The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1914-10-22
WITH THE RED CROSS.


Exciting Experiences of an American Who
Served as Volunteer With the French
Army on Retreat. Saw Charge of tn,
Deaths Head Hussars.
New York World.1
people away from the scene Of battle
in Europe can have no conception of the
slaughter being done on the fields OF
France. No report of the casualties is
exaggerated. They pass human compre-
hension."
So spoke Neville M. Hopkins of Wash
ington, D. c., member of the Metropoli-
tan Club in the capital and a chemist of
prominence, who returned Oct. 7th on
the Kroponaad from Liverpool. Hop
kins, though an American citizen, volun-
teered IN the French Red Cross service
at the outbreak of the war, and what he
said of the carnage he drew from his
own experience, for he was three weeks
with the French armies on their retreat
from Mons to Senlis, thirty miles from
Paris.
Mr.. Hopkins brought back a grim
souvenir of European battlefields-t the
lance and black and white pennant of a
Deaths Head Hussar The pennant is
stained with the blood of the German
soldier who bore it. The Washington
man saw this hussar shot from his horse
and took the weapon from his relaxed
fingers.
SHRAPNEL BURST DIRECTLY OVER HIS
HEAD.
Il was in Moscow when the war came, -
said he. 81 took my wife and family to
Pari and there volunteered in the Red
Cross organization. | was sent to the
front, lust over the border in Belgium,
with the first troops rushed forward to
attempt to stop the German advance,
and came under fire first at Mons. With
others, | was sent out onto the field left
by the retreating Preach to help bring in
the wounded and there first came under
fire.
"My baptism of fire. came IN the
shape of an exploding shrapnel directly
over nv head. The conclusion threw
me to the ground, and the terror of it
unnerved me completely. | have never
experienced such terror; for an hour l
was weak and trembling. The constant
roar of artillery and clap of bursting
shells nearly drove me mad with fear.
"But after an hour, grew accustom-
ed to it. | believe then that if the firing
had suddenly ceased l would have gone
mad. Silence would have been more
terrible then than the thunder of the
guns. The din was 80 terrific that one
could not make himself heard; bugles
we're drowned. Officers had to point the
nnf
shout orders.
SAW DEATHS DEAD HUssAR IN FAMOUS
CHARGE.
"The most terrible spectacle of the
battle of Mons was the charge OF
brigade of Deaths Head Hussars against
the retreating French lines. The cavalry
deployed out onto an open plain and rode
furiously toward US. Just before they
struck the French lines some masked
French batteries, set for this very pur-
pose, opened with all their guns and they
simply were cut down like weeds under a
scythe. No glory, no thrilling moment
in that; just cold slaughtering. 1t was
after that volley that got the lance from
the hands of one Of the dead Germans.
SAYS ENGLISH CAVALRY RODE INTO GER
MAN GUNS.
cat the battle Of La Cateau, which
followed the defeat of Mons, l saw Eng
fish cavalry go to the support OF the
broken French lines. That was mag
nifcent and daring thing. The way those
Englishmen rode straight up to the Ger
man guns, closing their ranks as gaps
appeared in them. was enough to con-
vince one that not man knew fear OF
death, They drove the Germans back
with terrible loss.
1.-THE grit of the wounded was remark
able. AS an instance, one day during a
hull in the fighting | was tinkering with
nv camera and French soldier came uI
to look over my shoulder. saw blood
on his wrist and examined his arm. A
bullet had entered it at the wrist, smash
ed both bones and came out at the elbow,
yet he did not seem to care that he was
wounded"
Mr.. Hopkins said he was arrested
seventeen times both by Frenchmen anc
Germans. The last time the Germans
captured him on a battlefield they took
away his passport and his identification
as member of the American Society OF
Mechanical Engineers. This little care
led to his being impressed in service tt
repair an automobile truck that hao
broken down. After he had fixed it mis-
captors ordered him to drive it to GER
tain camp. When he got there he secret
ly removed the switch-pin and rendered
the machine temporarily useless. He wal
not caught at this dangerous proceeding