The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1914-10-21

house opposite our hospitals; we found
them hidden in the cellar terrified. A
one-armed man and l dragged the
mother from the corner in which she
was crouched; Miss Steen- Hansen
struggled for possession of the baby;
we gained the street only to meet II
German soldiers wearing red crosses
on their arms. Notwithstanding our
own red crosses and nurses uniforms,
the one-armed man and the tiny in
rant. these fired upon us. The man
fell. We escaped into the hospital
and later kind hands bore in our late
assistant with four balls in his leg.
"The wounded came in steadily,
first civilians. then French and Ger.
man soldiers; the small baby cried
constantly; we could not quiet him.
The wounded begged for news or lay
quietly staring at the ceiling.
"An Algerian boy of 10 years with
his leg shot off lay on his side singing
softly "The Marseillaise," but when
l saw him again he had died, just
as quietly. with no one beside him.
Some of our refugees, helping us.
moved noiselessly about, giving drinks
to the wounded or cutting the stiff
fened. blood-soaked clothing from the
patients.
"A big Frenchman from Bayonne,
wounded in the chest walked up and
down the hall with the baby endeav-
oring to hush its sharp, piercing cries,
That was when I looked at my watch
for the first time since morning; it
was 3 o'clock of still another morn
ing and the Germans had taken Char
leroi.
THE next day we made rather
sad pilgrimage to the house in which
We had lived: nothing remained but
the four gray stone walls and the
heavy iron beams which had support
ed the ceiling; the remains of a chan
delier hung from one of these; in
the thick oaken door could be seen
the hole chopped by German axes
through which coal oil and bits of
celluloid had been thrown to set the
house alight. All houses on both sides
Of the street had met with a like fate.
One or two whose owners had been
fortunate enough to extinguish the
flames had bits of board nailed across
the hole. The once lovely avenue of
plane trees now hung limp, smok-
blackened leaves and twisted branch
es, in the cold morning sunshine. A
kitten and puppy chased each 9TH
er among the cinders. A German Of
ficer posed three armed soldiers in
front OF the smoldering houses, pho
tographing them i'm different positions.
"A ransom of 10000. 900 francs was
exacted that might from Charleroi,
a little town Of $4,000 inha bitants,
also the promise of 1000, 900 francs to
be paid at the end Of each two weeks
and daily toll Of 10000 pounds of
bread, oats, grain and flour enough to
maintain the German army quartered
among us.
For the first three days and nights
an endless train of Berlin auto busses
filled wi h soldiers. troops of cavalry,
infantry and transport wagons filed
through the town, also a nondescript
COLLECTION Of milk wagons, coal carts
and furniture vans bearing the signs
and names of Berlin merchants. Some
of these carried card tables, chairs,
clocks. beds, stores and even pianos
which had been removed from the
country homes and chateauX in the
surrounding country where the Ger
mans had quartered themselves.
"In the hospitals all our wounded
who were we'll enough, French and
Germans alike, gathered to smoke
and play cards together. Any little
gifts Of fruit or cakes were shared
among all regardless Of nationality.
The German officers and doctors MAX
ing official visits were always astound-
ed by these apparently unbelievable
t,uces; they would not believe that
any of the peaceful-looking men
grouped about the rom in blue linen
hospital clothes were German soldiers
until they had actually been assured
of it by the Germans themselves.
I'VE saw TO evidences of 'dumdum'
bullets among our 5000 patients. For
the most part our Germans were
wounded In the upper part Of the
body. the French and .Belgians in
the legs. We had but one British SOL
dier, an Irishman.
Altar tho fret fnnr dave tho city