Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1918-06-30

Arise, children OF the land,
The day of glory has dawned
Who could listen, without deep !
STRINGS of emotion. to men ana
women just released from prison
houses OF pain ond horror sfngInG
those words? | cannot imagine now
they found voices to sing Mey
could hardly speak. They just $1,000
here dumb and broken, their sad
eves streaming with tears. Even
freedom and the sound again Of their
own French language could not wipe
out their terrible memories.
Tales of Utter Horror.
Some OF the. repairations are met
at Evian by friends and relatives
Some are cared for by the French
government. sent to towns and VII
lages well away from the war zone
Charity and the Red Cross nave
done splendid work for all refugees,
hut their problems are often almost
unsolvable. Hardly n man amens
them ia fit for industry, AS for the
women, the plight or many OF theip
is pitible. -,
The individual stories Of some OF
these women | heard from the ilps
OF n woman known throushou'
France for her devoted labors In be
half of victims of German solu'e'S
in the invaded districts.
This notable F'renchwoman bears
the beautiful name of Avrii-sL
| Croix. mention It not because she
would particularly care to nave me
| do so. but because she is known 70
great many women In America.
Madame Avril-St. CroiX ~ presldens
| of the French National Council OF
Women, and as a prominent suffra-
: gist has attended a number OF meet
! ings of the International Association
| for Woman Suffrage or whlch an
American, Carrie Chapman Catt, Is
president Every one in France anu
| in the United States who knows
Madame St-Croix knows that she Is
| incapable OF mistatement or mlsrep-
resentation. What she told me am
absolutely confident was true IN
every particular.
| Fought For Her Honor.
In Paris there Is a house OF mercy
established and maintained py pa
triotic and generous French people
for the rehabilitation OF women ana
girl victims OF German lust, ana
Madame St-Croix Is managing diree-
tor OF the establishment.
To this house was brought, about
a year ago, a woman who, at the be-
ginning OF the war. lived with her
| husband and five children In one OF
the French cities taken by the Ger
mans. They did not destroy this
city. but occupied 1t and made II
division headquarters.
Madame Doran we win call her
90 nnf har mama lost her
Husbands protection and good
deal of her income at the mobiliza-
ton. The husband Joined the colors,
and the wife and five children made
home in two small rooms OF ten
ement. The whole town was filled
with German soldiers, and Madame
Doran had two men billeted to her.
She moved her family into one room
and gave the other to the soldiers.
From the first these soldiers tried
TO debauch the poor woman. She
successfully resisted them. They
moved on and two more soldiers
were billited on her. They In turn at
tempted the degradation Of this de-
cent wife and mother. She resisted
these men also. ~
Victim OF Brutcs.
|
with, her children in that room, sep
arated only by thin wall from lust
ful brutes whose orders were that
"the German seal must be set upon
the enemy's country" In other
words, they had orders to destroy as
many lives and as much virtue oil
women as they possibly could.
Successive German soldiers, this
brave and virtuous woman continued
to resist. Finally, after a year and
half of fear and dread and contin-
ual struggle, the soldiers then in her
home went to their officers and re-
ported her as O quarrelsome, con-
tentious woman, one who made q
practice OF insulting German soldiers.
" Those unspeakable towards and
brutes did this thing for revenge.
/. The authorities descended on the
woman, tqok her children away from
her by force. sent them to German
institutions and sent her to work In
a German conquered mine In north
ern France There the ultimate
misery became hers. Her husband
gone, her children torn from her
her home taken away. placed at de-
grading labor, her spirit broken, she
fell a prey TO German lust at last.
Only by yielding to the soldiers
guarding the mine workers could she
buy herself the least privilege. Only
by becoming worse than n slave
could she obtain the slightest sur
cease from slavery.
She fell. For about a year she
was tossed from one to another OF
the Huns in the ne!ghborhood of that
mine. Inevitably she became in time
a menace to health, and then tht
Huns in Berlin ordered her deported
She was sent back through Switzer'
land TO Evian with card sewed &c
her rags, n card describing her as q
syphilitic prostitute.
Home Patch Up.
She was too crushed with suffer
ing to make excuses for herself or u
tell her story. There was nothing
for the French government to Dc
except send her to hospital neal
Paris where such outcasts go to die
But Madame Doran did not die. She
improved under treatment, and hel
distraught mind began to clear lit
tie,
One day Madame AvrilSt Croi'
came to the hospital. Her ange
pity and charity extends to the low
est outcasts among women, and sh'
looks for possible curables amoni
hem everywhere. Attracted by tn
pure beauty of this victim, for sh'