New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-08-28
Big Building Transformed
Into Camp for Help
less Refugees.
WOMEN AND BABIES
FILL MAIN ROTUNDA
Increasing Crowds of Homeless
and Wounded Arriving by
Train and on Foot

IaTIs. Aug 20. itlLalr lA' iH' ~ rs
Of the refugee ,ucampmerts I'D Paris
j.. i'm the big circus building situated
between the iuvaidcs and the Eiiel
Tower. When the thrush from the
northern frontier began YESTERDAYS and
the impossiblity Of leaving such IN
emergency 20 bc dealt wth rs private
societies became evident, tine Prefcc' oil
Police interviewed and more than two
thousand untOrtUuate5 were g"theIcd
together and conveyed 90 the Cirque &c
Paris.
Instead OF childrcns' happy laughter
over clownish jokes the great rotunda
was filed to-day with low ground,
swell of iamentation, broken here ana
there by the sharp cries OF Oaoes'
Stalls and boxes, galleries ana cor
ridors were 1.ll of this human jttsaIn
from the tempest that has destroyed
Southern Belgium during the last
week Most o. them DO not possess
penny: their eyes are red with weeping
their faces drawn with fatigue. ~ is
impos 1blc TO speak too highly OF me
kindness with which they are bel"s
fed and cared for.
MY husband is with tho Belgian
army" said woman from Iramef}'
near Mons, "anG ] was left WIN my
three babies .u our cottage. All was
quiet until Monday when the Germans
came. They sacked and dc- troyed
everything i'm the house. There re-
mains of our poor village nothing hut
ruins. ! saw one Of these bandits strike
one OF my acighbors iu the breast with
sword. Then bee tlouushcd the MOODY
blade as though he was proud of lne
feat. Some women who had hidden ln
their cellars were shot
Tears flowed down the poor woman
cheeks AS she recalled these ccUI'Hes.
A housekeeper from Chatelet warned
on SUNDAY 10 fy, says that shet
with hcr mother and FIVE emil
Grcn. had TO walk seventy miles
before they could reach the 'raIn 'Hal
brought them 20 Pari.. A woman rom
Perorue le Biuchcr started o-t WIN
enc of her neigh bOrs VINO earned
young baby ~ her breast suddenly
the mother perceived that the Itte
one was dead. She could not near 'i'9
new shock. and became mad when she
was helped out of the train OH reaching
Paris. She still held the body OF her
Smaller bodies of refugees have been
temporarily lodged i'm the police sta
tions and some of the lesser hotels OF
They are mostly women
whose husbands are with the Antwerp
garrison or are asleep forever IN The
vast cemetery of the great plain q
Flanders. The stuuor in which many
refugees sit is mercltul thing. Tor
none could dare 30 wish TO live If he
could see into the hungry and desolatc
wears that are 10 come. And neither
can the German mothers be forgotten.
"C.may is completely destroyed,
said one woman, land M the streets
the corpses of Germans have been
piled uD high five yards. That ls what
they have paid
A. each train arrives Il is at once
boarded by cool-headed nurses and
officers of the Red Cross. Many of the
wounded are not gravely injured.
though effectively hors dc combat.
one shows his left hand mutilatcd by
a sword stroke. Another has ball Do
his thigh A young volunteer OF
dragons tells proudly how patrol of
eight men. of whom bee was one. put TO
flight last Friday two squads OF Jhians,
making their loutenauts prisoners.
and here is his sword knot cried
the lad, fourishing with his sound
hand a leather strap which was cut ln
several places. A be examined 10 he
turned TO thank nurse. who mad
handed him mug of steamlng conce.
"They take good care OF Us. Our
wounCs now are rc-sed three times q
day, and a there were only SIX OF us
i'm d compartment we could sleep on the
journey"
Some Algerian and Souegalese sol
diers are leaning out OF one end OF
the carriage Of "a train. Several have
bandaged hands; others have arms
bound up TO their shoulders. Most o.
them seem 10 be smoking with pro
diglous pride porcelain pipes, which
were once the solacc Of quiet evenings
in some Rhineland village.
\ swarthy giant, pulling hard at his
pine. evidently 10 cover spasms Of pain
from his wounded hands. tells IN
broken French less eloquent than his
burning eyes, how he and seventeen
others Of the Black Troops, OF whom
France is singuiarly proud. captured
mitraillouses. They had been ordered,
along with an infantry. TO hold line
bordored by "a thickct suddenly
column Of German dragons discovered
them and opened upon ,hcm with
quick-frers at 400 Yards distance
eighteen Scnegalese thcrcupon charged
furiously with fixed bayonc,s and
cleared the position.
But VIC got some word cuts, for H.
.s cas-, 20 reach @ Boch ,slanc for
German cayalryman) when orc is on
foot" And hc ended by explaining
that hc ard his fellows had thrown
away their boots before going into ac-
tior. not being used TO such encum-
ORANGES. but had afterward taken the
boots Of some dead Germans. so as
not 20 seem 10 have lost any Of our