ABOUT WOUNDS AND WOUNDED.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIII, Issue 12242, 30 June 1900, Page 3

ABOUT WOUNDS AND WOUNDED.

.. One of too most striking things that has come under my observation during the seige (writes the ‘Matching correspondent of the “Pall Mall Gazette”) is the utter callousness of the Kaffir when one of his nation—possibly his brother—has ■ been bowled over and is in urgent need of his assistance.The first instance I saw of this was on an occasion when. I .visited the chemist’s shop > to make' some 1 purchases. ‘ As I steed by the counter a 961 b shdi entered, and.there was a sound like the end:-of allthings,. The shop was packed- tight 'with toe choking smoke shell’s ■ bursting charge, andin the dabrkness we beaxd the rending of Jfober am. the crashing of bottles and other articles' all round’. The chemist -fell -under .'■the’- of 'the .srffi,\and -was saved. -I tom'qled to the floor, and wus! alive and well wh’Sn some men made their way into the • wreck to collect" the killed and wounded tiiey believed.to be inside. We got oiit to the front as' quickly as possible, but were not, there half a minute before a se- , cohd shell fell on the market equate, and it® scatter completed the destruction- of the shop. .Before the second-shell came I observed a black boy with some friends of his surveying the ruin, and when it had swept . by I mw the poor fellow, , cut in two but t still living, lying on toe road. His companions took to their heels and left us to cover up the poor shell-tom body with a cloth." ■ A few days afterwardsT was standing in the square talking to two mounted Cape .Policemen, Some Boers about a iqile out on the veldt saw us and began to : We'-;teoa:i>aij,but:toE centre cm of three Kaffirs who were crossing the read .was, irtpjck by a bullet and fell His two ■companions regarded him for a moment as he lay qa the ground, and coolly Walked odwithout'even mquning where he had oseu hit. When I'get to the wounded man i found that the ball had struck him on toe leg and had passed through the artery. He showed absolute indiff'sxence, and never, spoke a word as I applied the tourniquet and prepared him. for carr-ug® to the ucspitri' on a J stretcher.’ Again,. 1 lour 01 a .blaci working party were badly wounded by a shell that' got amongst them? and when: white heipecs arrived they fcun4 toe uninjured ones _ calmly, 'smokii'g there, pipes; : -.'as ■, indifferent to _ the •- jured as if to© latter. did not exist. A ,ew, days - ago -five “boys” were_ sheltering, . f side a house, when one of them ,wns -trilled by a splinter. His companions quietly! ■walked away. i.could give dozens efj m stances auqh a® these to show how far; be-, low th© brute creation are these- Eq-ua-savages. 1 . - J - ■ ■ the 330CS0S ASicrcrsDED, * My-servant .had his left arm blown too elbow by a piece of shell. i had hiEU brpught to hospital, where the needful wai\ dqne for him by the surgeons,, and in three 1 days lie was back emtong, with .the stamp! tied up in bandages, and an expression of : pride ontois face. Another negro had a; ’ bullet through toe right side of his head,! just at the bump of combativeness. It tore through toe brain, and struck the left side; of toe skull, but finding that part too, hired,| changed its rahrse, and ran around" to toe back of the head, where it lodged. ' .If you tomV that that man’s death was instentane- 1 ous yon are wrong. He lived for a, fortnight to the hour almost, and during that time occasionally showed signs of slight conscious-; ness. Among the negroes cases of this kind have .cropped up such as would throw al the’ theories of a college of surgeons out .of gear. But we have a. white man here, who is almost as great a marvel as that Kaffir. A‘ Mauser bullet went in at one of his temples 'and but at toe other, and ten days after his admision to the hospital, I found Min dis-'; charged as cured, and playing billiards at my hotel. .He told me that beyond-feeling, a slight headache at night he, suffered no in-i convenience; as a’result of the wound;' If Ij have the bad fortune to be hit before we get' out of this, my ambition is to be endowed' with the aggressive vitality of toe black. NWVEB. A GEOAN. • On all occasions /during this- siege, our own wormded have'shown tremendously fine- - fortitude; . Let me. give an instaiacq' .of how! they toke their the,flank, of the fghtihg-liim in bur; first; bafcble. 1 ! Number Three, "on my .right,: wasj singing, “Let ’Cm all borne!” .as he.remmedj -cartridge afto'cartridge into' toe .breech ofi his rifle;'and-loosed off. . For coolness, ha might, have bten' firing for toeap' cigars at aj penny “gaff” in-toe heart of London. At; last a bullet ripped up his thigh. He laid! down his rifle, cut his pantaloons, with Ms : knife, looked' at' the wound, and* with the: utmost nonchalance said, “ Got me, by —■ — !i Ware’s the bloomin’ stretcher?” While' waiting for assistance, he loosed off five shots, and retired satisfied. After the Game-: tree fight, I. went out to toe field to help’ the injured; and saw some of the most terrible wounds I ever beheld. ■ Most of them were; inflicted right .up against the loopholes,.and! it was plain that more than one deadly .elephant gun had been used. - Yet,, as we,lift-; ed toe wounded, we never heard a groan,; never a word of regret, save that the posi-; tion had. not been carried. I went to one man to bind his arm, and he said, “ No, 1 sir,! Tm all right; look after my chum beyond-j, Perhaps you’d give me a cigarette uqtij you; come back.” I gave him a cigarette'. ' and 1 lighted’it, but when ! went to his'-Mehd-I found toot he did not require assistance — he was dead. When toe first man was. brought in, it, was found he had three,; wounds. We brought toe men back in open; trucks, land they lay there without display-; ing any- emotion. They acted like heroes^ 1 every one of them, lying on stretchers or fit-.' ters, snwlring their pipes and discussing toe' fighti. But for the too many signs of. their] one might' have mistaken toe. men; fora draftbeing shifted down rail. But3s; -ft . hot. ’ever toe same! with British battle; . The: hospital wards axe rapidly; becoming depopulated, and most of toe men brought there after toe fights have returned'! to their duties, or are in the convalescent.home. The surgeons have d&ne their work: well, and words would be too weak in praise of the devotion to . duty that they have "shown.- ! V '