Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-10-29
WOMEN BRING STORIES
OF ENEMY BRUTALlTIES
Germans Abused Prisoners and
Austrians Deliberately Fired
Upon Little Italian Children

Two women, newly arrived from the stage
Of the war. brought to Philadelphia fresh
news of German brutality to stir the blood
and strengthen determination against any
halfway measures In dealing with Germany.
These women are Miss Ethelynde We'll.
daughter of Mrs. Edward We'll. West WASH
ington square. and Miss Amy Bernardy, an
attache of the Italian embassy
Miss We'll, who was stationed in Paris for
a year a canteen worker. during which
time she served In every capacity from
waitress to entertainer. has come to ask aid
for the prisoners in German camps.
While in Paris Miss We'll was SO reused
to the terrible conditions among the prison.
ers in these German camps that 1t has be-
come her sole aim to relieve their misery to
the best of her ability. She Is asking all
those who wish to help her give some COM
fort to those prisoners to send her money
no matter how little, SO she can continue
the work.
Among Miss Wells most priced possess
sions Is Croix de Guerre; not conferred
on her by France. but by a poor wounded
po1u who was suffering from the effects of
gas and whose misery she lightened with the
gay performance Of vaudeville sketch
herself going over the top.
Taught French Women
Miss We'll also taught French women to
make surgical dressings and helped in a
school for the re-education Of wounded SOL
diers.
Miss Bernardy. fresh from the Italian
front and fired by the horrors which are
still clear before her eyes. declared that
peace with Austria would appear impossible
to any one who knew and had seen what
the very children OF Italy had seen.
She witnessed the deliberate shelling of
Red Cross hospitals and told how those
Austrian devils" had drenched In gas a vii
lage which they actually knew to be in
habited only by 700 children. whose fathers
and mothers were fighting. The cruelty in
fcted on the children seemed to have cut
into Miss Bernardy's heart like acid.
Schools were picked out as targets for
their Shells" she said. I'VE came to know
that eventually. and moved the children to
concrete trenches In the rear lines where
we thought them comparatively safe. 1t
made no difference"
Bulgarans disguised as Italians came as
spies. Miss Bernardy said and later It was
learned that these men had come to Italy
before the war supposedly to study map
making and topography. but In reality TO
study the customs and local dialects.
Spies Found Children
"These spies found out where the nests
Of children were and left U.S." she said.
Soon we noticed that the enemy shells were
directed exclusively against the rear lines
Hundreds of children were wounded by the
shells and many killed.
But 1t only served to rouse the children
to bitter hatred. 1t was a solemn sight to
see vertable babies coming out to shake
their fists at the enemy lines And Italy
will never forget the lesson those children
taught of stoicism and bravery"
Miss Bernardy Is the only Italian woman
ever assigned for duty with troops of
the advanced divisions She served in the
field for three years before being transferred
to this country. Often she herself was under
Are trying to give aid to the wounded.
"They are talking Of giving the Italian
women the vote after the war" she said.
THAT will be a great thing. for we Italians
have been thought the most conservative of
all European cPuntries 80 far as our treat
ment of women was concerned"