SCENES IN ADRIANOPLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 218, 3 February 1913, Page 7

SCENES IN ADRIANOPLE.

A PHOTOGRAPH! TS PERILS.

Mr. P.emiet IliuKi-li. : n a letter i" tin; London Daily Telegraph. describes the adventures of a Paris plioiopnapliev ill I In. neighborhood iif Adrianople. lie

' savs: 'When I \va< preparing Id <|" 11 tufa I'aslia last Tuesday night, M. Maurice Planner. the well-known Paris photographer. called. Tie had just returned in in i a trip that- had occupied him nine davs, towards Seiuenli, near one of the Bulgarian division's head(|iiarters. beyond the River Arda. I had been invited by the same friend, hut declined, as the time during which I should have to sever myself from the telegraph wire would have been too long. WITH THE INVESTING ARMY.

However. M. Branger. with much cour■l,,e, set out by himself to rough it for a°\veek with tiie troops in the investing lines south of Adrianople. Loading his pony with a week's food, his blanket and materials, he set out on the afternoon of December 2 to make the journeyafoot. The roads were in a frightful state, hut provided with the official military pass he proceeded along the so-call-ed turnpike, which runs by the left bank of the Maritza from Mustafa Pasha. .Stepping out with Gallic lightheadedness. humming an air, and not caring whether he got his next warm meal near or far onward, he stoutly inarched off. after i bade him boil voyage. T'niis his story to me of his experiences in the toils of war, as detailed in repeated conversations since his return and on our journey in company to Sofia. '"I got on all right, the pony moving quite fast, until we got to the pontoon war-bridge near Marash. It was not photographers' weather. It was 0 p.m. when the sentry challenged me at the bridge. I replied that I was a French correspondent, and then I was allowed to approach and show my papers. The sentry then let me pass over, and hade me (urn to the right upon the other side of the Maritza, and make my way to Kadekeui railway station to spend the night. But I must have lost my way, for I next found myself at a place which I thought must be the l'apas Tcpc Hills, so I thought that if I just kept on T should come to the second bridge, which leads to Semenli. About 8 p.m. I heard guns ljegin firing all around. UNDER EIRE. ''lt began to rain water, as well as lead and shrapnel, and bombs from mortars soared and burst and crashed, some of them less than fifty yards distant. I was cold and hot by turns. Then I was frightened, for great bombs fell and blew up the earth like volcanoes, spouting for thirty yards round, or like immense fougasses, that shot up stones and mud at me. I wenf .hack with my pony and hid. beneath a tumulus. There we.re many there. For five hours in the cold and rain I waited there, in t,hat infernal bombardment, unable .to go, forward'and afraid.,to gp back, for shell-fire intervened and. cut off my .retreat. .- Then, worst of all, the din of furious rifle-fire began. Bulle.ts whistled quite close, and I wondered again and again .if it were t'o .be the Turks' or the, Bulgars* fire which' ! would make-an end of me. ' " '

"But when I could have withstood very little more there was a lull in the firing, and I hurried n way downhill; hack towards the Maritza, through the black night. •-I reached Kadekeiti railway station at three o'clock in the morning. Everybody was about, watching the bombardment. There was no loom in the little building, so T was advised to hetake myself for shelter and safety to Kadekeui village, two miles hack." The railway track was, r was told, {he best and most direct road. Leading niv horse between the metals. T set foriyard. 1 had go'ue less' than half a mile,' when T fouiid myself upon the, rather loose planks of a little 'bridge of. a .culvert. 'My P"ii.V stumbled, missing tl|e boards, irtid-felt 'through the; .i'utcrsticfs.. After much' Scr.imjjling he settjyd ./inallv and quietly, resting .npori'liVs''stoma()l'i.'' RESCUING THE' PONY.'

"In striving "to save him from that, ignominious fate I fell from the bridge, tumbling into about 20 inches of mud and v/atiftv' The stuff' saved me from l broken bones, but made me quite un> presentable. I was helpless, and in my plight. I ran back to the railway station, where they at once sent me back with a rescue party of twenty soldiers. These .were line, willing fellows, and thaV laughe I and chattered when thev took in what just had happened. They grabbed my pony...by the: tail, by the skin, byithe head, the e;u's and the mane-how they mn-t have hurt him! and lifted., him straight up, baggage and all. and set him hack upon the road. I was grateful when they led the horse in profession back to Kadekeui Station. The officers received me must kindly, giving me warm collee and food, while some of the men helped to'clean my clothes, which soon dried beside a good fire. My horse also was stabled and fed, whilst I was treated as a wounded veteran, getting a stretcher for a. bed. for they insisted, that I should pa<s the night there. 'ft was seventeen miles to' Semeli' | where [ crossed the Arda. which was then running high, by another military bridge. f went to the commandant's hut. where they gave me something to eall. good and appelisjng. as well as something to drink and shelter for (he night. Next morning. December 4. L 1 was provided with a horse, and J se( out for mv real destination —the General's headquarfers of lh<. division. He was most kind, and T was jriven tood and the share of a tent.

"Hie weather \va.> still abominable, and as 1 could not take pictures I was permitted to wander freely about the camp, looking as I wished at trenches and batteries. The armistice had come, and on December (i 1 was allowed to go out with tin l three officers to meet the three J urkish officers who were going to mark out the neutral zone which was lo lie observed during the truce.

I may (ell yon that at that point the 1 <t;r li;i((cries arc within two and a half— -perhaps two—miles of Adrianople, and also (hat tli e opposing advanced trenches are less than 200 yds apart. "I lie linljrars warned me not to attempt to lake any photographs without express permission from the Turkish officers. I approached them during the conference, but they scowled. I went up to (heir colonel and saluted him in my hcs( Parisian manner, for you must, know thai. I al>o am an olliccr of the reserve. Fortunately, he spoke pure French. The ice was broken: the language was too much for him. WAItXIXC TIIK I'IIOTOfIRAPIJEIt. "1 ga\e him my name and card, and found his was llrahim. When at length he said. T suppose T must let you photograph me anil my friends,' I was instantly charmed, and he was snapped before lie could pose. Then I took more pictures of him, his two brother ollicers, of the J'.ulgarians. and the men who came forward to plant the white (lags. "ISetter and better--I was permitted to photograph several of the Turkish trenches, and in the distance their fieldgun emplacements. There were over 20!) Turkish -oldicrs holding one of the nearest trenche.-. and all of them had (heir heads and rides with fixed swordbayonets projecting over the earthworks. and were watching our every turn much as a cat watches a mouse. I took

over a score of pictures there, and thought all was going splendidly when T edged to where the Turkish dead lay thickest, whilst the officers were going on with their duties of marking out the neutral zone. I prepared to take a photo of a row of 200 Turkish dead, many of their faces being horribly distorted, but in an instant rows of rifles were presented point-blank at me, and I was given to understand without mistake. that T must not attempt to take any photograph of those dumb ones, and, further, i was bade in a manner 110 London policeman can command to move 011.

"[ am told that the line of demarcation of the neutral zone upon the south of Adrianople, with its folds in and out, measures just over thirty-eight miles. 1 returned later on to Semenli, where 1 met four friends and slept six on a lloor ior a night. Next day I came on to Kadekeui, and from there to Mustafa Pasha, first on an ox. then in the Servian two-horsed waggon."