The Washington times., 1915-04-18
Instinct of Jungle In Beleaguered Peremysl

handed over to God":-but God had AL
ready left the town. There was moth
ing for the medical. men to do; there q,
was no medicine. not even bandages
for the wounded
Cavalry horses were mobbed. I say
mobbed. because. whenever men, caught
sight of one of these poor animals they
Immediately fell upon it. like so many
birds of prey, and deyoured the car
cass on the spot .'
Many peculiar maladies were thus in
troduced into the city, which an ordi-
nary practitioner like myself was not
able to diagnose. SO day after day we
without anything to offer but sympathy.
Late in February insanity .Ad already
reached its high-water mark. Insanity.
| IN time Of war. especially in besieged
| 1oftfesses, is the most dangerous and
| the most infectious disease.
| ABOUT thls time there were over 1000
people IN Peremysl, who in normal
| times would have been locked up as
| dangerous persons to the community 1t
! Is a most horrible and indescribabie con-
. dit1on. The state of mind of the normal
men under these conditions and amidst >
| these scenes can not be pictured one
Will have to live amidst these horrors
| In order to be able to fully understand
Raving Maniacs In Streets.
1t will take us many years before We
| can dispel these scenes from our visions.
! The horror of 1t all is not that you are
afraid of your life in the streets. because
many persons you meet are raving
maniacs, angry and hungry.
That is terrible enough, but the real
horror of it is. that you suspect every
| one you meet as being insane.
If insanity is shown by the peculiar
acts of the sufferer, by and by you come
to notice marked pecuiarities in ever
one you meet. Later, you even suspect
your own colleagues. They also have
marked pecuiarities. Still later, you
come to realize that several of them
have already gone insane.
| Finally, you suspect yourself. Then
| comes the indescribable agony. No one
| who has gone through the siege OF
i Peremysl will doubt my statement that
If. in given community, the majority
| were insane, those who are normal
| viii in time doubt their sanity.
On February y ] for the first time
inspected the beleaguered town and its
| surrounding fortresses.
Peremysl is situated where the hills
| spread into the plains through which
! the San river runs fDm the Car
pathians on its way to the Danube. On
ancient castle. which perhaps stood the
| same kind of q seGe-silent, yet ire
mutable witnesses OF bygone battles.
Ate Raw Horse Flesh.
If We only had enough bread and
sufficient hospital supplies
on February %, during my return
journey along the eastern banks of
the San river. | met a mounted soldier.
who rode on in the same direction with
me toward the town proper Upon
reaching its outskirts VIC were sur
rounded by a mixed mob of soldiers
and civilians. They forced us to dis
mount, and within ten minutes our
horses were slaughtered, and like a
pack of hungry wolves the hunger
crazed men were tearing the flesh off
them.
i People even went to the enemy's
lines, and within the enemy's rifle
range. to pick up dead horses. They
dragged the decayed ,carcasses to our
lines and devoured them.
4 The mounted soldiers grew so des-
perate that their rations had to- be
raised from 4 to y of theE regular
army rations, for fear of the cavalry
sold killing their horses for food.
lowed to ride In groups less than
twenty abreast, for fear of attack upon
them by the common soldiers.
In the military circles it was COM
monty related that many persons were
caught devOuring dead bodies.
witnessed the execution of three in
sane persons who were accused of kill
ing n young girl for food.
Yet the high officers crowded the
Hotels Royal and Victoria, from the
cafe to the top floor, eating and
, especially drinking.
About the 10th OF March there were
no domestic animals left in the town.
ard on the 18th money could not buy
, food, not even a particle of it.
Death and disease carried off almost
all children and old men and women
among the civilian population of the
city. and good portion OF what was
spared went insane.
Last Ration Distributed.
Finally the day of days came. The
last ration was distributed. To every
ones surprise, March the Goth ration
was a full ration. 1t was followed by
| lei gthy proclamation, which. after urg-
ing the soldiers to make a forward
dash. with might and main," and de-
stroy everything before them like hun
CRY wolves, ended with this martial
paragraph:
Brave soldiers. we have equally dI-
vlGeG and given out Your shares of the
last rations The sacred honor of the
Fath erland and of yourselves must
never permit us to fall into the hands
gle Warriors, be courageous and We
shall plow our way through the enemy's
lines and join the main army of the
fatherland, who is waiting for us with
oLtstretched arms"
But the hunger. disease and insanity
had sapped the lfe-blood of the army.
Out of the $4,000 soldiers about 50,On
35, 900 were sick and diseased.
| ONLY the pure Magyar and Austrian
| regiments answered the call. Even
then not all of them responded. The
| last sally was made, but only half of
tie number returned that evening; they
| had left the other half on the battle
field.
| During the entire night of March q
| the soldiers and the civilians were in
| great jubilation. Their misery was TO
be ended.
| The word was quietly passed and later
| in the night it became common knoWl-
| edge that the following morning the
| white flag was to be hoisted on the
! citadel.
Jubilant With Surrender Near.