The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-26
Can Hear Blood Drip When Trains Bearing Wounded
 Soldiers Arrive
NO COMPLAINTS ARE
 MADE BY SUFFERERS
Many Remarkable Pictures Shown. Over $500 Realized for Benefit of NeighborhoOd House and the
 Day Nursery


 many a day, Dr. Earle Drennen at the Jefferson theatre last night, told of his experiences in France recently when he was one of the party or American sur geons that visited that country for the purpose of establishing ct hospital with funds provided by Mrs Harry Payne Whitney of New York. Dr. Drennen be- gan his address talk, he called it) with the date of sailing of the American party, carrying his hearers on through the eX- periences of the party in passage and in locating the hospital and of the scenes in France and England.
 At the end of the lecture stereopticon operator flashed on a curtain photographs taken by pr. Drennen and members of the party. They showed patients in the hospitals and many different types of wounds inflicted by the guns of the op- posing armies on the bloody fields of Europe.
 The address was given under the aus pices of the board of managers of Neigh borhood House and something more than $500 above expenses was realized by the ladies as the result of their venture. The money will be used in the operation of
  tuition caring for babies Of mothers who are compelled to work during the day and have no place to leave their children.
 Dr. Drennen was introduced by Sydney J. Bowie, who paid a fine tribute to his abilities as a surgeon and to the medi- cal profession generally.
 France Determined to Win
 Dr. Drennen in his address said that Irenchmen were determined to win the war, even though it took every man the nation possessed. German prisoners with whom he talked expressed the same sentiments. He said Frenchmen felt very bitterly towards Germany, but the Ger mans were hardly so bitter in their feel ings toward France. Germany, however, he said, hated the English so cordially that they almost liked the French
 The party of American surgeons and nurses of which Dr. Drennen was a mem Der left New York November last. He said they landed in Liverpool six days later and went direct to London, stop ping there overnight before proceeding to France. In London, he said, one would hardly know the war was in prog ress from observation of street scenes. The street lights, he said, were shaded from above to prevent vagrant aircraft from viewing the city.
 'In Paris" said Dr. Drennen, "condi- tions are very different. The city is very quiet and the streets are comparatively deserted, reminding one of Montgomery. The arrangement of the street lights are much the same as in London. At night immense searchlights play upon the heav- ems in all directions and the operators seem to fancy catching small clouds in the glare of the lights and holding it on them for a time.
 s'The subway cars stop running at 10 O clock at night and the surface cars all cease to operate at o'clock. Res taurants close at S.SO o'clock. Dress clothes are not worn at any time in Paris nor any other apparel that would tend to give the impression that the wearer was in a festive mood. Women operate the street cars. and the government gives a franc a day to the women who are unable to care for themselves.
 'In the afternoons when attacks from German aeroplanes are expected, seats on the sidewalks in front of restaurants are sold at a premium. It is one Of the most popular of all sports to watch for the Zeppelins and everybody does it."
 Used Monastery for Hospital
 Soon after arriving in Paris, pr. Drennen said, he began work. It was necessary that supplies for a modernly appointed hospital be purchased and the site for the hospital had to be selected. This however, was done by Mrs. Whitney and Dr. E. $. Martin, who headed the party. An old monastery was selected and it had to be fitted with modern plumbing heating and lighting before it could be used. A de- lay of some two months was caused because of this
 An amount totaling something like $350,000 was expended in making the hospital one of the most modern pos sible he said. Dr. Drennen said that [, 1,n rn n Whitney party during the time re- quired to get the hospital in shape for receiving patients, so he joined Dr. Joseph A. Blake, former teacher of his, at the American hospital in Paris. Here he stayed during his entire time In France and was at the Whitney hospital but once, when he went up for a two days visit.
 pr. Drennen said that the story printed in American newspapers in Oc- tober to the effect that Russians were transported through England to aid in the fighting In France was myth. Ha said he saw no Russians whatever dur ing his stay in France.
 He described the different types O. rifles used by English, French and Ger man troops, saying the English gun was the best of the three, while the German rifle was second best. pr Drennen had an exploded three-inch shrapnel shell which he described to the audience
 He described in detail the trenches. saying the approaches to them extend ed in many instances as far as three miles from the firing lines. The depth of the approaches to the trenches varied from a foot at the beginning to six feet as they reached nearer and nearer to the line of battle.
 He said that he talked with men who had been on the firing line, gem tlemen, many of them, who had been used to ]ife's luxuries, and was told by them that they had not had bath since the beginning of the war. Socks are worn until they wear out They then are discarded and new ones donned.
 He told how the hospitals were d. vided into two sections-one placed in what was called the zone of war and another called the base hospital. In the zone of war were placed wounded men who would be able to return to the battle line within three weeks; permanently injured men were sent to the base hospitals.
 Could Hear Blood Drip
 One of the most interesting sights, he said, was to see the railway trains come in with wounded. One could look into the coaches and see the wounded men on stretchers. placed in the cars in tiers something like the berths in Pullman cars Not sound of com. plaint could be heard-not a groan. A. times one could hear blood dripping, he said, but no one complained.
 When a man is killed he is buried where he falls. only his shoes are removed. and the dirt shoveled over