Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-04-24

@Cdldlo, April lO.-MdAlnc ElllOLC mas
met with remarkable success in get.
ting provisions to starving Belgians
in the fighting zones Of Flanders. Pei
sonally conducting her EXPEDITION by
barge, toWed through the canals Of
France and Flanders, she penetrated
the little corner where the Belgian
standard still flies between the guns
Of the Allied. and German armies.
1T is a miracle to have got here"
said Miss Elliott to an Associated
Press correspondent who recently met
her and stWosWomen companions in
the midst Of their work. 1t is against
every rule for a woman to be at the
actual front, and Miss Elliott succeed
ed in her project only after weeks Of
''Machiavellian scheming an slavery"
The American actress enlisted her
EXPEDITION as a part Of the services IF
the American Committee for relief in
Belgium, but financed it largely her.
self, and personally conducted it in
the hope of reaching the destitute in
the country where the fighting still
RACES, for these receive little or no
help from the big funds administered
through Brussels.
"We had on board $4,000 worth
of food and a dazen enormous bales
of clothing when our homely barge.
the Julia, left Calais" said Miss ELF.
oft. Besides herself there we're onl;'
three members Of the party, with the
exception of three Belgian soldiers
who looked after the barge. Two Of
the party, besides Miss Elliott were
women, intimate friends Of the &C
ltress.
I'VE set out from Calais on Febru.
airy A., she said, after overcoming in.
Vulnerable petty annoyances that me
cannot foresee because in peace time
there is no precedent for them. For
instance, it was impossible for us to
buy mattresses in Calais. We had to
beg four of the bae commandant so
that the sailors would not have to
sleep on the floor.
1--WE also succeeded in borrowing
from the army commissariat 10000
tins of milk, two tons of potatoes, 500
barrels Of sugar, and hogshead after
hogshead of salt pork to supplement
our cargo" .... .,
The barge, which the correspondent
has invited to inspect, was spic and
span from the %scrubbing which Miss
Elliott had given it. Its just as COM
fly here as at Harris bourne she said,
except we do all the manual labor
ourselves. We scrub the floors, do all
the cooking, make the beds, and work
like cooks, housemaids and odd mel
combined. We have cooked for the
soldiers and the tug crew as we'll, If
you please, and we drop into bed each
night, exhausted but content.
my feet are done up in cotton wool,
but one doesn't mind. i am going to
wear sabots like the peasants after
this, with wooden stockings under.
meath. And my poor hands! Any
cook in the world would be ashamed
to own them. a.
At Dunkirk the party had it's bap-
tism of fire. II saw a house blown to
bits SO yards in front of me- said Miss
Elliott. None of our party was hurt,
but seven people were killed a little
further on.
81 must have been mad not to have
brought a camera-for 1t has been
thrillingly interesting country through
which we have passed. We have seen
Taubes flying overhead, and heard the
boom Of cannon. As. far as the eye
could see, trenches, trenches, tren-
ches. There were funny little obser-
walton houses in the tree-tops, wire
less poles, barbed wire entanglements,
and swarms of soldiers living like
half drowned rats, poor things. in a
sea of mud. The saluted our flag as
we passed, and gazed in amazed wond.
er at the spectacle of women in these
places.
"Near Adinkerque, a gunboat full Of
English officers from Admiral Ayres
steamed down to meet us.
They were overjoyed to seeus. 1t was
nice to be greeted SO enthusiastically.
we couldn't fatter ourselves
there was anything personal in it. 1t
was only because they hadn't spoken
to a woman for over thee months and
they were longing for news from
home. There were several men j
knew. [
"The biggest gunboat of the squad
was lifted clean out of the water
last week by a shell bursting under