Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1918-05-17

ARE STARVING
MISS >ELlZAeETH WEBB, RE-
TURNED FROM TURKEY,
TELLS VIVID STORY.

Miss Elizabeth Webb, who, after
thirty years. service in foreign mission
work and for eighteen months in
Adana, Turkey, doing relief work, re
turned home because she couldn't
stand the sight Of people dying of
hunger when she was powerIess to
help" told Of conditions prevailing
there, at the First Presbyterian
church last night.
Miss Webb told a simple, heart
breaking story Of her experiences
while working among the ,exiled Ar
menians and British prisoners OF war
The Armenians were given the alter
native of death or of denying tho
Christ, blythe mere act of dipping
their fingers in ink and pressing them
to paper. Some Of them fpreswore
the Christian religion, but some OF
them, including one entire crowd OF
400, preferred death.
COULDN'T FEED BOY EVERY DAY
It is among these people that Miss
Webb has worked, among people who,
as one women said, II couldn't feed
my boy every day" So starved are
they shat crowds follow the caravans
Of soldiers and when a mule drops
dead or nearly dead in. the harness
there is nothing to be seen of 1t after
ten or fifteen minutes.
GERMANY COULD CONTROL TURK
"The hideous conditions in Turkey
Miss Webb said, could be controlled
by the German government ii Germany
desired to control them. Eighteen
wagon loads of Armenian babies were
thrown into the Euphrates and when
the American ambassador protested to
the German ambassador In Carlsbad 70
use his influence, the answer received
was, We don't want to. II Berlin
wanted to stop It she could.
Part Of the Red Cross war fund Is
to be used to relieve, insofar as pos
si6le, the existing conditions. MISS
Webb made an earnest plea Tor liberal
subscriptions to the Red Cross. There
are 400, 900 Armenian orphans to ne
supported, she said.
1900 BRITISH PRISONERS
'There are 10000 British prisoners
who, under General Townsend, were
captured in the Bagdad defeat" said
the speaker. These men were
marched across the desert IN summer
time to work on the Bagdad railroad.
When Turkey gave Germany the con.
cession to build this railroad she SOLD
herself into bondage.
TURKEY FACING CRISIS
Turkey is facing a social. econom.
ic and religious crisis. The women
of the country are rebelling against
the prevalent social conditions, the
bondage of women and polygamy.
The exile of the Armenians has
drained the country of its brains and
best workmen. The war has taken tho
Turkish men for soldiers. As for the
religious crisis, the mission work is
spreading, growing, gaining hold, one
way and another. Faith In the mis-
sion doctors and hospitals Is shaking
the belief of the Moslems in their own
healers. The steadfast faith and ex.
ample of the -Armenians has its wide
influence. The Christian schools are
gaining more and more Moslem pupils
every day. and, above all, the friend
liness and help that the mission work
ers are so willing to give are gaining
fast friends"
Miss Webb is visiting her brother,
Edward Webb. She returned to this
country last October and has been on
a seven weeks speaking tour through
Texas. She will speak in Chicago Sun.
day night
SORGHUM MILL TO START A
Kingsley, May 16.-E. A. Higgen.
n A - t. Soc