The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-03-28
hospital is a Million Miles
Back Of the Trench, With
Perilous Journey to
Be Made.
CLARION ON THE sTYx
Another RAIDER Story, Telling
How the Soldier Who is
Shot is More Than
Unlucky.

Unlucky.
fpy Phil RAIDER. Written for the
United Press.1
copyright 1915 by the United Press; ]
LONDON, March being wound
Cd n our trenches was gruesome bust
ness. II wounded man droppeu
hack to safety he was not extra lucky.
for everything that was done TOT MN,
dn-,ng the first few hours only tested
his waning strength and was likely
IN make his condition worse.
often a man would not know he
was wouded for some time. One chap
came limping up the trench one day
complaining that he had been shot
N the leg. He could hardly put his
light foot to the ground. We ripped
omen his trouser leg and could ind no
bullet mark. Then we discovered that
no had been shot through the fore
arm and that the wound was hours
old.
To be hit feels like being punched,
so many soldiers have told me. When
a man sank in our trenches. the EEL
lows who were not busy usually
gathered around him while some one
ran two miles through the trenches
to get Red Cross man.
Within half an hour the Red Cross
man would come. II the wound was
not bad the man would remain in the
trench, after the doctor had soaked
It in iodine which burns like dre. II
the wound was serious. the doctor
would do the best he could In the
way OF dressing It and then one OF
us, or perhaps two. would be detailed
to take the unlucky man back 10
safety. He had to be carried through
two miles OF trenches. It was impos-
sible to use stretcher owing to the
sharp turnings. and If you carried
man on your back, you had to be
careful at many places to keep his
head down below the trench walls as
we'll as your own. One OF our fellows
who had been wounded In the leg
and was being carried On the back OF
a comrade, was shot through the head
and killed one day at one OF the many
dangerous turnings in our trench Fys-
tenn.
After this two mile trench journey
was ended the man had to be carried
along a pathway down a two-hundred"
foot cliff. Here he was safe from
bullets or shells. but a warm. clean
hospital bed was still millions OF
miles distant. Here he would be
taken into, a PEASANTS house where
the first aid men were on duty. There
would be nothing but straw for him
to lie upon. The first aid men would
dash cold water on his face, wash
his wounds and bind them as best
they could. Then the wounded man
would lie on the straw until nightfall,
for 1t was necessary to carry MIN
through firing zone to get back TO
the infirmary. which was another lit
tie house In a town a mile distant
He would either be wheeled along the
tow path of the canal on stretcher
made OF two baby carriages which
were connected by a board or
'Charon" would carry him in an old
boat "Charon" was an old French
peasant with long white whiskers.
His boat was floored with straw and
because he carried only the most Sc
verely wounded men. who often died
during the mile journey down the
canal, we used to call him "Charon
and we named the canal the Styx.~ AT
'he JucT0 WcIe ICdA
geons, but they were pressed with
work and they were forced. OF neces-
sity, to perform their operations
hastily, in an improvised operating
room.
II the wounded man we're still alive
by this time, he would be put into y
Red Cross wagon or automobile or
some other sort of vehicle and car
ried thirty miles to a large town
(which | cannot for obvious reasons
name), and here he would be put on
The next Red Cross train and started
lot Paris. His bed in the train might
De seat in q third, second or first
class coach; or, IL he was lucky, 1t
might be sheeted bed in regular
Red Cross car.
At last his train will pull INTO
Paris or into some other distant city
OF France where there are big hos
pitals. Scores OF ambulances will be
waiting in the railway yards. The
ambulance attendants wilf be running
around. each seeking out the wounded
who are to be assigned to the hospi-
TAI which he represents. To them he
Is only q number or perhaps a chalk
mark on the door of the car. They
VIII put him on q stetcher, place him
IN huge motor ambulance, perhaps
with one or two other men who have
oeeH injured on distant battle fields