Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1914-11-19
FRENCH SOLDIER
TELLS Of LONG
VIGIL IN RAIN
Wounded in Stomach, He Lay in
Deep Mud Thirty-four Hours
Until Germans Came.
WAS SOAKED AND FAMISHED
Compelled to Dress His Own Wound
Until Captured French Doctors
Were Brought In-Prases Sup
ply Service of His Own Army.

Paris-These extracts from the let
ter of an unnamed French soldier TO
his father in Paris are published by
the Figaro:
"Wounded in the stomach about six
o'clock in the morning, | am lett IN
the rain and in mud so deep that
am obliged to lean on my elbows 10
keep my head out of 1t.
"The battle continues to rage. am
between the two camps, and, without
exaggeraton, more than one hundred
and fifty thousand bullets pass over
me. Some strike at my sides, ana
eypect each moment to receive one
which will cut short the spectacle l
remain thus helpless from six IN the
morning until four the next afternoon,
and the rain does not stop. 1t Is then
that | appreciate the need OF an UNI
brella, who never carried one. / un-
button my coat, but am unable to de-
termine the gravity of my wound, for
there is as much mud as blood.
Toward two o'clock there is lull
in the firing. | await the stretcher
bearers, but, like Sister Anne, they do
not come The hours seem atrociously
long. although | no longer pay any at
tention to the rain, which continues.
Finally, toward four o'clock In the aft
ernoon | see coming in place OF the
looked-for stretcher bearers-the
Germans.
Tries to End Life.
This time it is for good | say TO
myself Il am done for. blow from
a rifle butt or thrust OF the bayonet
and they would finish me. A last
thought of my family and try to take
my own rife and end it. 1t is useless.
The gun is no more than lump OF
mud, of sticky clay.
There are five long minutes during
which | exist with calmness that
surprises me. A German asks me in
French: How are you"
Il showed him the place where ] am
wounded.
"'Reassure yourself, he says, that
will perhaps amount to nothing. In
any case you will get well.
Il learn that they are from Lor-
raine, which is lucky. They are clad
in gray, which makes them almost in
visible in war speak of this to
them. They answer:
Indeed with your red trousers
we can see you long distance. You
make superb targets
THE Germans went on their way,
promising to return to look for me, as
we'll as others, who, like myself, lay
on tie battlefield l take hope. 1t
seems good to be alive, although | am
in a sorry plight.
"The hours pass; night arrives. 1t
still rains. Day breaks. No one;
neither stretcher bearer nor my Lor-
raines of the day before. 1t Is not un.
til four O'Clock in the afternoon Of the
second day that the Germans come
back. | have passed "a hours in re-
Election in the rain, with wound
which caused me much suffering.
Carried to Hamlet.
with two pieces of wood on either end.
They carry me to hamlet, about
kilometer and half distant, and
stretch me out there in the open air,
still in the rain, but on trmer ground.
Then they go back to search for 9TH
ers. They bring thus 700 or 500
wounded, of whom 400 are French.
81 am soaked. | am famished. |
MUNICH with JOY bit of army biscuit,
which | find delicious. Upon my
urgent entreaty German consents to
give me a glass of wine from his flask,
which he has just filled. | thank him.
That warns me. The German is 60
ing away, when he changes his mind
and demands payment FOR his glass of
wine. | offer little sou piece, the
only money | have left. He takes
himself off content.
Some German officers come to talk
to us. One of them says to me:
"Tt is your governments fault that
you are here
"They all speak French. I note the
remarks of this officer, because it ap-
pears to me to indicate curious men,
tality.
THE third day of this calvary they
put us in barn on the hay. We have
as yet received no care. / beg the
Germans to take off my clothes.
have been able to snare blanket
which happens to be there. l don't
know to whom it belongs, but neces-
sity stiles scruples. They are quite
willing to do what l have asked My
coat, my water-soaked trousers, which
were little less than packages of mud
are removed My falling shoes, my
underdrawers and socks follow the
same route.
Dresses His Own Wound.
my feet and my wound make me
suffer. / take out my little pocket
scissors. | cut my shirt and flannel
belt free Of my wound which l have
not seen. 1t Is distressingly long. but