The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-04-09
$4,000 SERBIAN
B0YSDRIVENT TO
DEATH HINFLIGHT
Only 1000 Reach Refuge on
VidO Island. Where Daily
Hundred Succumb.
"NOTHlNG HUMAN
BUT THEIR EYES'
spec,di correspondence to TUG sux

Sptc,d Correspondsnce to Tue Sux.
ROME. March lin a grove of
orange and olive trees close to the sea
on the small, island Of vido near Corfu
thousands OF tents were pitched about
two months ago TO shelter 10000 Serbian
soldiers. the Youngest and most ex-
haustcd men Of the Serbian army after
N" retreat across Albania to the Adri-
attic.
The cncampmeu', however. proved TOO
large. as the number ~ soldiers for
whom accommodat lon had been provided
was greatly overcs tiinated. In fact only
1000 soldiers arrived and they only ar
rived 20 die. They we're so utterly ex-
hausted that nothing human was left
OF them but their eyes" Hundreds Of
them died as soon az they were landed,
many are dying every day. Only few
are Still alive. but their death is only
question Of weeks. perhaps Of days,
ana before long the encampment will be
empty ana not a single soldier will he
iei, on the snail island of Nido.
When Serbia was invaded by the Ger
mans. Austrians and Bulgar'ans and the
retreat OF the Serbian army across Al
bania 10 the Adriatc became necessary
In every town and village all the young
men who had not joined the coiors. boys
who had not vet reached military sge
tunder - years old. some much younger
barely IL in facD, were ordered in all
haste TO serve their country. They fol-
lowed the drummer boys purposely sent
To summon them in every town and viii
lag" and marched to the depots. whore
they received cap. mn overcoa. and q
bread bag and thus became soldiers.
More than 10000 new soldiers were
collected ana column Of boys" was
formed and placed IN charge Of a
mounted genuarne. whose orders were
to lead them in safety 20 the frontier
sent an Long March to See.
When the frontier between Serbia art
Albania was reached the Rendarme told
the boys to march straight ahead and.
pointing to the west. lie added that there
they would lind the sea and ships. and
then left them.
Without II leader or a guide. the boys
crossed the frontier and ma rched through
Albania in search OF the sea and the
ships which they hoped 10 find within a
couple of days AZ the utmost They
were overtaken and passed by columns
OF old soldiers. armed. equipped and
the had and encouraged them to follow.
No one has described how long u took
these boys to reach the sea and how
I much they suffered from hunger. sX-
posure and fatigue. They ate roots and
! the bark ~ trees and yet they marched
! on toward tho sea. A, night they hui-
/ died together for warmth and slept on
! the snow. but many never awoke in the
! morning and every day the number de-
/ -.
| Avlona only 5000 were lef, out Of the
10000 that crossed the frontier.
II is useless TO attempt a description
OF what they suffered as the story oi
/ that march toward the sea and the ships
I is told and understood III few words
Fifteen thousand died on the way and
those who saw the sea aud the ships
mad nothing human left OF them bu;
their eyes" And what eyes
+, The Italians at A,ona had no hos
pital arcommod alton for 5000 They
could not possibly allow these Serbian
I boys covered with vermin and dec!nateC
by contagious diseases TO enter the town
4, They had them .ncamped in the opei
country close to a river and gave then
/ all the food they could spare. army bis
cults and bully beef The waters O,
the river had unfortunately been con
| taminated as Corpscs in an advance.
I state Of decomposition had been thrown
in, but the Serbian boy soldiers drank
I all the same.
Only 5000 Boys Left.
BY the time tha; the ships TO conve,
. them 10 Corfu arrived the $1,000 hal
been reduced to 5000. About 1000 more
/ boys died during the twenty four hours
journey between Avlona and Nido ans
| thus only 1000 reached the encampinnn
in the grove of orange and olive trees
: by the sea on the ISLAND Of Eido
The French and Serbian doctors at
tached to the encamrmcnt said that Il
il were possible to have a bed for each
boy. an unlimited supply OF milk and
large stan Of nurses perhaps out ~
the 1000 boys landed at Nido about two
thirds could be saved. There are no
| beds, no milk and no nurses at Eido
however. and despite the hard work oi
the doctors and their efforts to iinprov ise
a suitable diet during the last mortl
more than 100 boys have died every day
As II is impossible to bury them or
the island a ship, the st, Francis d'Assis
stcams into the small port OF Vido every
morning and takes the hundred or more
bodies ou, TO sea for burial The allied
war vessels at Corfu lower their flags "A:
half mast their crews are mustered or
deck with caps on and their pickets
present arms as the St Fra ancis d'Assis
steams by with her cargo OF dead foi
burial in that sea toward which the boy,
were ordered to march.
= And the survivors lying on the straw
waiting for their turn to die with moth
ing human left OF them hut their eyes
must wonder as they look at the sea
and the ship with the bodies of theil
dead comrades on board whether this Is
the sea and the ship that the only leader
they had. the Serbian gendarme tina,
saw them safely To the frontier alludn,
to when he raised his arm and pointed
to the west and told them to march n