SHELLS AND SLAUGHTER
_November 30th, 1899._
The Boers continue to shell Mafeking daily, and to concentrate upon
the streets of the town their customary rifle fire. At first we
experienced a terror of the dangers of shell fire, but the daily and
constant presence of exploding shells has brought about an unusual
degree of familiarity with its attendant feeling of contempt; people
now are too careless, seeming to rest under the delusion that, one and
all, enjoy an absolute immunity. The folly of it is that occasionally
the error of their way is illustrated by a longer list of fatalities
through one shell claiming half a dozen victims. Europeans perhaps,
are less careless of the consequences of shell fire than is the native
population, and it is a pity that it has not been found possible to
impress into the mind of the Kaffir a better appreciation of the
possible result of their intrepidity. We have had many more natives
killed than whites, and the element of tragedy in this becomes the
greater and more acute since, as a rule, the native, employed in
building bomb-proof shelters for the whites, lacks the energy to turn
to his own profit his knowledge of the manner in which shell cover
should be constructed. They lie about under tarpaulins, behind zinc
palings, wooden boxes, and flimsy sheds of that description, and
perhaps for days their shelter may escape the line of fire; but there
comes a moment made hideous by the scream of shell as it bursts in
some little gathering of dozing, half listless natives. At such a
moment their bravery is extraordinary--is indeed the most fearful
thing in the world. The native with his arm blown off, with his thigh
shot away, or with his body disembowelled, is endowed with extreme
fortitude and most stoical resolution. Unless he is seen, he lies
where he is struck, not caring to take the trouble to make his wounds
known to some one who could sympathise and assist him. When the gaze
of the curious is turned upon his mangled and wounded form he attempts
to laugh, makes every effort to assist himself, and even if he knows
that his injuries be fatal, he makes no sign. There is thus much to
admire in these natives, but for the most part, people are quite
indifferent to their sufferings.
A few moments ago, indeed as I was writing the concluding words of the
last sentence, a terrific explosion, a shower of gravel and leaden
bullets upon my roof, foretold the fact that somewhere near at hand
one of these untimely instruments of destruction had burst. As I went
to the door a crowd of people could be seen running towards the Market
Square, the air was filled with the strong perfume of the bursting
charge. I ran with the throng to where the shell had first struck in
Market Square before delivering its full effect upon the windows of
the local chemist. Amid the splintered glass and the consequent
disorder of the chemist's shop lay the writhing figure of an unhappy
native. As an illustration of the appalling wounds which these shells
inflict, I am purposely dilating upon this very pitiful scene. As the
shell rebounded from the ground leaving a hole many feet long, narrow,
and arrow-headed, it had come in contact with a native before it
wrecked the apothecary's store. Mingled with the fragments of glass
and the contents of the shop were shreds of cloth and infinitesimal
strips of flesh, while the entire environment of the scene was
splashed with blood. The poor native had lost an arm, a foot lay a few
yards from him, and his other leg was hanging by a few shreds of skin.
In an angle of the wall formed by the junction of the shop-front of
the chemist and the tin protrusion of his neighbour's building,
something was sticking. For the moment it had escaped the gaze of the
sordid few, who, drawn by idle curiosity, were standing about without
the inclination to help, or even a smattering of the first aid to the
injured. When the bleeding body was put upon a stretcher, and the
mangled extremities gathered together, the Hospital Orderly caught
sight of the bunch which was clinging to the recess in the wall. As he
went forward to seize it, the trickling streams of fluid which escaped
from it revealed only too plainly its true character. So great was the
force of the shell, and so near had its unfortunate victim been to the
galvanised iron wall, that as body and shell met, the terrible
violence of the impact had wrenched away the lump to hurl it, in the
same moment, through the exterior wall of the adjacent premises.
Despite his fearful injuries, which were beyond the scope of human
power to aid, he was not dead, feebly exclaiming as they put him in
the stretcher, "Boss, Boss, me hurt." The ruin of the building had
scarcely been realised, and the vapour of chemicals from the shell,
mingling with the scattered perfumes of the shop, with the scent of
the ploughed-up earth, and with that curious, insidious scent of a
wounded body dissipated--when a second shell screaming its passage
through the air hurled itself with a terrible velocity against the
other window of the same building. In effect it added a little more to
the ruin of the premises, escaping by a miracle five men who had been
standing in the interior of the premises, but killing an unfortunate
corporal, who had gone from the scene of the death of the native to
get a "pick-me-up" from the adjoining bar in Riesle's Hotel. In such a
manner does the death roll pile itself up--with the impending slowness
of a juggernaut and the haunting persistency of fate. If these were
the actual numbers of the killed upon this date, there were also two
who were wounded, one of whom has since died, thus giving to one day a
terrible trio. With such a sad lesson before one it would seem that,
beyond those who were compelled to be out and about, no one would
venture in the streets under shell fire, much less employ their
leisure in endeavouring to unload those of the enemy's shells that
might have fallen into the town, yet, but two days ago a local
wheelwright blew himself and two other men to an untimely end by the
explosion of a shell from which, with a _steel_ drill, he was
endeavouring to extract the charge. One of these men was killed almost
instantaneously, another had his leg blown off, while the third
sustained terrible wounds upon his body. There is not a day now
without fresh victims being claimed in different parts of the town.
