Prince Joachim, youngest son of Emperor William, was wounded during a battle with the Russians and taken to Berlin.  On September 15 it was reported from Berlin that the wound was healing rapidly, despite the tearing effect of a shrapnel ball through the thigh.  The empress and the surgeons were having considerable trouble in keeping the patient quiet in bed.  He wanted to get on his feet again and insisted that he ought to be able to rejoin his command at the front in about a fortnight.

“The prince treats the wound as a trifle,” said the Berlin dispatch.  “He smilingly greeted an old palace servant whom he had known since childhood with the remark:  ‘Am I not a lucky dog?’”

From an officer who was with Prince Joachim when he was wounded the following description of the incident was obtained: 

“It was during the hottest part of the battle, shortly before the Russian resistance was broken, that the prince, who was with the staff as information officer, was dispatched to the firing line to learn how the situation stood.  He rode off with Adjutant Captain von Tahlzahn and had to traverse the distance, almost a mile, under a heavy hail of shell and occasional volleys.

“As the Russian artillery was well served and knew all the ranges from previous measurements, the ride was not a particularly pleasant one, but he came through safely and stood talking with the officers when a shrapnel burst in their vicinity.  The prince and the adjutant were both hit, the latter receiving contusions on the leg, but the shot not penetrating.

“To stop and whip out an emergency bandage which the prince, like every officer and private, carries sewed inside the blouse, and bind it around the thigh to check the bleeding was the work of but a moment.  It was a long and dangerous task, however, to get him back to the first bandaging station, about a mile to the rear, under fire and from there he was transported to the advanced hospital at Allenstein, where he remained until he was able to travel.

“Prince Joachim, who was already recommended for the Iron Cross for bravery before Namur, received the decoration shortly before he was wounded.  The prince, who has many friends in America, conveyed through his adjutant his thanks for assurances of American sympathy and interest.”

EX-EMPRESS DEVOTED TO FRANCE

The aged ex-Empress Eugenie of France, widow of Napoleon III, has been living for many years in retirement in the county of Hampshire, England.  She was recently visited by Lord Portsmouth, an old friend, who found the illustrious lady full of courage and devotion to the French cause in the present war.  In explaining her failure to treat her guest as she would have desired, the empress said: 

“I cannot give you dinner because most of the men of my kitchen have gone to war.”

A “BATTLESHIP ON WHEELS”