The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1917-10-23
GIRL TELLS
CRUESOME STORY

The following letter from a repatri.
ated French girl, published by the
Matin paris, France) gives a viviC
idea of the sufferings endured by the
inhabitants in the invaded districts o.
France
"Breteuil, "a Aout, 1917.
Monsieur have the honor to ad
dress the following letter to you in
order that you may be cognizant oi
what has been going on in the occu
pied region of France, to which | am
returning after passing five months in
Belgium. lived with my mother and
my two sisters at (Aisne). On
October IL, 1916, the German authorl-
ties announced that all girls and all
married women without children
should present themselves In the
equare of the Marie at five O'Clock
next day. l went there; German DO
licemen classified us, penned us up
and proceeded to sort us out. They
chose twenty girls and women at ran
dom, without telling us what the OBJ
jeet was. When they had finished
this sorting out, which was carried on
amid tears, they told those who had
been chosen that they must be at the
station next day at ten o'clock with
their packages, without giving their
relations any chance of raising any
opposition or even of knowing where
they were going.
Three young girls from .
who had been selected, refused. They
had to give way to the policemen, who
came to their homes to fetch them ;
they were taken away next day and
treated in the meantime like refrac-
tory persons. The mother of one of
them, seeing her daughter of nineteen
years of age about to be taken from
her. resisted the policeman. After
having been harshly spoken to she
was sent to prison for fortnight and
her daughter was taken away all the
same. From October Is, the relations
of the young girls went on ceaselessly
AutAl ACNuAh Ou bCIC1AONl
the kommandur at then un-
der the direction of X, decided that
they should come back and that 9th
ers should replace them. Fresh tears
and fresh sufferings! 90 December z
notice was given to the mayors that
they were to furnish an exact list of
young girls and of married women
without children, with no distinction
as to respectability. rank or charac-
ter. At A.. eight young girls were
selected by the Germans, so at N, 25
at B., Is at D., and so on in all the
other communes whcih had not sent
girls in October | and one of my
sisters were selected to go. My
mother. who was very ill, begged that
one of the two might be left to her.
and / remained on the list with orders
to be at the station on the following
evening. We were then joined by
more than $50 others from the kom-
mandatur. A roll-call took place in
the court of the hotel next day at
midday.
1--WE set out without our parents
knowing where We were being taken,
or why. We travelled TO X, where
we arrived at Z o'clock on a cold even
ing; soldiers were waiting for us. We
were sorted out according to our COM
munes and sent to the little villages
round about. ! was hoisted into a
military wagon with my luggage, to-
gether with four girls from Nj. and
three from A.. in the middle OF the
night. without even knowing where
we were going. We arrived at 5. at
l o'clock in the morning; a village
with eighty-fve inhabitants. There
we were taken to an empty house, in
which soldiers had been quartered. a
perfect hovel, without food or means
of warming ourselves; in this way we
passed the night and the next day
the nine of us tried to install ourselves
in this melancholy abode.
Two days later we received orders
to go to work, and from December .
til the month of March we were
Obliged to work under German au-
thority, commanded by soldiers, at
mems work; carting manure and sort
ing potatoes; we were obliged to re-
make the mattresses Of the civilians
and empty and refill the German SOL
diers' straw mattresses. We suffered
from cold, but above all from hunger
We were forbidden to touch the pota-
toes. but sometimes some of the more
humane among the soldiers let us
take some. Most cruel of all was the
prohibition of correspondence with
our families. My mother, like the
others, begged the kommandatur foi
news. and petitions were made. From
December, 1916. till March, 1917. she
had no news whatever, nor had we
Our relations grief was the greater
because we were mixed up with wo
men of bad character, and | can as
sure you the most criminal thing tho
Germans have done was TO make
live in such surroundings and in suc'