Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-12-24
GENERAL JACK FROST
Some ,f the Remarkable Parts He Has
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Some st the Remarkable Parts He Has
Played in tho BIG Wars
1t is eighteen years since we had q
hard winter. There has not been
fortnight's skating on end In the south
Of England since 18s4-5. Rain, fog,
gloom, sometimes u half-hearted at
tempt at snow haye been our winters
ever since.
Weather experts declare that anoth-
er big cold snap is due, and they point
to 1879, when summer exactly like
the depiorable one Of 1912 was fol-,
lowed by weeks on end Of bitter frost
and whirling snowdrifts. sss
II it comes--if the year 1918 is go
ing to renew the oid-tine tradition Of
hard winters-it Win add just one
more to q long train Of really smazing
coincidences. For the fact Is. that
there has hardly been a European war
on a big scale in which General Jack
Frost has not taken hand.
Go back a century. Eighteen hum
dred and twelve was the year when
Napoleon made up his mind to invade
Russia. Before starting he was care
full to inquire Of the experts as to
what date winter usually set In In
southern Russia. They told him the
middle of December.
1t was on June "a that he invaded
Russia with 100000 men, and he
reached Moscow on September IA.
That night fire broke out and within
five days the city was burned to the
ground. Even then he remained until
October Is before commencing his re-
treat.
In the last week Of October began the
worst frost which Europe had known
for three generations. The Thames
froze from its source to the sea. The
Seine, the Rhine, the Danube were all
ice-b bound. On the Adriatic, or Ven-
ice, was seen the amazing sight Of
floating Ice foes. The Hellespont and
the Dardanelles were frozen. Jack
Frost's icy fingers lay heavy even upon
North Africa. Drift ice appeared In
The Nile, and there were snow storms
in Tripoli and Morocco.
As for Napoleon's huge army, 1t was
almost wiped out. -Four hundred thou
sand men perished. They froze to
death in battalions as they bivouacked
and when at last. OF December 6, Ma
poleon reached German soil, out Of his
whole vast host but 10000 men were
left alive.
During the winter of 1854 the
Turks were battling for dear lie
along the Danube against hordes OF
Russians. In the following Septem-
ber $4,000 British troops, a similar
number Of French and 5000 Turks
were landed in the Crimea-
Again came terrible winter, and
from the west Of Ireland right across
into Asia, frost fell heavy on land and
sea. In London 1t froze for six weeks
without q break. From January IA to
February "a the thermometer was be-
low freezing every night. In the Cri-
mea the cold was fearful and our
army, disgracefully catered for, suf-
fered horribly. In all we lost 20.056
men, and Of these only IL per cent fell
in battle. The rest were defeated by
cold and disease, aggravated by rot
ten commissariat.
In 1870 came the biggest war Of the
latter half of the nineteenth century,
the titanic conflict between France and
Germany BY October 20 there were
$4,000 German troops In France,
Paris was beseiged. and there began
the four months investment, with fu-
rious fighting on both sides. Again
Jack Frost came to the aid Of the Ger
mans. A long spell Of intense cold
made life almost impossible for the
half starved French, while the Ger
mans, who had the whole country to
drawn on, beside their own excellent
commissariat, suffered very little. By
January, the city was In such terri
BILE condition that 1t surrendered.
The date Of the last great war In
which Turkey was engaged was 1877.
The Turks were attacked by an enor-
mously superior force Of Russians,
with the czar himself in command.
Osman Pasha, with 10000 men, hur-
ried inland to Plevna, q village which
stood upon a hill, and there hastily
entrenched himself. The Russians had
100000 men, but Osman and his
dauntless band defeated them In four
successive battles
In November winter set In three
weeks earlier than usual. The Turks
had no winter clothing. and little to
eat but maize-porridge and horse
flesh. They suffered fearfully. At. last
on December 8, they determined to
break out. There were only 10000
left, but their rush was so tremend-
Gus that they carried three lines OF
Russian trenches before they were
surrounded, and forced by enormous
ly superior numbers to surrender un-
Observation-Disclosures Answers