THROUGH THE CRIMEA

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2109, 28 March 1914, Page 11

THROUGH THE CRIMEA

LIFE STORY OF SOLDIER'S WIFE. A lifo of adventure such as few women have had, closed with the death at 4 Shakespearo Terrace, Lower Richmond Road, Richmond, Surrey, of Mrs, Evans, ono of three women who went through tho Crimean War with thoir husbands. Aged eighty-four, she was a pensioner of the Royal Patriotic Fund and had a small laundry lusiness. Her husband died fourteen years ago. Giving an account of her experiences, scmo time'before her death, Mrs. livans said: "It was in 1851 that'l joined the King's Own Royal Lancashire Regiment with my husband. My own heme was a corner of a barrack room in which twenty-four men lived and slept. Our bedroom was a part curtained off at night. Soldiers' wives now havo'no idea of what we had to go through. Wo were prepared to fight almost for the privilegq of doing tho soldiers' washing at a halfpenny a day. D "I had nearly a score of soldiers on my books, and that made a substantial addition to i our pay. When wo set out for the Crimea there were three w< men

with the regiment, and on reaching the seat of war we parted, an'd for • two years I never saw a woman."

Mrs. Evans had a vivid recollection of the horrors of the campaign. Before tho regiment got to the fighting line it was in trouble with cholera, and -when the, men wore sent to Varna the order went forth that the women were, to be left behind. . „ "Not a bit of it, though," Mrs. Evans used boldly to declare. "Wo got round the embarkation officer, and with the help of some qf tho soldiers managed, to sneak aboard. When it came to landing, though, there, was more trouble, and my husband boldly went np to Lord Raglan and said:' 'i wruld rather drown. l;er (meaning me) t'.ian leave her to the mercy of the foreigners.' That settled it, and I was never parted from him again except when lie fell sick and was taken prisoner." Some terrible experiences befell Mrs. Evans on tho march to Alma. Her feet were sore and blistered, but she had to keep up with the regiment, and at last she saw her first battle. ■ "I shall never forget," she said, "the agony with which I watched my husband's regiment facing the tornado t.f shot and shell. It was awful. But, thank Heaven, my husband camo through without a hurt. I got quite used to dodging the shells. In tho day wo wore guided by the hiss and at night by tho flames of tho missiles. But for all that there were a terriblo number of sick and' wounded." Miss Nightingale had not then gone out to tho Crimea. Mrs. Evans herself lay on the bare ground ill with fever because there was no room in the tents. But eventually sho was taken to a hospital.

Messrs. J. H. Bethune and Co. announce in our auction columns that on Wednesday, April 8, at 2.30 p.m., at the (Chamber of Commerce, by order of the first mortgagee, they are-submitting a property at Eastbourne; This comprises freehold land, containing 20 perches, being part Sections 37 and 39, Harbour district. On the land stands a concrete and wooden dwelling of four rooms above, and storage room below. Messrs. Baldwin and Eayward, patent attorneys, of 215 Lambton Quay, report that tliey have filed the following applications for patent of New Zealand recently:— (J. Claydon, 'Woolston, water motor; A. 11. Smellie, Green Island, sci>p-iron employing in rolling mills: D. Donald, Glenraore, New South Wales, wirestrainer; A. E> Ward, Kio Ivio, boatpropelling; the Brewer Improved Saucenan Handle Co., Ltd., Wellington, kettle; F. T. Roberts and R. H. Rosenfeld, Trenton. mouldim* device for making rubber articles; A. Welin, London, ships' davits turning; ,T. Wntkins, Christchurch, noxious weed-killer; H. G.-Tuck, IliirstviHe, New South Wales, protective appliances to hinder an empty bottle bcinS refilled; A. C. F. Halford, Clayfield, Queensland, illuminated mirror