Woman Doctor in Serbia.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XXII, Issue 3790, 12 April 1916, Page 1

Woman Doctor in Serbia.

DR. J. SCOTT'S ADVENTURES.

RETIRING BEFORE THE GERMANS.

WORK DESCRIBED. IN LETTERS.

Some time ago a London letter gave us news, through the refugee ' English nurses who had then reached London, after a terrible journey across the 7,000 ft. high mountains into Montenegro, of two New Zealand women doctors who were then left behind. One of these was Dr. Jessie Scott, daughter of Mrs D. Scott, of Brookside, and it is presumed that she is now a prisoner in the hands of the Austrians. Two letters have since been received by Dr.. Elizabeth Macdonald, of Auck-

land, from Dr. Scott, giving an interesting account of the conditions and work in Serbia, but up to the present Mrs Scott has not received any word from her daughter, the letters which should have reached her haying apparently gone astray. The first letter, dated 16th October, 1915, from the Military Reserve Hospital, I«azarevatz, says: "It would take too long to describe here the beauties of Serbia —the soft, undulating hills, covered with luxuriant vegetation, and a profusion of wild flowers. The flowers have gone off now as we.j are getting into winter; but during the past month the acacias and other deciduous trees have been going through' the most exquisite changes of colour. .

The Scottish women at the time of my arrival had units at Kraguievatz, Valievd, and Mladanbvatz. The unit here at Lavarevatz is really Serban, and is known as the Military Reserve Hospital. It has a Serbian Director, who really has almost nothing to do with the six hospitals staffed by the Scottish women. Our unit has 200 beds at present, but we could pack in a few more. We have just to commandeer other buildings, cafes, shops, and so forth, when a rush of patients comes. There are ten buildings being used as hospitals now, six of which are stafed by us, and the rest by the Serbs. We have also a house for the nursing staff, with messroom, sitting-room and kitchens. We doctors (three), the administrator and two others of the staff, are sleeping in tents. It is get-

ting very cold now, but last month it was delightful. Wf have charge of the store, which is a! considerable responsibility, andj laundry, which is also a fearful bother just now, with no proper equipment or staff. Everybody has to lend a hand at times. PRIMITIVE TRANSPORT, ■" Until two days ago we had Austrian prisoners as orderlies, but with the German advance on Belgrade and the Danube these have all been s§nt back* We miss them very much, I wai sorry to see the poor chaps go, as one had got used to having them; about, and they knew their jobs. Now we have in their places 014 Serb reserves, amiable old things who are too old to do anything

else, and some of the halt and the maimed. They are a source of endless amusement, and I dare* say they will learn their jobs in time, All the able-bodied jSerbs are away at the front. "It has been a fearfully cold 1 wet day. When the weather is bad the roads are something aw*, ful. One must wear top-boots and a skirt which is very short, or none at all if it is dark. At nights in wet weather we plough about from one place to the other with lanterns. As soon as the sun begins to shine everything dries up quickly, and the sticky, slimp clay becomes as hard as a board.

The roads are no good at all for motors, for in wet weather they are impassable, and in dry weather they are full of holes, Bullock wagons are the best means, of transport, and practically the only vehicles used by the Serbs themselves—at least so far as my knowledge of the country goes. There is so much that I might tell you, but I must not. lam keeping very well> and have a voracious appetite." A HARRIED DEPARTURE. The second letter Is dated 31st October, 1915, and has just been received. Dr Scott saysi-*"! do not ktiow how much the newspapers tell Voti of affairs In Serbia, but We are having a fairly hot time. Some of the Scottish women's staff (nurses') are going home by a [special transport via Montenegro tomorrow, so t am seising the oppor-

