The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1918-01-12

n
misery which are even more tragic
I than the cabled dispatches which we
HaceNea,oo1 are accustomed to read under the
HS3&SX$ss vague date line, Somewhere In
3d. France"
Many of these narratives have been
brought by men and women who, under the aus
pieces of the American Red Cross, have been inves-
tigatng conditions created by the invasion of the
Hun. The range Of vision of these investigators
extends from the battle front to the cottage hun
dreds Of miles away where wars misery-more in
sidious than bombs on the fighting front-has pene-
trated.
Woven together these accounts make composite
story Of devastation and suffering on the part of
n0ncombatants comparable with the torture
dured by the soldiers in the trenches Of refugees
staring blankly at cratered areas where villages
once fourished Of thousands of children, too
young to understand, crying for mothers who can
not hear their cries; of children poisoned by gas
bombs thrown from German mortars; of emaciated
children sent by hundreds from behind the German
lne Of crippled soldiers to re-educate and of
civilian men and women to comfort and provide
with the necessaries of lfe-a story of battling
against disease and of the heroism of mercy.
Sometimes the cable supplements tales told by
returned travellers. day or two ago, the war
council of the American Red Cross received cable
gram from the Paris headquarters of that Organiza-
ton containing simple statement of everyday
occurrence on the French frontier, yet graphic in
its portrayal Of one phase Of wars frightfulness
1t read:
The Red Cross at Evian.
'There arrived last week at Evian where the
repatries from France and Belgium received
back into France, a train loaded with Belgian chill
dren. There were $50 of them, thin, sickly, alone
all between ages of four and twelve children OF
men who refused to work for the Germans and OF
mothers who let their children go rather than let
them starye. They poured off the train. little ones
clinging to the Oldest ones girls all crying boys
trying 10 cheer. they had oil the long way
alone. On the platform were the Red Cross work
ers to meet them, doctors and nurses with ambu-
dances for the little sick ones were waiting out
side the station. The children poured out of the
station, marched along the street shouting. Meat,
meat; we are going to have meat" to the Casino,
where they were given a square meal, the hrst In
many months Again and again, while they ate,
they broke spontaneously into songs In French
against the German songs which they had evidently
learned in secret. The Red Cross doctor examined
them. Their little clawlike hands significant
of their undernourished bodies, but the doctor said
eve have them in time. few weeks Of proper
feeding and they will pull up"
Evian is q French resort on Lake Geneva, and
every day one thousand homeless people arrive
there, 60 per cent of whom are children. Thirty
per cent Of the older people die the first month
of happy homes In northern France. The Huns
invaded their country, swept on past their homes
and left them behind the enemys line. The invaders,
now their masters, impressed them into labor and
transported thousands of them to work In German
fields and factories. Those who are returned by
the thousand daily by train through Switzerland
are all that are left of these men and women and
children-manhood and womanhood Slapped until
the vital spark Is almost out and no longer of use
as German captives, sent back to die or to be
cared for in their helpless condition by their own
people from whom they had been ruthlessy taken
away in their health and strength.
Hope for kaiser's Victims.
Thanks to the American Red cross, coming TO
the assistance of the overburdened French aSeh'
cies for mercy, there is hope for these unfortun-
ates Besides a hospital and convalescent nome
for children at Evian, the Red Cross IS operating
an ambulance service for the returning repatries.
Ten automobiles are In commission for handlng
sick and infirm persons, and tuberculosis nos
pital near by Is planned. When the returning re-
patries reach the railroad station and have been
cheeringly greeted by crowds OF companions, they
are taken in charge by Red Cross workers Nour-
ishment is provided and medical attention pc
slowed Baths are made available and fresh cioth-
ing is supplied. According to American eye wit
nesses of scenes at the railway station at Evian,
there are men in the ranks who have SUFFERED
broken arms, the bones of which have been sci py
the Germans SO that the hand Is turned the wrong
way They present horrible deformity, denotlng
form of cruelty which excuses itself on the
ground that the man, should he ever regain MS
former strength, will be unfit for military duty.
In many of these cases American Red Cross doc
tors have been put to the doubly painful task Oh
again breaking the arm and resetting IT, SO as
to remove the terrible deformity purposely in
ficted
William Allen White of Kansas and Henry j. AL
den, who is prominent In the public life OF the
same state are among the Red Cross workers
who recently have returned from tours OF inspec-
tion In France According to their statements 1t IS
scarcely possible to exaggerate the suffering
brought upon the civ1an population OF the coun-
try a suffering, however that Is being alleviated
to the greatest possible extent by the American
Red Cross. which is sending its experts its army
of volunteers and Its treasure without stint. Ac-
cording to Mr.. White, the real work OF the war; so
far as America is concerned, will be carried on by
the Red Cross in France this winter MOI only