The Cordova daily times., 1917-05-10
PA I HE T|C ARE APPEALS FUR
 MISSING
(By Associated Press)


 dressed to the king of Spain. It wa. delivered at the royal palace to tho kings personal secretary, Senor Dor Emilio Maria de Torres, minister pie nipotentiary, who, after reading it passed it to the representative of the Associated Press. who chanced to be present
 The cablegram said "Our son en- listed as aviator in the British Royal Flying Squadron. He was last seen flying over the English channel on De cember last. Since then nothing is known of him, and he is officially re- ported as missing. An agOnized mo- ther and father appeal to your majesty to obtain information and relieve their terrible suspense"
 Senor de Forrest at once set in mo ton the machinery of investigation through the Spanish embassy at Der lin. This was a typical case, one among more than 100000, which are being investigated under the personal direction of King Alfonso, and which constitute one of the most stupendous humanitarian works created by the war.
 Judged by results alone the vastness of the work is apparent; 2O0,OOO cases traced, of which 15O,00O are disposed of and 50000 still under investigation. A great number of soldiers, reported missing" have been located alive and in prison camps and thus the agony of suspense has been removed from thousands of homes. In much larger number of cases, unfortunately, the inquiry has established the death of the missing soldier, while in still a greater number of cases no trace of the missing has been found.
 Besides this. 3O,OOO civilians in the invaded sections of Belgium and France have been located for their families, 5000 seriously wounded have been brought back through the kings intercessiOn; fOrty-four pardons have been granted, of which nearly twenty were death sentences, mostly of wo- men accused of being spies. It is probable that Edith Cavell, the famous English nurse executed at Brussels, would have been saved had there been time to carry out the kings efforts.
 It is not only a vast work but it probably deals with more ividual tragedies and more human emotions than any branch of activity created by the war. Pouring in here to the palace, by cable, telegraph and letter, are the pleas of mothers for lost sons, wives for lost husbands, and children for lost fathers and brothers. Each tells a story of terrible suspense. Most of the appeals are from poor people, who write with touching simplicity and with doubt as to how they should address a king. But the simplicity of the appeals has only stimulated the cal htSlllCob Ol lHC hlltS S GllOIlS. ne has organized this extensive system of search here in the palace alongside the royal apartments, where he can come and go frequently to see the work as it progresses and personally direct some inquiry of pressing ur- gency. A dozen large chambers look ing out on the royal courtyard are de- voted to the work, with scores of off cials,a including some of the titled Yso- men of Spain, and of the orders. of the Assumption and the Sacred Heart who devote all their time to this hu- many of these black badges, indicating or de Torres an opportunity was given to see the system in operation
 Long lines of records contain the thousands of cases, classified and in, dexed, so that any case can be traced in moment. Each nationality has a different colored card - blue for the English, yellow for the French, green for the Italians. Both sides of the war are represented in these colors and Turks, as we'll as entente allies. Each card records a brief history of the case. Special devices protrude above the cards to signal any notable result. A small black ribbon above a card indicates death. There were many of these blacg badges, indicating the sweep of death. The numbers of aviators who have never been traced is also very high.
 The appeals of mothers and child ren are arranged alphabetically in huge cases and constitute the most touching feature of the work Glanc ing among these appeals one could see the amOny each one had for some stricken home. One French mother wrote the king:
 ..'I suffer night and day in not know ing what has become of my dear boy and I would prefer, I believe, the cer tainty of his death and of having ; tomb where I could go to pray rathe than to live in this endless and crue uncertainty, which consumes me as b. a slow fire. It is horrible, Monsieu the King, for the two brothers of thi poor boy have already died on tn field of honor, and if our last sor Charles, is dead we have no more sons A weeping mother puts her suprem hope in your majesty"
 A wife made this simple appeal 'Seigneur, I appeal to your kindnes for my husband, missing since SeI L.. IL