INCIDENTS OF THE WAR.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5243, 12 January 1878, Page 3

INCIDENTS OF THE WAR.

THE DEATH OF PRINCE LEUCHTENBEKG. The Vienna correspondent of the London Times, November 3, says ; With regard to the death of Prince Leuchtenberg, which 1 telegraphed to you from the spot, it may be interesting to know a few details which have come to hand since the sad event occurred. Although present on the field when the Prince received the fatal bullet, I was not an eyewitness of hia fall, X saw him only after he was placed on a stretcher and about to be sent to the rear. I was therefore unable to do more than record the fact of the Prince’s death. A staff-officer, however, who was close to Prince Sergius at the time, has kindly furnished me with the following details ; Soon after the commencement of the reconnaisance the Prince, accompanied by several officers, was watching the movements of the enemy from a place of safety in rear of the Russian reserves. The little group was—-if I may use the expression—actually out of fire. Not a shell nor a bullet had been fired in that direction by the Turks. A Russian officer on horseback was standing a few paces to the left front of the Prince, whose field-glass he held in his hand. The poor young prince asked for his glass, and, as the officer alluded to turned round to hand it to him, he heard him exclaim, “ Ah !’’ at the same time pressing his hand to his forehead. The Prince reeled iu his saddle, and would have fallen from hia horse, hut the officers surrounding him had time to receive him in their arms and lay him gently on the ground, when he was found to be already a corpse. finch are the chances and fortunes of war. With the present long range guns there is no such thing as absolute safety anywhere near a field of battle. This gallant young Prince, a general favorite in society as well as in the army, had on several occasions exposed himself so recklessly to the enemy’s fire as to merit more than once the rebuke of his superior officers. On such occasions, however, he had escaped unhurt, whereas now, in a place of comparative safety, he was slain by the only one bullet fired in that direction during the whole fight, and that a spent ball, which, had the Prince stood a few yards further back, would probably have given him but a contusion. His sad death has cast a gloom over the whole Russian army. The Prince was taken to the headquarters of his cousin, the Czarewich, where the body was deposited in the village church. Although a prince of the Imperial family, his mortal remains were treated with the utmost simplicity, necessitated by the exigincies of war. According to Russian etiquette, it was required that he should lie in state for a certain period, and the headquarters staff repaired twice a day to tile little church, where prayers were offered up for the departed soul. The body of Prince Sergius lay on an ordinary ambulance stretcher, with his head bound, his face exposed, and enveloped in his great-coat, just as I had seen him carried from the field. His remains will shortly be sent to St. Petersburg for interment, and will be escorted to the Russian capital by the men of his squadron of the Guard a cheval, who will be relieved of their present functions as escort to the Emperor. His two brothers —Prince Nicholas and Prince Eugene—will, probably, accompany the body.