Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-08-02
BELGIAN WIDOW,
EXILE IN STATE,
TELLSOF TERROR
Stripped of Home, Reduced to
Poverty. Finds Refuge in
Ardmore Family

Philadelphia. Aug. 2.-The tragic
story of a Belgian eXile--a refined
and once wealthy young matron
whom the Germans forced from her
h ONE and prematurely widowed,
and who has undergone untold suf-
fering since those fatal days in the
fall of 1914-came yesterday after
noon from the lips of Madame Maria
Schelfhout, now a goVerness In the
home of Mrs. Alexander Sellers. at
Ardmore. but once the wife OF
prosperous silk manufacturer OF
Alost. Belgium
The CRIME which robbed Belgium
of her independence, robbed Madame
Schelfhout of her home, of her par
ents, of her wealth, and, eventually
of her husband. 1t threw her upon
the world. carefully nurtured Wom-
an who had been reared in lnNuid
educated in the quiet of convent
and protected during her married
life from all of life's cares.
For almost four years she has
dwelt far from her native land
.;.St in England and then here in
America. She has learned that her
town home in Alost has been de-
stroyed: that nothing nut saun'
walls remain of her summer nome
mt Blankenburg on the seacoast be-
tween Ghent. and Zeebrugge. Alone
in the world. save for a falthtul
maid who has been with her for ten
wears, she is fighting a gallant hsht
TO accumulate enough money 10 re-
turn to Belgium at the end OF the
war and strive to restore part OF
that fortune which was ruthlesSly
torn from her.
pAl
Belgium." she sighed. How l long
for YOU. And return? l shall take
the first ship after the war ends.
Somwhere in the PROSTATE land
she hopes to find her aged parents,
Monsieur and Madame Albert Lin
ton. Whether they are living she
does not know for the great gray
wave that swept through Brussels
obliterated them from her knowl-
edge. Her parents, retired, were
living in a country estate near Brus-
sells. All efforts to locate them since
the German invasion have proven in
vain. In fact, one inquiry brought
the information that they were not
upon the estate. But Madame Schelf-
hout clings to a slender hope. She
thinks that maybe they moved to
some smaller house in an out of the
way corner of the land where the eX-
pulsion of the Hun will restore them
TO liberty.
Il shall find them If they are
alive" she said. And I pray that
they have been spared. l have found
but two of my old friends. One is
my broth er-in-law who is in Kins
Albert's army and the other our for
mer gardener. With them I corre-
spond, but they can give me no in
formation.
II was educated in a convent in
Germany" she said, "and when l
came home afterwards l spoke only
Flemish and German. 1 had to learn
to speak French
She had shuddered at the word
German"
Il hate it," she explained. IT dis
liked the Germans then, although l
knew no reason for it."
So little Maria Linton went to a
finishing school in Belgium and
studied French and then went home
until Polydore Schelfhout. son of a
wealthy silk manufacturer. and in
business with his father. came into
her life and took her from one pro-
teCted home to another. They lived
in luxury with a city and a summer
home along the seashore until the
fall of 1914.
I'VE were at our summer home in
Blankenburg when Germany first in
vaded Belgium" madame explained.
Because of my husbands interests
in Alost, we returned there at once,
but a few days afterwards went to
the home of my husbands brother
a short distance out of the city, in
town called Oordegen.
The Germans found us there.
General Won Boehm q saw his name
in the newspapers a few days ago.
and how l hate it, was the COM
mander. lie came to the house and
ordered the arrest of my husband
and his brother"