Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1917-12-27

Many of these narratives have been
brought by and women who, under the aus
pieces of the American Red Cross, have been inves-
tigatng conditions created by the invasion of the
Hun. The range of vision of these investigators
extends from the battle front to the cottage hun
dreds of miles away where wars misery-more in
sidious than bombs the fighting front-has pene-
trated
Woven together these accounts make composite
story of devastation and suffering on the part of
noncombatants comparable with the torture
dured by the soldiers in the trenches; of refugees
staring blankly at cratered areas where villages
once fourished; of thousands of children, too
young understand crying for mothers who can
not hear their cries of children poisoned by gas
bombs thrown from German mortars of enacated
children sent by hundreds from behind the German
line; of crippled soldiers to reeducate and of
civilian and women to comfort and provide
with necessaries of life-a story of battling
against disease and of the heroism of mercy
Sometimes the cable supplements tales told by
returned travellers. A day two ago, the war
council of the American Red Cross received cable
gram the Paris headquarters of that organiza-
tion containing simple statement OF everyday
occurrence the French frontier, yet graphic in
its portrayal of phase of wars frightfulness.
1t read:
The Red Cross at Evian.
"There arrived last week at Evian where the
repatries from France and Belgium are received
back into France, train loaded with Belgian chill
dren- There were $50 of them, thin, sickly, alone
all between ages four and twelve children of
who refused to work for the Germans and OF
mothers who let their children go rather than let
clinging to the oldest girls all crying. boys
trying to cheer. They had come all the long way
alone On the platform were the Red Cross work
to meet them, doctors and nurses with anDu-
lances for the little sick waiting out
side the station The children poured out of the
station marched along the street shouting. Meat.
meat; going to have meat" to the Casino,
where they were given square meal, the first in
many months. Again and again, while they ate,
they broke spontaneously into songs in French
against the German songs which they had evidently
learned The Red Cross doctor examined
them. Their little clawlike hands were significant
their undernourished bodies but the doctor said
1--WE have them in time. few weeks of proper
feeding and they will pull up
Evian is a French resort on Lake Geneva! and
every day thousand homeless people arrive
there, 60 per cent of whom are children. Thirty
per cent of the older people die the first month
exhaustion They once the occupants
o happy homes in northern France. The Huns
invaded their country, swept on past their homes
and left them behind the enemys line. The invaders
their masters, impressed them into labor and
transported thousands of them to work in German
fields and factories. Those who are returned by
the thousand daily by train through Switzerland
are all that left of these men and women and
children-manhood and womanhood Slapped until
the vital spark is almost out and longer of
as German captives sent back to die to be
cared for in their helpless condition by their own
people from whom they had been ruthlessly taken
away in their health and strength.
Hope for kaiser's Victims.
Thanks to the American Red cross coming to
the assistance of the overburdened French agen-
ates. Besides hospital and convalescent home
for children at Evian, the Red Cross is operating
ambulance service for the returning repatres
Ten automobiles are in commission Tor handnng
sick and infrm persons. and a tuberculosis hos
pital near by is planned. When the returning re-
patries reach the railroad station and have been
cheeringy greeted by crowds of compatriots they
taken in charge by Red Cross workers. Nour-
ishment is provided and medical attention be-
slowed. Baths made available and fresh cloth
ing supplied. According to American eye wit
, neSses of scenes at the railway station at Evian
there men in the ranks who have suffered
broken arms, the bones of which have been set by
the Germans that the hand is turned the wrong
way. They present horrible deformty denoting
form of cruelty which excuses itself the
ground that the man, should he regain his
former strength, will be unfit for military duty.
In many of these American Red Cross doc
have been put to the doubly painful task of
again breaking the and resetting it,
to remove the terrible deformity purpoSely in
hicted.
William Allen White of Kansas and Henry ]. Al
den, who is prominent in the public life of the
state are among the Red Cross workers
who recently have returned from tours of fnspec-
don in France According their statements it is
scarcely possible to exaggerate the suffering
brought upon the civilian population of the coun-
try; suffering, however. that is being alleviated
to the greatest possible extent by the American
OF Volunteers its treasure without stint Ac
eoraing to Mr.. White the real work of the
far ~ America is concerned. will be carried on by
the BED Cross in France this winter. Not only