El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-01-01
SERVIAN FLIGHT
MOST FRIGHTFUL
IN ALL HISTORY.
Men, Women and Children
in Rush From Enemy,
Die By Thousands.
WHOLE FAMILIES
PERISH IN GROUPS


| terrible story of the flight Of the
Servian population before the ad-
, vancing Germsn-Austrian forces is
/ told by an Edinburgh woman on the
staff of one of the British hospitals
She says:
Dante never conceived anything to
equal in horror the sights and sounds
we have been through, and those of us
who have come through it will never
forget On the main road where I had
my first view of the fleeing multitudes,
there was one never-ending stream of
terrified women and children and old
men. varied here and there by a broken
spirited and detected straggler from
the fighting ranks, who crawled along
with shamed mien. as though he were
conscious that he was out OF place in
that panic-stricl1en thrOng- Just be-
yond, the road becomes a mountain
track. rough and rising upward with a
gradient that sOrely taxed the strength
of the fugitives The snow had fallen
overnight. and it was in a bleak. biting
cold stretch of hillside on which the
fleeing mass I witnessed found them
selves at dawn on the morning of Fri
day Burdened with their household
goods and what scanty food they could
collect. the mass of weary fugitiTes
kept struggling onward in spite Of in
creaSing WEAKNESS until the upward
climb became too much for them, and
they fell by the wayside.
TrampIed To Death
"Of those who fell thus the fate at
times was terrible They were tramped
underfoot by the mass of their fellows
coming after, who were so thick on
that narrow path that there was no
stopping or turning back
Where the greater width of path
permitted greater freedom Of move
ment, the fate of those who fell out
was hardly better. There they lay ex-
hausted on their snowy couch until
merciful death claimed them. Some of
the sights were indescribably terrible
pains, who sank down by the wayside
TO give a few brief seconds Of life to
their babes in happier times, perhaps.
looked forward to as hopefully as those
OF any British matron. 1t was heart
rending TO come on such scenes They
were by no means infrequent but We
were helpless to give aid
Near TO the strength of the
stragglers began to give way more and
more, and the terrifying news went
enemy were only two days march beEl
hind such was the terror inspired by
the ravages Of the enemy, particularly
the bands Of Bulgar irregulars, that
the fugitiTes. who were exhausted, re-
sumed their march, preferring TO go on
until they dropped dead rather than
fail into the hands of the enemy. At
the points where stragglers dropped to
die this was the fear ever present in
their minds, that they should not die
before the pursuing host were on them.
The further we went on our way,
the more terrible became the roadside
scenes Frozen corpses lay all round,
and the dogs were feeding on the car
cases. have heard tales more terrible
OF creatures that once were men so far
reduced by the ordeal they had gone
through that they were as ready as the /
dogs 10 make a meal Of their fellows .
whose troubles were over, but I only T
saw one such case myself.
Three Generations in Death Group.
A turn in the mountain path I.
brought US TO a pathetic sight. 4
Stretched on the hillside stiff and cold I
were the bodies Of an old man and a 4
woman, two younger women, and four
children. all nesting together as I
though Tor warmth It looked like a I
family party Of three generations that /
nad followed the path until exhaustion Z
had forced them to lie down for the i
sleep that is always the sleep of death I
under the conditions in which they 4
were placed.
The flight was full Of false hopes /
A days journey from , the
news was passed along that the French
and the British were in the town in
force Then was such a load lifted 1
from weary hearts, and many who had
previously felt that they could drag
themselves no further summoned up
stores Of energy to take them the re-
naming distance to safety. Dropping
from hunger, with weary, bleeding, or
clustered feet the mass Of fugitIves
streamed into the haven of refuge late
that night only to find that the hope /
that had made possible this last su-
preme effort Of endurance was false
one The disappointment was terrible.
and hopeless despair laid hold of all
men, women and children sank down !
sobbing in the narrow almost deserted I
streets, where the stiffness Of the
grave was only broken now and then
BY the dismal bowls of the starving
dogs seeking prey"