New Britain herald., 1916-12-13

sight greeted their eyes The railroad yard was filled with wounded men and other buildings around were also crowded and many of these were past all aid. Those that needed immediate attention were given aid and were very quiet and good which was the way that most of the soldiers acted when being treated But it was only short time before orders were heard and then the trains started to fill for the retreat. To the north there was a hill and above this hill the shells could be seen as they burst from this hill. From this hill ran road to 9 hill in the south and this road was filled constantly with intuition trains. Then their car was taken south and the railroad tunnels blown up after them and before they were again able to settle down to work they had stopped at three different places.
 To show the grit of the soldiers, Dr. Travis told of two different cases she observed, the first being that of a man with a bullet in his back. While she was working over this man he turned and asked for a cigarette and when given it smiled. The other case was that of a man who complained 1 that he could not walk and after an | examination it was discovered that he had a bullet hole in the top of his 1 head.
 Americans Challenge Dangers.
 When the car was returned to Nish | it was discovered that the officials l were leaving the town as were the | English units but the Americans l stayed on. Sir Raymond Paget was l in the city and he kept things nov
 IoJ lars worth of supplies. But the Ger mans arrived and captured many | storehouses because the distribution had not been properly attended to. Sir Raymond sent for the American unit and told them of the temper of the 1 Bulgars and offered to take them out | of the country but a. decision was reached whereby they stayed. When tley asked for work they were dl- rected to a hospital where there were over a thousand patients but they did not meet much encouragement when they arrived at dusk. There was plen- ty of work to be done and the next day the army retreated, leaving them to their work.
 Besides the main hospital there were many other buildings filled with wounded but these later were left in
  took the worst cases. Conditions were very good with the exception of the drinking water of which there was very little. pr. Travis said that things were difficult at first as the patients had not had the proper care for sev- eral days and there was much infec- tion. For several days the men were dying by the score. Another trouble that occurred very often while they were dressing patients wounds was the failure of the electric lights.
 In the early part of November a huge fort was blown up and another m morning a railroad bridge was shat tered. The hills about Nish were covered with Notifications for it's de- fense but they were never used for that purpose. The blowing up of the railroad bridge, stated Dr. Travis, l caused the shattering of the glass in the hospital windows and as the win ter weather had set in it was with l great difficulty that the patients were kept warm. pr. Travis told of stand ing beside her window and seeing a huge cloud of smoke far in the dis tance. She was surprised that no sound had reached her ear but it was only a short time before the cOncus- sion did come and the only thing that saved her eyes from the flying glass was the fact that the window was down. The force was also so great that she was almost thrown to the ground.
 About this time a great deal of diff fculty was experienced with the dead as there was no one to bury them and the bodies often lay around for several days. The cem metery in the rear of the hospital always had seven or eight graves open but noth- ing was done until a doctor and nurse took the bodies away. Dr. Travis told l of one place in Serbia where she thought she was looking at a vineyard only to discover on closer inspection that it was a graveyard with it's thou sands of crosses.
 Determination of Serbia.
 The Bulgarians put in an appear ance on November but they came in a very quiet fashion and tried to make a good impression. They asked the to stay and take care of the wounded Serbs, said Dr. Travis, but they were hard to get along with Although attempts had been made to get communications through it was not until February that any answers were received. The Bulgars put their own men into all positions and even had their own priests take the place of the Serbs. Their own teachers were put into an orphan asylum and the ! chiIdren's names changed. Serbian 1 books were burned and the Bulgars told Dr. Travis that Serbia did not ex- ist any more. As the Bulgarians did not care for the Americans the latter asked to be sent home and about the last of January word was received | that the request would be granted.
 Before this time the patients in the | hospita1 were sent to the station as i