Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-04-11
MAXINE ELLIOTT TELLS
OF HER WORK IN rzLG|uM
finis Refugees Stuffed Like Sartines
In Barns, Pig-Stics and
HenhOuScS.
40 HELP FROM AMERICANS
Disappointed at Lack OF Response to
Appeal Recently Made to Own
Countrymcn In England-Daily
Distributes Food and Clothing.

Maxine Elliott reports finding the Bel
%ian refugees stuffed like sardines in
he barns, even in the pig sites and
henhouses-in fact. any place that has
q roof"
II have still not been able to ind
any shelter for my ambulance within
radius Of ten miles," she said to an
Associated Press correspondent who
sound her or that vehicle. ankle deep
ga mud and dripping with rain
81 stuff the ambulance full daily with
food and clothing" she continued. and
make the pitiful round Of as many
cases az | can
II recently wrote an open letter TO
My Own Ccuntrywoncn' In England
FOR aid. but onl? English people re-
sponded. 1t was a great surprise To
me. for thought ! might get help
from America and it'll" or nothing
from England. but. as usual. the un-
expected happened. From England
got a little over $4,000 IN cash and
between $4,000 and $4,000 worth of
SUN for the barge"
The barge" liz tho Julia. which the
American actress herself conducted
through the canals from Calais TO the
remote corners Of West Flanders, TO
reach the starving refugees between
the lighting fronts.
Il can hardly describe to you the
pitiful condition of these poor refu-
gees" she continued. only to-day we
have clothed twelve families from top
10 toe. from ten TO fourteen people in
each family. II is impossible for them
TO find shelter, and they are stuffed
like sardines In the barns. even in the
pig stiles and henhouses in fact. in any
place that has a roof
In a house close by eighty soldiers
sleep on the ground floor. and In n
Tiny room adjoining arc fragments of
several families. Afteen people in all.
Two OF the children are down with
typhoid, one on the floor and one in an
old biscuit box. and this Is the sor; of
thing we encounter daily. but we have
managed TO make a great Improvement
in conditions. though II is quite impos
sthle to house them any better. There
Is not enough room for the army, and
as many civilians as possible are sent
away continually, but still they come
on-shelled out of their homes. and
buneted about from one wretchcd place
to another
HARMLESS CIVILIANS
ARE CHIEF SUFFERERS
II have arranged with bakery
close by to bake several hundred
loaves OF bread n day, and yesterday
bomb dropped in front Of the door.
killing a man and three horses |,
tore a hole through one corner OF the
roof and broke every pane of glass
in the bakery. and all the yeast and
bread for the days supply mad TO be
thrown await was fun Of glass
splinters. Several other bombs were
thrown little further on, killing eight
people in all. II seems such n sense
less sort OF warfare. for no one but
lntlc children and harmless civilians
arc the sufferers.
What horror. horror everywhere
the glorious thing called war brings
in its train We see nothing but sad
sights. and yet the people themselves
arc not sad 1t is surprising what
people can live through. There is a
family OF i've living in n hand cart
close by. and have been there five
months. They have rooted tho ton
over with sackinG and "A strip OF can
vas. and there they tuck themselves
away. and the soldiers feed them. OF
course. the military authorities say tho
refugees are gone now. because they
don't them with their little
bundles crying by the roadside. but.
poor things, they have crowded into
every available corner, and cling to
tho idea tina, they may he able to Green
back TO their homes when the bonn
harding ceases. by that time there
won't he much left OF their poor little
homes, fear.
1t seemed so homogeneous tho other
Sunday to hear the church bells Ginning
all day and the cannons keeping a
dreadful accompaniment In tho eve
ming a soldier brought us some Ger
man souvenirs taken from one OF those
killed the day before with Nit Colt
FUR koenig und Faderlanr on the
helmet and Colt Nit Uns on the belt
To relieve the pressure on my barge
have had To establish another depot
At Dumoch. near La Pannc, and have
taken in the vito of commandont
there. Nine. lie Fevrc to help. as we'll
as the wife OF another officer, and I
issue tickets for the people to present
and obtain their supplies also give
tickets on the local bakeries as well
as at La Panne and Bulscamp and
nave still another little depot at the
burgomaster's. II is astounding to see
Tho amount of relief the old Julia Is
ahle to provide. and I am so thank
ful. 1t is all organized now quite per-
Iectly, so that there is no waste and
every bit OF food and clothing goes
where II is intended | see to that
myself. Committees wait on mo for
miles and miles around representing
their own suffering little commune
and up TO now I have been able to
keep them all in some measure, if not
altogether.
COULD NOT DREAM
THERE WAS SUCH MISERY
"One could not dream there was so
much misery in the whole world!
fables apparently arrive every minute,
and from the wonderful cargo ! have
mayed to fish out II lot of complete
laycttes. Kind people from Australia
and South Africa even have sent me
great quantities Of things. One won
ders where the family disappears when
y these poor women have their babies
for there are never less than eight or
ton persons in one tiny room. We got
to 1@a ~ c.