tunity of getting a couple of letters through. Probably the nurses will have to walk part of the way." This is the " Epic Flight" described in the newspapers some time ago, and the nurses in question reached England safely sifter almost unheardof hardships. Dr Scott chose to ■j remain behind, aloag with Dr Elsie ■ Inglis, of Edinburgh. The letter is '■•- written from Kruchevatz, and con- - tinues : —*'* I am so tired to-night that jj; cannot collect my ideas '"' su|s^feitly to write an interesting t orl^escriptivei letter. I was, as you know, at I«azarevabz with the Military Reserve Hospital, but we were wired to retreat when the Germans advanced. That area was evacuated without being defended. We had only eight hours' notice to get pur whole hospital equipment and personal belongings packed, and two hours of that were docked off by an officer who came in ' towards the end of the day saying thsit the last train went in an hour. W^|sd to dispose of all our patients; 'tlpjs^who were able were told to dress and depart, while those unfit to walk were taken over the hills on bullock-wagons or transported by rail. After getting down to thie station with about four-fifths of our equipment, we were, unable to get away that night. The railway to Valievo is a little narrow gauge one, and it was taxed to its utmost. There were several trains, but they were packed with wounded and refugees. So we, 25 iv all, slept on the dirty stone floor of the station waiting-room, with the rain teeming down outside and mud everywhere. Early next moraing one. or two of us went back to the house where the majority of the staff had been living to try«to 1 collect some more of the equipment, beds, stores, etc. We found it full of soldiers—-Serbs. They had been retreating for some weeks past, and we had had crowds in the village for some nights previously. The artillery of the division which had been defending the western frontier .passed through that morning. The soldiers had enjoyed our comfortable beds, and had built themselves fires in all the stoves. Themen goodnaturedly helped us to take down the beds, and we let them scramble for the apples, onions and potatoes that were left in the garret.. I also gave away some bottles of antiseptics which 1 couldn't put anywhere* They wanted to know whether this medicine was good to take. I sincerely trust they didn't sample the lysol and iodine, for J was at, some^ains to expJaitißbaf^tWsti to be used outside only. ; BAIN AND OVERCROWDING. our. train eventually left . *we were tightly packed in a horsetruck, sitting on our belongings or v where we could. We changed that night at Mladanovatz, and -spent the night in more comfortable carriages, but sitting boh upright, I as there was no room to decline,

We fed on the biscuit?, bread and a few other things we had with us, A large tin of money which the cook had snatched up at the last minute fell on the line at Mladanovatz, to bur dismay and amusement. Sugar is a great luxury at present, and so is tea. Butter I have not had at aiu : >. .• v^- ■ '■■■ ■■■.. ' "We arrived at Krucheva'z looking typical refugees, and very cold and hungry. We found the town

crowded and every room taken up. It was still raining. Finally the hospital gave us a large room, Mattresses were laid on the floor, ao^l we were each ghfftn a blanket and permitted to sleep in rows round the room. Here we have re. mained, still sleeping on the floor. During the last week enormous numbers of' wounded have come into the town. Three days ago we turned out a large store, and now have between 400 and.soo wounded packed in like sardines in a tin. For the first two days we had them on mattresses on the floor, but now we have beds, but only one blanket apiece, and some have mattress covers serving as blankets. The lower oart of the building has an earth floor, and is far fiom satisfactory, but we cannot help it, So far we have no place for the patents to wash acd only one small stove for the whole huge building. The wounds are from bullets and shrapnel and grenades, and we have to go h'ld at dressings all day long. '1 he men are most philosophical, and make no complaints. WELL AND HUNGRY. 11 At Lazavevatz we had a lot of medical case3—malaria* typhoid, and so forth—but here all are surgical. There is no time for anything else. It is to be hoped no typhus occurs this winter, for, with the men crowded in as they are, there is no knowing where it would end. We get enormous numbers of fleas daily, but just have to put flMLfhh them, The mud is awful pSSaow, but it is bad for the transport of the German guns, and does sot seriously interfere with the buliock-wagon transport of the Serbs} so you see it's an ill wine! that blows nobody good, I" Several of the Foreign medica tinUs have left Serbia, but most o us have elected to stay on, anc there i* no lack of wbtk, I cat atßure you« The wounded are pour fog into the place in hundreds daily Now I must hie me to my humbl rn&ttreas, as we have to start dress leg the woundtd at 730 in th tnornlng lam Will, but could %9