New-York tribune., 1903-04-05

OF Immediately for the towns in which the
refugees quartered.
The Russian diplomatic agency was over
vheIned with work NJ Bakhmeteff hl1nselI
could not leave his post at so critical a moment
when Bulgaria was in a frenzy of excitement
and agitators shouting for war; nor couio
he send a secretary of the embassy, for TINS
would have impaired to Nine. Bakhihe'ei
work an official character SO the lauy sc
lected her most faithful kavass as her escort
and with two Russian Sisters of Charity ana Two
Bulgarians chosen from her hospltal mere " oe
left in charge of the relief force which she was
to organize on the frontier, she started OH carry
one morning for Radomir, the terminus OF a
little coalpit railway. There were no hrst CLASS
compartments on the mixed train of freight ana
Messenger cars that ran once a day to the mlhe
in a district where any one in European dreSS
was rarely seen. So the lady of the house that
literally and fgurativey, stands next to the
palace at Sofia went second class one OF the
freight cars on the train was loaded with
clothes and provisions, and at the terminus d
number of wagons stood waiting to transport the
raIiaf srnplies from Radomr to the frontier
The villagers were all down at the station 10 see
the caravan start-all in their best sheepskln
coats TO do homage to the great Iady. WHEN
any one is escorted by soldiers in Bulgaria ihe
naasants if men take off their hats and stanu
with their ewes cast down and their hands on
their chests as though they were praylng ana
the women no matter how many paples are III
the sacks on their backs, rise to their 1eet anu
bow their heads the carriage passes 1heFe
was a considerable escort waiting 1or Mhle'
Bakhmeteff and her retinue. Ihe line Oh Dull
earian troops is ordinarily very thln along lhe
border, and the Turkish soldiers allo" prlsahus
to cross into their neighbors' country at will
rir Will
mails all abreast such were used for making
the massage of the mountains. The caravan
started for Dubnitza where were the largest
number Of refugees, as soon as the supplies were
loaded into the wagons 1t was in the mlddle Oh
the winter and the valleys as well as the noun
tains were deep with snow. The thermometer
raeistared ~ degrees below the freezing point
and the winds as the party crossed the noun
tains blew the dry snow dust into their races
cutting like fine glass Even the heavy Russlan
f,,rs. in which they were all clad, would not keep
out the cold on that drive of eight long hours
It was late at night when the jingle of the bells
on the coach horses and the rattle OF the cara
van over the bowlder paved streets OF the
rrange little old town aroused the inhabitants.
The whole party were numb and stiff, and one
of Nine Bakhmeteffs ears was frozen
After a nights rest in such shelter as the
place offered she turned out at daybreak the
next morning to begin her work First the
backs of the shivering people were covered and
then their stomachs filled.
She organized committees of the most trust
worthy men and women whom she could find
and selected doctors and attendants to put in
charge of the hospitals. When the immediate
distress was relieved and provision made for the
temporary maintenance of the refugees, she per
sonally examined the fugtives to ascertain the
actual grievances that had driven them from
their homes There doubt in her mind
In the first place that the stories which they told
were in the main true 1T stands to reason"
she has said to me, that unless their existence
had been threatened peasants of that humble
class that never move for generations off their
little plots of ground would not have left every
thing and journeyed without food over the
mountains, in sometimes up to their
waists, hiding by day, and at night lodging the
Turkish soldiers, who tried to keep them from
getting out of the country for fear of the harm
their tales would do. Many of them died from
hunger on the road, were killed by the Turks
as they crossed the borders. They would not
have ventured to do what they did had they not
witnessed with their own eyes the doom that
awaited them if they stayed"
Too much depended on Nine. Bekhmeteff's re
ports to warrant her taking the words of these
people without substantial proofs for the afro
cities which they said had been perpetrate9.
The improvised hospitals were full of men who