No Food For Eight Days.

New York Times 100 years ago today, November 12, 1912:
Turks Sucked Greasy Wood — The Capture of Adrianople Forts.
    PARIS, Nov. 11.— A staff correspondent of the Temps, Jean Rodes, who has reached Constantinople from the war zone, sends a vivid picture of the misery of the Turkish soldiers and the disorganization of the Turkish Army. He says:
    "We have witnessed the failure of the Turk as a soldier. We have seen him dying of hunger, worn out by fatigue, wrecked by suffering, and running away after having abandoned his place in the combat.
    "I have never seen a more poignant picture of human distress than that presented by these unhappy men, thrown into one of the most terrible wars in history, without food, without medical attention, almost without chiefs, almost without arms. And at Seidler I saw a soldier, whose right hand had been severed, hold out to us, begging for medical help, the bleeding stump around which he had tied a piece of twine.
    "I saw long lines of famished men who came to our tent begging for a crumb of bread and staggering away without a murmur of complaint when told that we had none to give. I saw a thousand wounded leaving a trail of blood as they dragged themselves toward Tchorlu. I saw hundreds of others fall by the wayside dying from wounds and fatigue.
    "At Tchorlu a column of soldiers, terrible in appearance, staggered through the streets in a driving rain and wind storm. No one paid any attention to them. They had no shelter, nothing to eat. From a near-by bakery an officer threw out handfuls of bread, and the soldiers fought for possession of the loaves. More than half of them got nothing, and turned away, ragged, pallid, and weak.
    "I never saw such an image of inferno. One of the most miserable of the wanderers succeeded in getting into the house where we were staying, drenched to the skin and teeth chattering. 'Take all my money, take my clothing, if you will,' he cried, 'but I beg of you to give me some bread.'
    "I questioned him. He said he came from Asia Minor and had not eaten for eight days. I gave him a slice of bread and a chocolate tablet, and he went away to join the remnants of the retreating army, of which this was the end."

Bulgars' Victory at Adrianople.
    A graphic description of the storming by the Bulgarians of the two Turkish forts of Kartaltepe and Papaztepe, in the outer line of fortifications around Adrianople, is forwarded by a correspondent of the Matin. He declares that their capture seals the doom of the Turkish stronghold.
    The operations began at daybreak on Thursday. Following their usual brilliantly successful tactics, the Bulgarian infantry advanced in the direction of the forts under cover of a murderous fire of shrapnel. The Turkish troops, in their turn, sallied out from the forts to deliver a counter attack.
    It was then the turn of the Bulgarians' heavy siege artillery, which from every point on the surrounding hills rained a terrific hail of projectiles on the lines of the Turkish troops. Every moment saw fresh companies of Turks marching out from the city and the forts toward the Bulgarians, who continued imperturbably to draw their lines closer together around the forts.
    The accurate fire of the Bulgarians' big guns began to tell about 10 o'clock in the morning, when the guns in the fort on Mount Kartei began to slacken in their reply. The fort had been swept by a heavy storm of shells for several hours, the great projectiles bursting right over the works.
    The silent Turkish infantry had meanwhile resisted stubbornly the Bulgarian advance, but their lines gradually began to waver.
    Suddenly the command, "Fix bayonets! " rang out from the Bulgarian officers, and then, cheering wildly, the Bulgarian infantry dashed forward, and the Turks broke and ran toward the city.
    The cannon and rifle fire, which had been slackening, immediately became more brisk, while above the combatants the searchlights flashed and whirled around their immense rays, in which little balls of white smoke caused by the bursting of shrapnel, floated like flies in a sunbeam, making even deeper the surrounding blackness, which was punctuated here and there by flashes from the muzzles of cannon.
    The roar of the siege and field guns dominated the rattling of the rifle volleys, and the screeching of shells as they hurled through the air.

Second Fort Captured.
    As at Kartaltepe earlier in the day, the fire from the Papaztepe fort began gradually to slacken. There also the Bulgarian siege guns had caused enormous ravages. Abruptly the searchlights were extinguished at about 11 o'clock at night, and the Bulgarian infantry began to storm the fort at the point of the bayonet. Shortly before midnight they had become masters of the position, and the Turks were in flight. They left their dead and dying by hundreds on the field.
    The fort on Papaztepe is one of the most important features of the defenses of Adrianople. It commands not only the city itself, but all the other works.
    Throughout the operations Bulgarian aeroplanes flew back and forth over the Turkish fort, bringing the most valuable information to the Bulgarian Generals in command.
    Some interesting sidelights on the war are telegraphed by another correspondent of the Matin, who had opportunities of talking with some of the Turkish prisoners in the hands of the Bulgarians. Many of them had come from Asia and had never before heard of Bulgaria. When the cause of the war was explained to them, one of them said:
    "We know nothing of that. At Brusa, where we were recruited, we were told that, according to the law of the Prophet, we must go to fight the infidels and that the hour to exterminate them had arrived. We were also told that Allah had promised us victory, and the Turkish Governors declared we should divide among us the immense riches of the enemies of Allah. We have, therefore, been deceived."
    The situation at Constantinople is described by the correspondent of the Matin there. He says the British cruiser Weymouth is in direct wireless communication with the station at Poldhu, and receives daily the latest political, financial, and sporting news. The crews of the foreign warships are now allowed ashore and stroll along the streets without exciting much attention from the natives.
    The presence of the foreign warships provokes various amusing comments from the Turks. Two inhabitants of Constantinople were overheard in a peculiar dialogue. "What," said one of them, pointing to the Bosphorus, "are all these foreign warships?" "Those," replied the other without a smile, "are the ships we have taken from the Greeks."