Bisbee daily review., 1912-04-14
CLARA BARTON
 ASKETCH


 ton, has been aptly called the Florence | Nightingale of America. On the battle | delds of the civil war and in the | camps of the French and German
 armies in Europe. she nursed wounded and dying soldiers. She took per | sonal charge of the nursing of the fever patients of the south. and after the fall Of the Commune she entered Paris on foot and distributed food to the starving. She endured the hard. ships of travel in Russia and Turkey to relieve suffering humanity and fac ed the dangers of yellow fever in Cuba to nurse Cuban reconcentrados and later the American soldiers in Santi- ago.
 Miss Barton was born December 2j, 1891, at Oxford, Mass, and was the daughter of Capt. Stephen Barton,
 who fought under Mad Anthony Wayne against the Indians After completing her schooling she was a teacher for time, but the occupation did not suit her and she became a cloth trimmer in a factory. Later, aft CT a course at the Clinton Liberal In- stitute. she ventured upon a new un- deTtaking and founded a free school at Bordentown. N. J., which, begin ming with six pupils, quickly grew until it numered nearly 600. She was not conteuted at Bordentown and go. ing to Washington. secured a place in the Patent office, which she held until the outbreak of the civil war.
 When hostilities commenced Miss Barton immediately gave up her place in the Patent office and advertised in the papers of Worcester Mass, that she would receive stores and money for wounded soldiers at the front which she would personally distribute. Her appeal was so literally answered that it became necessary to use large ware-rooms in Washington in which to store the donations. She went di- rect to the headquarters Of Gen. But Ter in Virginia and undertook with all the energy and will at her command the work of relief to the troops. She continued with the soldiers in Virgin ia during nearly the entire period or the war, and in 1864 Gen. Butler ap pointed her head nurse of the hospi- tals in the Army of the JameI. This was the beginning of her long ser vice in relief work. Miss Barton con ducted all her work independently of other charitable or relief organiza- tiOns.
 Upon returning to Washington at the close of the war Miss Barton peu- toned congress for an appropriation of S15.000 in payment of her services in endeavoring to discover missing soldiers of the army of the United States. and in communicating intel ligence to their relatives Congress did not respond very readily to her appeal. and when the bill finally pass ed it was in payment Of services ren- dered and to be rendered. During tn next few years Miss Barton engaged in the work of finding the graves Of soldiers unknown, missing or unre' corded.
 Alter completing this work Miss Barton took the lecture platform un' der an agreement to lecture for 300 nights at S1O0 a night. Her subject was her experiences in the war, and she was SO well advertised and man aeed that it proved a very successful venture until she broke down in the spring of 1867.
 Two years later Miss Barton went to Europe. and she was abroad when the Franco Prussian war broke out She hurried to Strassburg and plunS- ed headlong into the work of nursing the wounded soldiers. She proceeded later to Paris and rendered assistance in relieving the distress after the fall of the Commune. Her work abroad did not 20 unrecognized. In addition to rewards of a more substantial char acter she received numerous medals and decorations from the sovesigns or the old World.
 For several years after her return to America she urged upon the gov. ernment the confirmation Of the Req Cross treaty by the United States. During the years 1877 and 1878 she spent most of her time at DansVllle,' N. Y. waiting for the authorities to act. In 1881 she took the matter up with President Garfield. Secretary oi State Blaine gave his approval to the action proposed. and on May 2l, 1881, A meeting was held in Washington which resulted in the formation of the American association of the Red Cross. Miss Barton was chosen first president of the society and this po- sltion. she continued to hold until ad- vancing years obliged her to relin- Guish active work in 1905. Under her personal direction the Red Cross per formed many works of relief Tn thls and other countries. It aided in re- Iieving the suffering due 10 the Mich iean forest fires. the Mississippi and Ohio river floods. the ,NiSsissippi and Louisiana 3hdrrleane,y aud tot6et catas' 7 trophossr Then followed her work in the Texas famine. the Mount Vernon tornadosand the Yellow fever epidemic in Florida. More recent was the work in connection with the JohnstoWn flood, the Russian famine. the Sea Islands hurricane. the Armenian troubles. the Spanish-American war and the San Francisco fire and earth quake. .5