In the British hospital camp at Rouen many are lying very severely
wounded, but all are cheerful and vowing vengeance. Women are sending up
cart loads of fruit and flowers to the camp every day, and trainloads
are also arriving, being taken by the Red Cross on trains and stretchers
to the hospital camp.
“A detachment of British arrived from the front this morning,” says a
despatch. “A major, badly wounded, was exchanging jokes with wounded
soldiers and was smiling. He said all he wanted was coffee. Everybody
immediately rushed off and returned with coffee and cider.
“Members of the Fusilliers said that on Wednesday the regiment lined up
for breakfast, when the German artillery started shelling them. Perfect
order was maintained by the men, who began building earthworks, which,
however, were knocked down as soon as finished. They were finally forced
to retire owing to the Germans’ superior numbers and suffered the loss
of three companies during the retreat.
“British soldiers who fought at Mons said that while digging trenches
they were forced to lie still under fire and do nothing but deliver a
few bayonet charges. One man said:
“‘A bayonet dash was a glorious relief after the galling inaction. Our
fellows dashed at them as if doing a 100-yard sprint. The Germans looked
sick at the sight of cold steel, as they always do, then turned and
ran, some throwing away their straps and rifles. We would have liked to
chase them forever, but were called back. I got in a stab at a German
and told him to pass it on to the Kaiser.’
“The order to retire was a bitter disappointment. Another soldier said:
“‘It was bad enough to lie still with German shells doing the nasty all
around us, but to fall back and let the infantry pot us was the limit. I
consoled myself with the thought that perhaps I would be in a procession
when the Kaiser was taken in chains from the Mansion House to the
Chelsea pensioners’ home.’”
“WOMAN” SPY FOOLED GIRL
Miss Diana Leverick of New York, who arrived in Boston yesterday from
England on the Cunard liner _Franconia_, told how she became acquainted
with a German “woman” while on board a Mediterranean boat bound for
London who proved to be a German male spy in disguise and who later was
shot.
“Among the passengers was a refined, middle-aged German woman who gave
the name of Niederhaus,” she said. “She bore every evidence of good
breeding and made herself very agreeable to all of us. I became very
much attached to her. She was so pleasant and affable that certain
peculiarities of her gait and face were unnoticed. Her hands and feet
seemed a trifle large, but I liked her so well that I could see nothing
strange about her, although some of the other passengers began to
comment upon her.
“On the morning of our arrival in London a messenger boy came aboard
crying out, ‘Telegram for Mrs. Niederhaus.’ The woman did not answer.
Finally came an official and a squad of soldiers and she was led away to
her cabin. We were amazed when soldiers locked themselves in with her
until we learned that she was really a male spy. I read about her in the
London _Times_ next day, the paper describing how ‘she’ was shot by the
soldiers.”