Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-11-07
.BELG|ANS ARE ST0|CAL
IN THEIR M|SFORTUNES
Grateful for British Help-Housed
in Earl's Court Exhibition
Place.

Foreign Correspondence of The Star
LONDON. October 24-The local gov
eminent board is now engaged ON the
very biggest of all its schemes Tor
housing the Belgian refugees, of whom
there are now over 200. 600 in this coun-
try. It is establishing them in the courts
and hall of Earrs Court exhibition. just
evacuated by sunny Spain" Ultimately
5000 people may be crowded in there.
hut at present there are only about
200. and. even so. the task of caring
for them is an enormous one. The vast
hall which last year was the scene OF
mimic naval battles and last summer
WAS disguised as a Spanish cathedral. is
now dining room so vast that the
tables look like islands in an ocean.
Alogn all the seats to the top of the
amphitheater the mems mattresses are
placed and carefully watched. for many
lof the refugees desiring greater soli-
tude love 10 drag their mattresses away
and make nests for themselves in the
Knocks and odd corners with which the
place aboundS. On the first nights. when
the hundreds of terror-stricken. Weep
ing fugitives arrived in a state of misery
which the attendants will never for
selves in the compartments where vend-
"rS once had stalls. comforted because
in their misery they We're together. but,
of course, since then a stricter discipline
has had to be enforced.
The statement that when those fugi-
tives first came they were so exhausted
by their three day starvation that they
We're not allowed solid food, but fed
with soups and tea, perhaps gives bet
ter than anything else an idea OF Their
utter wretchedneSS. The permanent eX-
hibition staff, largely composed of old
soldiers and naval men. is admirably
fitted to deal with the strangers, and
takes an immense interest in them all
talking to a little gray refugee who
had served in the American navy
through the civil war.
The Belgian sailor spoke of his little
general store in Antwerp and the pet
dog which had been left there with a
prayer that il might not love the Ger
mans too much His brother more for
tunate. had carried his rough haired
terrier all the way to Ostend wrapped
in a shawl like baby.
Belgian Police Force.
Earl's Court has it's own Belgian po-
lice force. One of the refugees-an
Antwerp policeman-realizing how de-
sirable it was to keep the rougher class
in order, has enlisted a number of stall
wart countrymen, who wear police
badge, patrol the grounds by day and
sleep in the amphitheater among the
refugees at night The inhabitants are
bewildered by their new surroundings,
as we'll they may be, especially if they
CINE that EarPs Court represents
English domestic architecture, but very
soon they obviously love the place, and
they climb at times to the top of the
water chute to gaze at outside Lon
don.
also visited the Aldwych skating
rink, just off the Strand, which is now
being used a clearing house for the
refugees Here there are too many suf-
fra getteS in control. People who call
to offer homes to refugees are sent by
Mrs. So-andSo to Mrs. So-and-So, who
refers them to another committeewom-
an, until, Disguised, they leave without
accomplishing their object The build
ing was crowded with men, women and
children of all ages, homeless, without
money or goods, but not without
friends.
Here was a Belgian soldier with his
uniform stained and worn, standing to
drink a cup of coffee side by side with