Putnam patriot., 1918-06-07
HOW THE GERMANS ORGAN IZE' CONVOYS OF REPATRI-
 ATED FRENCH PEOPLE
sy Pierre Mile, In Tie Temps, March
 2, 1918

refugee from the department of the Nord who formed part of one of the recent conveys of inhabitants of his district whom the German mili- ary authorities permitted to return to France by the route ordinarily adopt ed. viz., by Belgium. Germany and Switzerland, has informed Us of the very brutal and inhumane manner in which the enemy carries out these .eyacuatons
 The convoy in which the refugee in question had to take his place was mustered in small town of the Nord. It was at the time of the se- we're cold weather which lasted from the middle of last December to the middle of January The convoy was composed for the most part of old men, women and children. On the day fixed fer the departure, these wretched beings were herded from morning till four in the afternoon in a goods station open to every wind The temperature had descended to several degrees below zero. It was showing.
 Slowly, minutely the Germans pro ceeded to search the refugees lug gage and pockets It was forbidden to carry money, specie, or papers of any sort-evea white paper to write on. or pencils. Finally, as dusk was falling. the miserable procession, shivering with cold, was conducted on foot to the departure station,-two kilometres distant from the building where they had been examined. Each had to carry as best he could, in his hand or on his back, the 30 or 40 pounds of luggage he had with him. The women who had many children miners wives for the most part-had of course to charge themselves with a heavier load still. under which they tottered Several fell exhausted by the way
 It took them, under these condi- tions. an hour and half to walk these two kilometres. Finally the wretehed flock was piled into cattle wagons, without straw, without benches to sit on They were forbidden to have any light-eyen to strike a match tThey were still under the fire of the French lines)
 The train started For 21 hours.it rolled on it's way in bitter cold No food The poor wretehes had indeed brought provisions with them but they were packed so closely that they could not get at their packages to open them The engine stopped far from stations at unknown places. They could not budge to open their pack ages or to warm themselves, for fear of treading on the children lying on the floor. There were from 30 to 40 in each wagon Many of these babes fell i'll with the cold had diorrhoea or vomiting. It was impossible to sat isfy the needs of nature The frost had struck the sliding doors, so that they refused to open. The refugees spent d night and a day of abomina- ble filth. Cries of horror came from one of the wagons There were old men and women there who were agon- izing, dying of cold
 They arrived at Varenne, near Liege. The travellers were crowded into carts yoked to miserable horses, and the next stage, in arctic cold, was intolerably long Many old men, many women, above all many chil- dren were attacked by broneh-pneu- monia. They died.
 At Varenne, a committee of Bel gian ladies had distributed to each bowl of coffee, or rather of substi- ute (ersatz1 for coffee. That was all the food these poor things received during 1 hours, for with this method of transport in carts, it took them two days and two nights to reach the vicinity of Liege.
 The Belgians did all they could to mitigate their misery But they them selves were in sore need. They had for food potatoes and soup A litre of petrol cost IS francs Each of the inhabitants was entitled to 200 pounds of bad coal month-coal which refused to burn
 The departure from Belgium was as lamentable as their previous ex-