The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1915-01-21
CALMLY FACE DEATH
Wounded, Torn With Pain. Sui.
fer Without a Groan.
corpselike Silence Of the Still Living
Paralyzes One With the Icy
Horror OF a Hideous
Nightmare.
BY ]. h. PHILLIPS.
CChicago Evening PostD

CChicago Evening PostJ
| Montereau. Northern France.-It is
the unearthly silence of the wounded
which appalls onel
The ambulance trains--strings OF
rough box cars-pull in from the front.
And there on the floor, amid the straw.
lie the bandaged men. voiceless and
motionless.
II only the nondescript Jumps of hu-
man flesh writhed about and moaned.
the CHASTITY spectacle could not be so
hideous as is this corpselike silence OF
still living men! II paralyzes one with
the icy horror Of nightmare. Charnel
trains. not hospital trains, those con-
voys might be called
Two cars stand sidetracked at the
station of Montereau, where there is
situated a hospital base organized by
DR.. l.. Haden Guest. the famous En- g
lish surgeon. and his wife. in coop
Grafton with the French Red Cross
In one OF the cars several nurses
spend every night; in the other. two
doctors. For they must be promptly
on hand when the pital trains come
In. | stayed with the doctors one
night.
About two in the morning-it was
black outside and bitterly cold-w6
heard commotion on the adjacen'
track-whistles and the creaking o.
brakes. And before the incoming train
Of wounded had jerked itself painfully
TO a standstill our head doctor was
hurrying up the rails, flickering Ian
tern in hand.
How many?" he called in French tc
the guard
About two hundred. monsieur
came the reply from a dim silhouette
fumbling at the door OF car. "Tht
worst cases are in here, monsieur
Some of ems dead. guess, by now"
The doctor clambered into the cal
and picked his way among the men
with his lantern. The nurses and a
number of bearers with stretchers had
already gathered about the door.
The worst cases were taken out tc
an ill-smelling freight shed across the
tracks-the emergency hospital. where
the nurses, kneellng on the ground,
dressed the wounds. A hundred 9TH
ers were sent uptown to the main
| Mcptcreau hospital china factory
donated to the Red Cross by the pro
prietors. The half-dozen new dead
we're laid in grimly contorted positions
on the station platform to be disposed
OF later, and then the train. still laden
with scores of sufferers so racked with
pain as TO be utterly exhausted and
Indifferent to the torture Of this end
less trip, moved onward again, its des
tination the great hospitals at Fon
tainebleau.
This is a scene of almost every
night. II is a scene which Is being en-
acted not only here at Montereau but
at scores OF other hospitals.
Mrs. Guest, wife of the doctor IL
charge, told me of one French soldier
who lay in bed with both legs and one
arm amputated.
"He had the face OF saint" she
said And the only words we ever
heard from the poor boy were apollo
gies for all the trouble he was giving
us! If only had another arm ! might
play cards with that fellow next me,
he would say. That would take his
mind off his sufferings.
1--WE would have had to amputatt
the boys other arm also. but death
forestalled u.s." said Mrs. Guest.
Imagine a human head with the en-
tire face gone save for portion OF the
covering of the jaw!
THAT is what you would see under
that great bloody bandage," whis'
to a motionless figure. "The vocal
cords were visible when we took of
the field dressings"
And In the next cot a cheerful Teu'
ton was sitting up joking with an at
tendant about the eats" He insisted
that he had been served no meal for
half an hour and was famished
THAT mans case is simply marvel
GUS" said Doctor Guest He had half
dozen bullets in his head. yet after
terrible operation he has been gain.
ing strength so fast we can hardly
keep him in bed.
Last night we had an eerie expert
ence. We we're suddenly awakened by
deep bass voice calling piteously;
Mother. mother!' An English Tommy.
shot in the head, had become insane
and was literally an infant crying in
tile night He died in the course OF an
hour. His mother will never know
how her brave son called upon her for
help at the last. His was just an or
dinary death. We have had as many
as seven such deaths out of twenty
five beds in one night"