Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-10-26
BLOOD POISON HAS
CLAIMED MANY ON
FIELDS OF BATTLE
Plenty of Doctors, but Ina
bility of Wounded to Get
Immediate Attention Adds
: to Death List.
sENLIs, France. Oct. "a.

SENLIS, France, Oct. "a.
One horror of war is the life that is
wasted for lack of medical attention.
There are plenty of ambulances and doc
tors, but these cannot reach wounded
men who are lying in the firing zone, and
SO suffering men must wait as best they
can without water or attention until the
battle has passed on. In the meantime
blood poison sets in and the slightest
wounds become fatal.
One young English lieutenant who had
lain on the battlefield for two days with
a slight wound in his leg was found with
the limb distended with gas. He was
taken to a hospital and the leg was cut
off, but he died within two days from
the poison which had entered his blood.
Another young English officer had the
upper joint of his right middle finger
shot away. Two days later he reached
Paris and went into hospital, where he
died in a few days of tetanus.
The French army officials try to force
soldiers to carry small Walls of antseptic
with which they might wash small
wound. but the men throw them away
as soon as they get tired and want to
lessen the weight of their packs.
A tired superlatively dirty soldier
of Villers Cotteret His senses seemed
stunned. He asked for a drink of hot
coffee llstlessly. Then In excellent Eng
lish he asked for a cigarette.
ITS a wonder I'm alive" he said 'I
never thought l would get back to the
world again For seven days and six
nights l have been with my company in
the bitches or in the woods 1t was ter
rlbly cold. When it rained we could not
make fires because of the enemy We
could only lay down on the bare ground
in our wet clothes and try to sleep. The
food autos couldn't find us for two days
because we We're stationed in n forest.
when we did get food we were so
hungry that we all ate too much, and
everybody became i'll. even our captain
l was too sick and weak to be happy
when they came out to the firing line two
hours ago and brought us back here to
the village. We used to wish that we
could get into a fight so that we would
either be killed or wounded and have 1t
over with"
The little French soldier had been an
interpreter in a business house for IL
years and hadn't slept out OF a decent
bed or missed a regular meal in all that
time
I'm not used to such a life" he con-
cluded, still talking in a dazed and un-
natural way but 1 suppose I'll have to
go out there again with my company as
soon as we get a little rest. If I could
only keep warm and dry 1 could stand all
the rest"
He shivered and asked for another
bowl of hot coffee.
Just as he was reaching Into his pocket
to get the money to settle his bill he fell
forward on the table in faint. A Red
Cross crew carried him off to a hospital
where he could get the rest he wanted.
His face was chalk white under his
weeks growth of beard. but his long.
delicate fingers were dirty. with CRIME
under the nails.
How he had stood so much hardship
was a wonder. and yet in France today
there are thousands of this sort who, if
they do NOT die by bullets, will succumb
To cold and hardship 1t is harder for
such men TO face a slow and inevitable
death under conditions which they can
no. leave than to face the end in the |
form of shellhre. The few of them who |
reach the hospitals are like the few
lucky winners in a grand lottery