The Alaska daily empire., 1918-06-10
Mrs. Riggs Gets Interesting Letter from Wife Amer
 iCan Diplomat Con-
 CernIng Alaska Beds
THEY ARE APPRECIATED
Wounded Soldiers Are Well Cared for in Beds Fur niShed by Alaska
 Communities.

Mrs. Thomas Riggs, Jr., has re ceived an interesting letter from Mrs Mildred Bliss, wife of Robert Bliss, First Secretary of the American Le gation in Paris, describing the Alas ka beds in the military hospital at France. Mrs. Bliss visited the hos pital at the request of Mrs. Riggs, and her description of it is highly satisfactory.
 The beds referred to in the letter were furnished by funds raised in Alaska. The work was begun at the request of Mrs. Franklin K. Lane, wife of the Secretary of the Interior.
 The letter pillows:
 Paris 4th May, 1918. Mrs. Thomas Riggs, '
 c o Messrs Coudert Brothers,
 3 Rector Street,
 New York City.
 Dear Mrs. Riggs:
 It was very pleasant, indeed, hear ing from you again, and have en- joyed going out to the ambulance and seeing the Alaska beds for you.
 There are IA Alaska beds in all, the named ones being given by: Nenana, Talkeetna, Turnagain Arm, Fairbanks, Matanuska, Seward and Anchorage.
 In one of the Anchorage beds was a French artilleur who was badly wounded by gas and hit in the leg by a shell at Lassigny on the 3Oth of March. He says his battery of 75s was left intact, but an eclat de'obus went through one leg and grazed the other, and owing to the gas he had received. he had less vitality for re covery, so he may be in bed for a long time. He was smoking bed cigarettes with infinite pleasure, and cracking jokes and making puns about the name of the town in whose bed he lay, and asked me to tell you that he was immensely grateful to his absent friends for giving him was making.
 In the other Anchorage bed was T chasseur pied with one leg ann putated at the thigh, also wounded 1t Lassigny by the same shell which hit the first man. He was exceed ngly nervy but considerably resent ed his inability to go back to the front and get one more Roche.
 The hospital has TOO beds. and could. in an extreme emergency. crowd in 1000 or even. believe 1,O30. and there are 12 small auxil- iary hospitals for convalescents con taining 1,400 beds. But the hospital is far from full at present, as, de- spite the big offensive, the wounded were relatively few. and scarcely any have come into this region. If we have a bad time in Champagne later, suppose 1t will fill up and then if find any interesting per sonal notes from the Alaska beds. shall be glad to send them to you.
 The little secretary at the hospital who has charge of the named beds had sent to Nenana the latest infor- nation. but her letter could not have reached you, of course. when you wrote me.
 The Poilus were very much inter ested to hear that Nenana is the newest town in North America, and said it made them feel quite old in comparison. and that they couldn't magazine what it would be like to live in a place where they could not think back 100 years. They were very much amazed by the idea of an American lady going about in dog sled and said 1t was much better than the mud of Flanders. but that now that wouldn't matter. as all they had to do. if they got stuck in it. would be to unbuckle their arti- ficial limbs and leave them behind! Tell your friends at Nenana that this grim humor is the order of the day. There is nothing these amazingly