Almost the first question asked as the shell bursts is for the name of
the unfortunate owner of the wrecked house, and the number of the
killed and wounded. In the early part of the siege when people were
thoroughly scared by the introduction of this new element of
destruction, bomb-proof shelters became quite popular, but lately with
the good luck which the people in town have enjoyed, the shelters have
been rather abandoned, but there is no doubt now, that the number who
have been killed in this past week has somewhat unnerved the town. If
it induces people to stay beneath their shelters, from out of the
fearful misfortunes which have fallen upon the few, may be derived
almost universal salvation.
[Illustration: Effects of Shell Fire. 1. Before.]
The hospital in these times, is the centre of melancholy interest to
the town. It is perhaps a quarter of a mile beyond the outskirts of
the town, but so situated that apart from the flag under whose
protection it should lie, it would be impossible for the enemy not to
be unaware that it was a natural shelter for the sick and wounded.
Much as the town in general, the Convent which adjoins the hospital,
and the hospital itself show the stress of the bombardment. The walls
of the hospital have been riddled with Martini and Mauser bullets,
while shells have perforated the galvanised iron roofing, torn holes
in the walls of the ward, wrecked outstanding buildings, and in brief,
played such direful havoc as would be considered impossible in a war
with any nation that has subscribed to the articles of the Geneva
Convention. Only the most strenuous opposition from Colonel
Baden-Powell, who threatened the severest pains, penalties, and
reprisals upon Commandant Cronje and Commandant Snyman, for their
neglect of the Red Cross flag, has saved the building in its entirety.
Nevertheless that degree of consideration, which we secured from the
Boers for our hospital was denied by these infamous barbarians to the
Convent and its gentle inmates. Their home has tumbled about its
foundations, the wall which faces the enemy's fire has been hit in
numerous places. Shells have ruined the children's dormitory, burst
with a magnificent effect in the interior of what would have been the
operating room, shattered a corner stone to pieces, and rendered
rotten and wholly impossible for any further habitation our subsidiary
hospital. The sisters, however, still stick to their posts and
minister the comforts of religion, though seeking their share in the
task of nursing, and setting, by their subdued heroism, an example to
the entire community. Never has any hospital been saddled with such a
work as the local one in Mafeking. War had taken every one so suddenly
that like everything else in Mafeking at the crucial moment, it was
wanting in much which was cardinal to its existence. The corps of
nurses was made up of those ladies from the town who were willing to
volunteer, and if there was an absence of the professional nursing
service, there were equally a dearth of dressers, of surgical
appliances, of medical comforts. The Victoria Hospital in times like
these possesses no Rontgen Rays, and many times indeed have the
medical staff regretted that so important an instrument should not
have been sent in good time. Indeed all that the Director-General of
Hospitals has done for Mafeking was to send Surgeon-Major Anderson out
from England, and had it not been that this gallant officer supplied,
at his own expense, a large quantity of medical stores which he
believed to be necessary, with the best intentions in the world, it
would have been impossible to cope with the requirements of the
wounded.
It has been interesting, however, to observe from the point of view of
the medical profession the nature of the wounds caused by the Mauser
and Martini rifles and shell-fire. The Mauser perforates, the Martini
splinters, the shell pulverises. The point of entry of the Mauser
bullet is somewhat smaller than the circumference of a threepenny
piece, and if it passes through the bone it does not appear to set up
any undue amount of splintering. The hole through which it emerges is
usually, except where the path of the bullet has been deflected, as
small as the point of penetration. The Mauser does not, as a rule, set
up in the body, and in the greater number of cases passes clean
through. It is a humane wound, and infinitely less injurious than the
Martini and Dum-dum. A Martini destroys a large internal surface
making beneath the point of contact a wound between two and three
inches in diameter, with an even greater area of exit. It sweeps
everything before it, shredding arteries, shattering the bones, while
its process of recovery is, in consequence, the more protracted. I
have already described the wounds from shell-fire, adding to that
account, however, the fact that the merest fragment of a shell is as
capable as the shell itself, of making most terrible injuries.
[Illustration: Effects of Shell Fire. 2. After.]