Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1917-12-28


than the cabled dispatches which we
| ..eS,s.s,I are accustomed to read under the
/ tE2l vague date line, Somewhere in
toEz~ France"
Many Of these narratives have been
brought by men and women who. under the aus
pices of the American Red Cross, have been inves-
ttgatng 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-Isore In
sidous than bombs on the fighting front-has pene-
| trated.
Woven together these accounts make composite
story Of devastation and suffering the part Of
noncombatants comparable with the torture
dured by the soldiers in the trenches; of refugees
! staring bankly at cratered areas where villages
once hourished; of thousands of children, too
young to understand, crying for mothers who can
not hear their cries; of children poisoned by gas
| bombs thrown from German mortars; OF emaciated
children sent by hundreds from behind the German
line; of crippled soldiers TO re-educate and OF
civilian men and women TO comfort and provide
with the 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 from the Paris headquarters of that organiza
ton containing a simple statement OF everyday
occurrence on 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 Evfan. 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 of four and twelve, children of
men who refused 10 work for the Germans and OF
mothers who let their children go rather than let
them starve. They poured of the train. little ones
clingng to the oldest ones, girls all crying, boys
trying TO cheer. They had come all the long way
alone. On the platform were the Red Cross work
ers TO meet them, doctors and nurses with ambu-
lances for the little sick ones were waiting out
side the station. The children poured out of the
station marched along the street shouting Meat.
meat; we are going to have meat" TO the Casino,
where they We're given a 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 in secret. The Red Cross doctor examined
them Their little clawlike hands significant
Of their undernourished bodies but the doctor said:
I'VE have them in time. few weeks Of proper
feeding and they will pull up.
Evian Is French resort on Lake Geneva, and
every day one thousand homeless people arrive
there 60 per cent of whom are children. Thirty
per cent of the older people die the first month
from exhaustion. They were once the occupants
of happy homes in northern France. The Huns
invaded their country. swept on past their homes
and left them behind the enemys line. The invaders
now 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 are left of these men and women and
chiIdren-manhood and womanhood Slapped until
the vital spark is almost out and no longer OF use
rs German eaptives, sent back TO die or 10 be
cared for in their helpless condition by their
people from whom they had been ruthlessy taken
away in their health and strength.
Hone for Kaiser's Victims.
Thanks to the American Red cross. coming TO
The assistance of the overburdened French agen-
cies fer mercy, there is hope for these unfortun-
ates Besides hospital and convaeScent home
for children at Evian the Red Cross is operating
an ambulance service for the returning repatries
Ten automobiles are in commission for handling
Kick and inirm persons, and a tuberculosis hos
pitaI near by Is planned When the returning re-
oatrles reach the railroad station and have been
,neeringly greeted by crowds OF eompatricts they
are taken in charge by Red Cross workers Nour-
shment Is provided and medical attention be-
slowed Baths are made available and fresh cloth
ne is supplied. According 10 American eye Wit
lesses. of scenes at the railway station at Esian,
here are men in the ranks who have suffered
broken arms the bones OF which have been set by
he Germans thst the hand is turned the wrong
say They present horrible deformity, denoting
form OF cruelty which excuses itself the
round that the man. should he ever regain his
ormer strength. VIII be unfit for military duty.
n many of these cases American Red Cross doc
ors have been put to the douby painful task OF
gain breaking the arm and resetting II. so as
0 remove the terrible detormity purposeiy In
icted-
William Allen White Of Kansas and Henry j. Al
en- who is prominent In the public life of the
anne state. are among the Red Cross workers
no recently have returned from tours Of inspec-
on in France. According TO their statements II Is
,arcely possible to exaggerate the suffering
chi y,rop fha o. ne n
y; a suffering however that Is being alleviated
, the greatest possible extent by the American
ed Cross. which is sending Its experts, its army
volunteers and it's treasure without stint Ac
riding to Mr.. White. the real work Of the war.
r as America Is concerned. will be carried 90 by