The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-05-07
RED CROSS PARTY
HAS REMARK ABLE
ESCAPE IN RUSSIA
Left Jassy on Train With
81 Allied Soldiers.
Went East to Odessa, Then
North Thru Russia.
NEARLY CAUGHT BY GERMANS
Engineer Was BOlshevik and
Went on Strike.
Travelled Over New Railroad to
III Avoid Invaders.
|EARLY CAUGHT BY GERMANS
zngineer Was BOlshevik and
Went ON Strike.
Travelled Over New Railroad to
Avoid Invaders.

London. May Tin an eventful
Tight from Jassy. the Rumanian cap
1tais the American Red Cross mission
- Rumanic which now has arrived in
London. escs.r ted from Odessa thirty
six hours before the Germans entered
IL only to be fired upon by a German
battery in the Ukraine. 200 miles
north of tn. famous Black sea port.
The German shells dio no damage to
the Red Gross train, falling about
nalf q mile from 1t, but several men,
bers of the mission breathed a sigh of
reiief when the bombardment came to
an end, after minutes which had
seemed like hours.
When the mission left Jassy 1t was
Known that the journey likely would
Do dangerous Reports in Jassy as to
the whereabouts of the Germans
varied greatly, but it was fairly clear
that they were within fifty or sixty
u1les OF Odessa and that their adj
vance parties might be encountered
along the line. Most of the passen-
4 gers on the train were officers and
Il Pr1vates of the French military mis-
non TO Rumania and it was hardly to
pc expected that German or guerrilla
Hould make any careful distinction in
8vor OF few American Red Cross
Uniforms.
The American Red Cross mission
cit on the third of six trains which
carried the allied missions from Jassv
me first train left at noon, March Q.
md the others followed at intervals
81 Two or three hours. Each was pro
Hded with food for a month There
was no dining car and the food was
eooked in two military food Kitchens
@panooned by Russian troops which
we're carried on freight car on the
fnd OF the train. Three other freight
cars loaded with rails, ties and rail-
The road could be repaired quickly
~ case of accident or if the Germans
had torn up the line.
A Remarkable Train.
~ The train on which the Americans
travelled was one of the most extra
ng stock ever seen. AI--erican off
GERS and doctors had third class
Neeping car while the nurses had
second class sleeper. Both cars were
~ ancient Russian vintage and with
cut water supply or heating facilities
THE French officers had sleeping
cars, some Russian and some Ru-
nanian, but the privates were COM
yelled to use ordinary freight cars of
Isgpdescript types and two or three
Messenger cars.
The engine dated back to 1876 and
burned wood which was picked up
along the way. The engineer matched
the engine. He was an elderly Rus
Il sian VI DOiSHcNIh opinion ana mao TO
\ be fed with rubles and cognac almost
as frequently as the engine required
wood. He carried his family with him
\ tn4.a box car next to the engine and
I Whenever meals or other domestic af-
fairs required his attention he stopped
| the train and went home" to his box
car.
Engineer Went on Strike.
lust outside of Odessa the engineer
\ became dissatisfied with the flow of
strike. The French officers tried to
reason with him but he was obdurate
and departed with the engine and the
box car, leaving the remainder of the
train standing on the main line. He
had chosen rather critical time. for
reports were current that the Germans
were likely to reach the railway at any
It moment. After some delay the French
III succeeded in finding another engineer
and engine and the train proceeded.
AS matter OF fact German bat
talions entered Odessa only SO hours
after the Americans passed thru the
city and IL is probable that some of
their advance parties already were in
the suburbs at the time the engineer
went on q strike.
II The striker apparently suffered a
n change of heart soon after he left the
\ train. for the next day when the train
was a hundred miles or so beyond
4 Odessa he with his engine and home
L caught up with the train. He begged
the French officers to take him back
| on their own terms. The French de-
L c1ined to reinstate the old engineer
Il and the last seen of him he was TAX
II ing his engine and box car backward
4 on the return trip to South Russia
II On New Railroad.
For the first hundred miles or so
out of Odessa the trains carrying the
allied missions from Rumania travel
ed over a new railway which had
cd n oh ~ he
fore by Russian military engineers.
IL was rather a circuitous route, but
il was believed the Germans were
ignorant of its existance and that it
was safer than the old lines. On the
second dcy when the train bearing the
Americans was about zoo miles north
1 "a Odessa. one of the doctors saw a
# fthsh of fire away off on the horizon.
u was followed quickly by a loud ex-
riosion and a great geyser of earth
Fbout a half mile from the moving
train. The first shell was followed
BY many others, the bombardment
Continuing for five minutes
Nobody knew what was going on but
the general belief was that the train
had come within sight of a distant
German observation post which was
4 trying to direct the fire of its batteries
on the railway track. Military men
= on board declared the shells were So
or larger. The shells appeared to fall
inE regular line as if the gunners
had the ~railroad carefully registered
The range was a little too great for
fa& German guns. however. and the
! shells all fell short
Near q Battle.
Arriving at the station of Doinskaia
. fflr Americans were informed by the
Brlsheviki authorities that battle
was in progress to the north. The
fr@sn then turned from its scheduled
4....4A a lad M Ao go ofttr
in= to its northward route after a
lengthy detour. For the next AZ hours
hardly an hour passed without rumors