The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-03-24
WHAT PAUL hEUMhAh DID
IN SOUTH AFRICAN HAR
CONTINUED from Page 81

was cutting his throat He awoke
with a yell and struck a light, and
when he saw the gashes in his tent and
heard feet stamping in the mud, his
rage knew no bounds.
Turn out the guard!' he screamed.
and the guard turned out, cursing like
wise, and the picket line woke up.
Now there were pickets all around the
hospital, except on the side where a
Kaffir kraal stood. 1t was toward this
kraal that our friends ran, the guard
in hot pursuit. The night was dark, as
1 have said, and barbed wire is painful
hence, no doubt, the yells of the Jew
when he stumbled across some that the
engineers had put up around trench.
Our friends in the meantime were in
a plight. Not for worlds would they
drop the spoils of that daring robbery
and run into the veldt. They wished
to prove to their comrades in tent
that they were men of their word. But
what could they do? They had reach
the kraal and were cropping around in
the dark. At any minute some insane
Kaffir might come out with torch,
and then klink, and six months to
think over past sins.
( One of them stumbled, and the pack
ages in his arms flew all over the place.
An idea seized him; he had stumbled
over Kaffir oven made of two stones.
Jim, have you got your truck"
safe as a house, me bhoy."
Mines lost. Here goes. Make for
that railway signal light like blazes;
there's no fence or ditch between this
and it," Crash!
A huge stone went through the mud
wall of a nigger'S castle, out came
the. niger, blazing mad. and crash
went another brick through the mud
hut opposite. The two proprietors of
the respective huts, without much ado,
went for each other, their respective
better halves in the meantime rousing
the whole kraal. The fun waXed fast
and furious when the guard rushed Wy.
The sergeant was greeted with an
earthenware pot which made him
trifle mad. Each and every kaftlr
man and woman was indulging in
good old scrap, the like of which had
not been seen in years. Unfortunately.
the discriminating goods We're found IN
the kraal, or rather that portion OF
them which had been dropped. so the
two poor niggers were run in and
! fined two days pay.
During the months of May, June and
July we treated $500 patients. OF these.
$50 died, mostly of enteric fever, other
wise known as typhoid. out of these
four hundred odd were sent in to US
dying. The average percentage of
deaths was, in all cases, IA per cent.
In case where treatment began at
once, per cent, an excellent record in
epidemic times. The women were a
nuisance in the hospital, paying more
attention to an hours chat with an
officer than five minutes attention TO
a. sick man, and point blank refusing
to perform any of the unpleasant du-
ties connected with nursing. The sur
g,eors were inefficient and inexperienc-
ed 1 can only chronicle three sue
cessful operations, one of which was
on the unfortunate Captain Towse. V.
RI he pXciSPd
Brandy, champagne and every other
stimulant necessary. were literally and
ungrudgingly supplied. The hospital
was always clean and we'll disinfected
An interesting item would not be out
of place OF our own men, the four of
us who had not been inoculated recoV-
cred from typhoid, whereas, twelve
who had been, died. These facts speak
for themselves and tend to show that
inoculation with typhoid serum is
farce and a trife worse than useless
The transports for hospital service
were excellent, and in great contrast
10 the ordinary transports had
charge of the medical department OF
the snip Assaye during September, 1900
and am glad to say we never lost a
patient. Although 1 would not recon-
mend any adventurous youth desIrous
of going TO war to enlist in a medical
corps, yet I must say that L would
not have missed the experience for a
great deal and the two medals be-
slowed are a most gratifying mementC
of my first war.
PAUL NEUMANN.