Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-02
LAME AND HALT
RUSH To LOURDES
Four Hundred Helpless on the
"White Train"
SEVENTEEN TRAINS IN ALL
Station at Orleans Terminus Was One
Great Hospital.
GIRL, BELIEVED DEAD, WALKS
Rises Suddenly From Her Couch and
Kisses the Host-Many Pathetic
Scenes at the Pilgrimage.
GIRL, BELIEVED DEAD, WALKS

No less than seventeen trains
were required to convey the lame
and the halt, the sick and the suf-
fering, on the annual pilgrimage
from the Orleans terminus in Paris
to Lourdes. The "White Train
carried 400 helpless human beings
unable to rise from recumbent po-
sitions. One girl thought to be
dead rose, walked and kissed the
host.
| Special Cablegram to The Star.
PARIS September 1-When the white
Train was ready to start from this city for
Lourdes the Orleans terminus presented a
| remarkable spectacle of animation, wherein
| sickness and pain held equal place with
| faith and hope
| All the pilgrims were full of expectation
that prayer and faith in the curative prop
| critics of the miraculous spring would ef-
| feet a result which physicians despair Of
attaining. The numbers of the cripples, the
paralyzed. the consumptives and the other
| wise ailing were swelled by thousands of
| their relatives and friends, who went to
pray with them and to care for them.
| Among them, with their faces lighted up by
| religious fervor, were hundreds of priests
| and Sisters of Mercy. who hurried hither
| and thither in the crowded station, utter
| ing words of comfort and helping to place
| the invalds in the trains. ~ '------,
Seventeen Trains in One Day.
No fewer than seventeen trains, filled to
their utmost capacity, left Paris in one day,
| eight of them with pilgrims who had al
ready journeyed from the north of France,
| and nine conveying Parisians Altogether
| the number of departures from here was
| about 5000, and these were added to at
| wayside stations during the long journey.
With the other pilgrimages from east, west
| and south, the total number booked for
| Lourdes was estimated at something near
| 10000. which figure does not include the
tourists going there out OF curiosity. The
| greatest interest about the departure CEN
| tered round the White Train" which car
| ried 400 of the most desperate cases. most
| of them unable to rise from recumbent
position.
Each compartment carried a Sister of
Charity, who during the journey never even
| attempted to snatch a few moments repose,
Out was COnlinudlIy engaged III dttenO1nS
the patients or praying or singing hymns!
The station itself was one gigantic hos
pital. From all corners of the city rubber
\ tired ambuances. with loud-sounding bells
| and the white flag with it's Geneva cross
| floating from the whip stand. arrived in
| quick succession. All around in the outer
yard. in the waiting rooms, on the plat
forms, everywhere, the sick folk lay upon
| their stretchers waiting to be carried to the
| train. ....-2
Considered as Penance.
| The train itself was formed of the very
| oldest carriages in possession of the COM
pany. With few exceptions they were all
third-class compartments. for the Fathers
| of the Assumption. who direct the pilgrim
| age to Lourdes, wish the pilgrimage to be
considered as a penance. and each added
discomfort is thought to aid its efficacy
Every sick person who was to travel by the
White Train wore large card fastened with
| a bow Of white ribbon. On the card were
| written the name. the sickness and the
| number of the carriage of the patient, but
| there were many Of the sick who did not
| need card to tell the onlOoker what was
| the matter with them.
There were men, women and children with
| that rose flush and constant Precipitation
| which mark the consumptive. Every now
and then fearful cough would rack
| one or another of them, and the handker-
| chief was stained with red when taken
| from their lips
There were cripples of both sexes. so ter.
| ribIy twisted that 1t was difficult to get
| them through the carriage door. There
| were lepers. and women, men and one small
| boy with lupus.
Prayed and Sang. iv-
| When the pilgrims had all arrived a,
Lourdes they prayed and sang In unison
| The scene was impressive beyond descrip
| ton.
| A number of miracles have been reported
among them being the case of CIR
| of eighteen who had suffered from disease
| of the heart. She had lain sleepless and
| motionless for forty eight hours, and twice
the watchers had believed her to be dead.
But at the passing Of the Host she sat VI
| suddenly on her stretcher and jumped t
| the floor. She rushed with bare feet acros
the gravel, caught hold Of the Host anc
| kissed 1t.
The scenes Of excitement, of supplicatioI
and Of disappointment around the grom
went on for hours.
At night the vast procession Of the pill
grims in and out along the hillside. carrying
| torches and singing hymns continued. Thu
crosses were electrically lighted on the hill
top until the pilgrims reached them, wheI
they were extinguished. Then the torch
bearing pilgrims themselves. led by priests
formed a huge cross of flame with rosary
which stretched from the mountain sid
right down into the valley.
|
| ACCUSED OF BIGAMY: