Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1913-01-02

unutT lNdIOu, WHO Nho 70
have the thankless task of the opera
tons around Adrianople. While easy
glory was to be the fortune of Deme-
trieff, who commanded the first army
until the first army had to take po-
sitions in front without any opportu-
nifty for thanking, which was the ma
ture Of Iyanof's task from the start
lvanoff Wakes Up.
1t was Papastepe and KartaItepe
which Weakened Ivanoff from his dream
Of a final brilliant stroke in keeping
with the earlier mes of the war, just
as Tchatalia brought Demetrieff down
from the clouds of overconhdence.
Papastepe is one of many hills in the
narrowing rib Of the 203 Meter Hill
of the siege. With guns in position
there, Adrianople would be upder
bombardment. The B~ulgarians took
it by sending in the usual cloud OF In
fantry and losing about a thousand
men. But the Turks took 1t back
again. Four times, / am told, 1t
changed hands in the course of those
night actions which we observed only
by the brilliant flashes In the sky
above the hills.
Far up the valley in the mist was
Kartaltepe, that other important hill
which commanded the river bottom Of
the Arda. We took KaBtaltepe In No
vember and a month afterward, in one
of their splendid ~sorties, the Turks,
so far as / could learn, had taken 1t
back; but 1t was as untenable for
them as Papastepe was for the Bull
garians Possibly because 1t was again
ours and very evidently ours perma-
nently, the Bulgarian censors had
found 1t worth while to confound
skepticism and persistent u~nfriendly
rumors by allowing the c%orrespon-
dents to enter the promised land Of
their dreams, where for weeks, be-
tween the batteries on the hills and
the infantry in the muddy river bot
tom Of the Arda, hell had ragged in the
winter rains.
We did not know then, as we were
to know a few days later, that beyond
Kartaltepe In the direction of Dele
catch was another force isolated from
the A~drianople garrison and the main
Turkish army, that of Taver Pasha
with 10000 men, caught in the literal
flood of that 100-yard dash Of the
ready, informed, prepared aggressor
against the unready enemy taken un
aware and Fastening re-enforcements
to the scattered garrisons and trying
to adjust itself for the blow to fall
with the crash of a pile driver releas.
ed from its clutch.
DiscIoses War Secret.
But Taver Pasha's 10000 we're stall
a force in being, with guns and full
equipment-a force in a box; a force
in desperation.
Do you see the A%drianople garrison
(Which was in touch by wireless with
the Turkish main army striking out
to connect up with Taver Pasha? Dc
you SEE Taver Pasha trying out lines
Of least resistance in a savage effort
to reach Adrianople or the main Tur.
kish army?
Something to stir the blood, this, in
the way Of a war drama, while not a
single foreign correspondent or at
tache knew even of the existence Of
Taver Pasha's command until it's sur
render.
The news Of this vas conveyed with
the official assurance that now no 9th
er Turkish force except that of Adri
anople remained in Thrace, when we
had been under the impression fol-
over a month that it was the only
one! The censors did not smile as
they posted the bulletin, but some oil
the correspondents smiled-at them
selves.
No, after the first rainbow hope Of q
successful general attack was over
Ivanoff was fully occupied in holding
A~drianople safely in siege. That bat
terry of old Krupps, which fired ovel
the advanced Servian infantry posi-
ton, while a battery Of Creusots in
turn fired yer it, added their items Of
evidence to the same end.
These Krupps were taken by the
Russians at Plevna in the war of 1877
7S and given to the little army of the
new nation Of Bulgaria. Bulgarian re
cruits had dragged them through the
muddy roads and ove the pastures
and beautifully emplaced them, ant
were working them against the enemy
with boyish pride. But the world was
thinking only of the modern Creusots
and their brilliant showing.
The Bulgarians almost proved thai
you can make bricks without straw
They won the var by the bravery o.
their self-confidence as well as BY
their courage.
Adrianople, which was about Il
starve II 1t did not fall, had, I am con
vinced, two months supplies when the
armistice was signed. With the Is
and 20-year-old conscripts already or
the way to the front. with a casualty
list that is easily one-ffth of the whole
army, there was nc sign of weakening
The square chin of the stoical Bull
garian was as firmly SET as ever.
wonder what would happen in Europe
II 1t included in its borders a nation o
100000, 900 Bulgarians!
Ancient Science.
1t is generally supposed that those
who comhated the oninion that thf