Evening star., 1915-03-23
Entire Nation in the Grip of
Typhus and Other Dead
Iy Diseases.
NOT ENOUGH WELL MEN
TO DIG GRAVES FOR DEAD
Pays High Tribute to the Devotion
and Skill of American Doctors
and Nurses.

LoNptpN, hdTcn %. l. 10 -. HI j nSt
as it took fire to stop the great plague
in London. so fires are needed to clear
Serbia of typhus. Infected houses and
the clothing of the people must be
burned. as the disease is carried by
xermin. which is omnipresent," said Sir
Thomas Upton in a statement to the
Associated Press. in which he re-
counted the appalling conditions in
Serbia, where he spent a considerable
time in personal Investigations.
met on the country roads the sick,
too weak to crawl to hospital: bull
lock carts were gathering them up.
often woman and children We're lead
ing bullocks, the husband and father
in the cart raving with fever. Scarcely
enough people remain unstricken to dig
graves for the dead. which lie exposed
in the cemeteries.
Help Imperatively Needed.
The situation is entirely beyond the
control Of the present force, which i'm
peratively needs all the help il can get.
tents, hospitals. doctors nurses. modern
appliances and clothing to replace the
garments full OF typhus- bearing vermin.
Describing the hospital at Ghevgheli,
where occurred the death Of DR. James
r. Donnelly of the American Red Cross,
Wnom Sir Thomas calls one of the great
est heroes of the war. he said:
Inc place is a village in barren, un-
cultivated country. the hospital an old
TOBACCO factory. formerly belonging 10
Abdul Hamid. In it were crowded / 400
persons. without blankets or mattresses
or or even ven straw-inen lying in the clothes
haHr
months, swarming with vermin. An dis
eases-typhus. typhoid. dysentery and
smallpox-were herded together. In such
state: DIR. Donnelly found the hospital.
"Here ne flad a force of six American
doctors. twelve American nurses and
three Serbian doctors.
Doctors and Nurses Sick,
When I visited the hospital three
American doctors, the three Serbian doc
tors and nine of the nurses were Them
selves sick.
The patients were waited on by
Austrian prisoners. The fumes of reek-
ing wounds and fever were unbea rable.
The patients objected to the windows
being opened. and DR.. Donnelly was
forced to break the panes.
The first thing DIR. Donnelly did on
his arrival was to test the water,
which he found infected. He then i'm
provised boilers of oil drums, in which
TO Doll water for use. The boilers
saved 500 lives said DR.. Donnelly. He
also built ovens in which to bake the
clothes of the patients, but he was
not provided with proper sterilizing
apparatus.
No braver people exist than the Ser
oians; they have never word Of COM
plant. In one ward l saw a fever pa
tient. his magnificent voice booming
songs to cheer his comrades Some
were in delirium. calling for mother
Bread Spreads Infection.
"One source of Infection Is the army
black bread. which is the only ration
of the troops.
The patients in the hospital receive
daily loaf. which they put in their
bed or under their pillow. Later the
unused loaves are bought by peddlers
and are resold, spreading disease
as far as sanitation is concerned A
Serbian soldier is given rifle, hand
srenades and, perhaps, part of uni
form, but otherwise looks after him
self; his rations are coarse bread.
The street cleaning and hospital
waiting are done by Austrians. who are
rapidly thinning from typhus and
other diseases The best hospital in
Ine baikans is at Belgrade, under Dr.
Edward w. Ryan of the American con-
tingent. where there are 1900 patients.
Dr. Ryan kept the hospital neutral
during the Austrian occupation and
accomplished wonders diploma tfcallv
at that time. He is worshiped by the
people. '
Dr. Ryan says that the greatest
labor is keeping the hospital free from
vermin. The typhus affects men the
most mos severely. Women come next, and
n.
The symptoms in the present epidemic
begin like those of grip. The disease
lasts fifteen days, with fever and de-