1995_04 Insight April 1995

              Lifestyle
APRIL 26,1995
'THEN and NOW
1/i*ttafe Style
Pholo by Dan Helm bold/Insight
"Rocking the pit" during Vintage Days, Splendid
entertains students.
Students, faculty and
visitors from as far as
northern Arizona participated
in Vintage Days this past
week. Vintage Days was held
Thursday the 20th through
Sunday the 23rd at CSUF.
Participants could partake in
activites ranging from hungee
jumping to water sliding.
Food hooths were also set up,
as well as booths offering
crafts ranging from tye-dye
shirts to jewelry.
Photo by Dan Holmbold/Inslght
Flying high, CSUF senior Mike Kimzey, liberal studies
major, takes a ride on the bungee attraction.
Photo by Christine Mlrlglan/lnsight
Air guitar participant "rocks out" at the
amphitheater.
Civil War remembered by reenactment at Meux Home
♦ Civil War Reenactment
Society depicts war scene
By Guy Sharwood
StaffWriler
The bluish-gray Victorian mansion
on R and Tulare streets looked pretty
much Ihe same as always on Saturday afternoon, with a few nuances.
For example, the pup tents out in
the yard.
And the guns grouped together in
cone-shaped stacks.
And thc coffee pot brewing over an
open barbecue grill.
And the field hospital on the side
porch where the surgeon and field
nurse labored over wounded patients.
And the corporal sitting on the lawn with
a bandage wrapped around his sandy-
haired head, looking througji one eye.
"Out of the blue, this whatever strikes
me on the head" said the soldier who
identified himself as Corporal Gerhard
Wolfgang Wifte. "Next thing I know.
I'm looking up at the sky.
"Didn't hurt, though, not "til a while
back." ihc corporal went on. sipping
lemonade handed lo him by a young
girl in a lavender gown.
"I ain't seed siraighl since I got hit "
Asked when hc would return lo
battle, he said. "Whenever they order me to. I don't ihink (the war is|
gonna be over anytime soon."
"When you're out in the battlefield,
you don't know what's goin" on until
it's over. Even then, you're not sure."
Toward thc front of the mansion, a
boy who looked no older than 14 lay
on a stretcher, his face bandaged.
"We're trying to keep his lower jaw
attached to his head while we wait
for the surgeon." said a man in a blue
uniform who stood nearby. He identified himself as "an unwounded prisoner waiting to be called back."
"He'll be eating applesauce for thc
rest of his life, mostly," said the prisoner said as he watched the boy, telling him not to talk.
"It'll make that wound a lot worse."
he said.
soldiers can
tcheriothefi
d ihe bo)
Id hospital
While confederate soldiers held (hen
union adversaries at gunpoint, ihe m.t
geant admonished Ihe patients on the
floor waiting their turn, not to move
The action was part of a performance staged by the Civil War Re
enactment Soceiiy on Saturday. April
15, at the Meux Home.
Along with a guided tour of thc
mansion, visitors observed members
in costume as they dramatized the
events of ihe era.
The CWRS is devoted noi only lo
educating people about the period by
acting it out, but also to depicting the
time itself for interested observers
The CWRS began in 1978 "although
it's had a dormant period." said Rick
Price, president of thc club. Price was
dressed as a confederate captain. Earlier, he was explaining to tourists how
the different weapons worked.
"We got our membership going
again in IWO." Price said. Thai same
sc.ir. they began staging the annual
weekend-long reenactment program
.it Kearney Park.
"lis the largest reenactment event
in California, if not the West Coast,"
he said
The CWRS. which is a non-profit
group, frequently cooperates with
other groups to stage these shows.
"We recently had an event in
Mooney Grove in Visalia with thc
Fort Tejon Historical Association."
Price said.
The group tries to stage an event every month. Price said next month they
will be performing at a Boy Seoul
eampout at Eshon Creek.
This is the first show thc CWRS has
staged at lhc Meux Mansion. If the
Confederacy appeared to have the upper hand, it may have been due to the
faci that Thomas Richard Meux
served in thc Confederate Army for
four years as an assistant surgeon.
Meux was born in Tennessee in
1838. where he married Mary Esther
Davis and his children were bom.
The family moved west to the Central Valley later in the century because
of Mary Esther's health problems.
The property for the mansion was
bought in 1888.
Meux practiced medicine until his
late 70s and died in 1929 at age 91. A
daughter. Anne, lived in the house her
entire life
In 1973. the City of Fresno purchased the property. A restoration
committee subsequently spent almost
three years refurbishing it. Their efforts garnered the house a listing in
the National Register of Historic
Places in early 1975.
Tours are conducted regularly at the
mansion. Although many changes
have been made in the house (a
square grand piano sits in the front
room which was not there originally),
the general mood of the Victorian
period has been preserved.
An added feature of Saturday's tour was
a portrayal of Dr. Meux. offered by Chuck
Baley, a Meux Home tour guide.
"All wc had was whiskey." Baley
said during his performance. Hc was
referring to surgical techniques of the
period. "Then we would put them on
the operating table and go to work."
"After the war. we found a correlation between sanitation and health,"
Baley said.
Outside, visitors were given a portrayal of the work done al a field hospital. A soldier was being examined.
After a debate on whether or not to
amputate, whiskey and ether were administered. The soldier screamed in
anguish.
"I think we forget how bloody it
was," said Colleen Scthre. another
tour guide, as she watched the operation.
Diana Vanderark. the nurse, and
Ben Jones, the surgeon, agreed with
this statement as they cleaned up the
hospital area after the dramatization.
"When children come here, I want
it to be the 1800s." Vanderark said.
"They need to sec the carnage. This
was a horrible war."