy