The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1915-07-31

warsaw anu thlOu6hOo NhS O0otSh
zcne of operations centers attention
on the colossal tragedy of Poland,
the second that unhappy country has
endured, the first having stirred
America to it's depths when Kosci-
uszco went there to tell Poland
own story and left its memories in
the statute of the Polish liberator
in one of the public squares of
Washington.
But that first tragedy was as
nothing compared with what Poland
is now undergoing, the entire thea
ter of eastern fighting being within
the territory of the old kingdom of
Poland, with Russian armies tramp
Ing over the country from the east,
Austrian armies from the south and
German armies from the north and
west, all COMPRISING Poland as in
a double wise from four sides sides
marching and fighting on a scale of
unprecedented magnitude, and
leaving a train of wreck and desOla-
ton even greater than that of Bel
gium or Serbia. This is the testi-
mony of disinterested eye witnesses,
Polish, English and American, who
have recently t%raversed the stricken
regions, including C. c.. Gibson of
the Rockefeller foundation, who
declared on his return that this was
one of the greatest tragedies the
world had known, the devastation of
n-I-:,-. -L-.olsnr -, - No rsCon
Such telegraphic news as trickles
through from Poland, except the Of
fetal reports of military operations
from the three sides, is censored and
garbled and gives only the picture Of
fighting, without that of the pros
trate country under the heels of the
fighters pressing from four sides.
But from y witnesses returning,
from Polish student refugees from
the scourged district, and from let
ters to those who have sought asy-
lGm here, there is a mass of infOr-
nation on the real conditions at the
scene of these gigantic eastern OPP
erations. Much of this information
flows into the hands of Miss Lau-
renee Alma Tadema, daughter Of
the great English artist, who for
three months has been working day
and night as the secretary and di-
recting genius of the Polish relief
committee, whose officers and pa
irons embrace about every name Of
note in England, peers, cabiet
members, ambassadors, artists and
authors.
Think of the magnitude of this
appalling Polish tragedy" said Miss
Alma-Tadema to a representative OF
the Associated Press. 1T is diff
cult for us in England or America,
it'll conditions serene, to cast the
minds eye across Europe and grasp
the fact that all the titanic eastern
battles are being fought on Polish
soil. And it is not only a gigantic
struggle of invading armies from
without, one following another with
all their train of ruin and desOla-
ton, but it partakes almost of CT I'll
conflict with Pole fighting against
Pole.
There are" she went on, about
welve million Russian Poles and
about the same number of Austrian
and Prussian Poles. All of them
Lave that intense longing to see
Poland rise again as a unified king
dom. And yet of these twenty-four
millions Poles, a million Polish
r11l;a.- - finHfiro in tho RncC1an
ranks, and another million are fight
ing in the Austrian and German
ranks = literally brother against
brother. One of the reports reach
ing me tells of a body of Polish in
fantry on the Russian side, charging
at a body of the enemy, with bayo-
nets raised and the battle crys ring
ing from both sides-Only to distin-
guish as they came to grips that
both were shouting the cry of Po-
land - and on hat instant, as if in
spired by a common impulse, every
bayonet was lowered and every MAI
in the facing ranks fell on his knees
and in their common language
breathed the Lords prayer. That
was Poland's prayer on the battle
field of this terrible eastern conflict,
Here is another thoroughly au-
tkenticated CASE said Miss Alma
Tadema: "A Polish infantrymar
raised his rifle and fired point blank
at an advancing foe, only to see him
pitch forward and hear him cry out
in Polish, My God, l leave a wife
and three children And this ago.
nizing dying cry in Polish rang in
the ears of the brother Pole who had
fired the shot. torturing him night
and day, until he literally went mao
and was taken from the ranks a raw
ing maniac.
1T was natural that hte Russian
Pole should cast his lot with Russia
and this loyalty has been rewarded
by the inspired proclamation o
Grand Duke Nicholas promising