Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1913-05-09
BALKAN WOUNDED
MangIed Soldiers Bore Pain With
Stole Heroism.
NO ANAESTHETlCS WERE USED
Ignorant Sufferers Often Endured the
Utmost Agony In Effort to Conceal
From the Doctors the Necessity of an
Amputation.


From the Doctors the Necessity of an
Amputaton.
A graphic description of the horrors
of the Balkan war as witnessed in the
hospital camps is given by Noel Bux-
ton, NJ. T., in q pamphlet issued by
the World Peace foundation. under
the title "The Wounded" Mr.. Buxton
was dispatched to the front. as a spe-
cial agent responsible for the diStribu-
ton Of the Balkan war relief fund of
the British Red Cross society. last No
vember and was in general charge OF
the relief corps there. He went with
three doctors and fifteen other persons,
dressers, orderlies and cooks. His
work was chiefly with the Bulgarian
army, which consisted of some 340,-
GOO men nineteen years or more of age.
There were 73,17S casualties in this
force up to the time Of thel armiStice.
The sick and wounded numbered SIG
officers and 81 900 men.
The worst scenes among the wound
ed were witnessed at Kirk Kilise, ac-
cording to Mr.. Buxton, but grewsome
scenes We're encountered even at the
base hospitals and all along the line
of march of the army leading up to
the great battle of the war. DeScrib-
ing some Of these scenes preceding the
slaughter ut Kirk KiiSe itself. he says:
"At Chorlu. where the cavalry sec
ton of the Tchatalia army was quar-
tered field hospitals We're gathering
for the carnage. They had turned to
| account an empty Turkish house and
installed the wounded from the minor
action when Chorlu was taken. The
doctor, who spoke good English, ask
ed me to go the rounds. The cases
needing dressing We're afterward
brought down on StretcherS. The first,
q Turk, had his right eye destroyed.
The bullet had passed on behind the
nose and lodged near the left ear He
was rendered blind on one side and
deaf on the other Gifted, happily,
with low organism, the man seemed
Stupefed to pain. A trooper whose
rifle had burst in his face was dread
fully diSigured. The doctor, one Of
the most humane. tore the bandage
sharply off. He held strongly that only
so could the wounds be thoroughly
Inspected The next had no fewer than
eleven wound marks.
GOTTEN the tiny pointed bullet of the
| Turkish Mauser left, after week, no
more mark than bug bite. It's praises
| as factor tout q fait humanitaire ZEN
tirely humane) We're in every Bulgari-
ans mouth. Many men, hating TO stop
| fighting, were perforated three times
| before they confessed wound. The
bullet cauterized its own track.
"The desire to fight again was vehe'
ment among the wounded from Lule
Burgas, less so. of course, from Tcha-
taIja, where sickness was in the air. A
doctor, performing 4 desperate opera
ton after Lule Burgas, could catch
the mans habitual thought reflected by
the subconSciouS mind. Just before
death he muttered, Get me well to
fight at Tchatalja.'"
At Kirk Kilise Mr.. Buxton describes
instances of fortitude and heroism
among the wounded that made the hor-
ror Of the situation only the greater.
my brother and found that in tha
Bulgarian hospital an intolerable situa-
ton existed" he says. 1.-The number
of men needing to have their wounds
60, ota,. l1o hu
kept pace with. There were no means
of supplying them with fresh clothing,
and scores lay about the floor Of the
improviSed building, packed so close
that for some days they overlooked
into the streets. Those who could
walk and needed treatment struggled
in dense mass at the door Of the sur
gerry, awaiting their turn. The prOyi-
sion for dealing with this emergency
consisted of five dreSSerS, some OF
whom had no more experience than
myself.
"These crowded treatment rooms
were Il feature Of many Bulgarian hos
pitfalls. Work was largely done by un-
trained ladies of the place. In fact.
the whole leisured womanhoOd was
working for the wounded, while the
whole manhood of the country was at
the front. In one room | saw a girl Of
fifteen plugging a large hole made by
a Shrapnel ball in the back of a sol
der. Close by was a man wincing UNI
der the pain Of the dressing of an ugly
wound on the arm, but his spirits were
equal to the occasion. 1t makes me
dance he said. we enjoy all sorts Of
dancing now
"No anaestheticS were used, not
even cocaine. The Balkan soldiers
sometimes, as is notorious, seem stOid-
ly Indifferent to pain, but the sensitive
ness, / should say, was in most cases
very great. 1t is met, however, by eX-
IRENE fOrtitude. They apparently pre-
fer to have serious operations without
anaeSthetics. They are terrified Of los
ing Il limb. | heard one man say to
the doctor who was preparing to take
off his gangrenous arm: please kill
mo ,,o thor than tolsa off nv arm If