The Wrangell sentinel. (Wrangell, Alaska) 1909-current, 1918-08-15
GENERAL RYERS0N DELIVERS
A WONDERFUL ADDRESS ON
WORK OF THE RED CROSS

Iltu ueI Oh OlS dOOt ISSC uOl-
rors, these awful things, are be-
yond contempt.
The treaty of Geneva has been
grossly violated. The Red Cross
flag has not been respected. At
one place the Germans saw hos
pital bearing large Red Cross
flag and it was fired upon by the
artillery and they threw infam-
mable shells upon it. -Four or five
hundred men were burned to death
in their beds. Early in the war an
ambulance drawn by two horses,
bearing the Red Cross on its sides
! to proclaim its mission of taking up
the wounded, drew up within tftv
yards of the lines and all action
ceased. When the flap was lifted,
F., a machine gun was disclosed and
an act of vandalism was committed
under cover of a flag of mercy.
A stretcher, toe, instead of carry
ing a human burden, contained a
machine gun which did its deadly
work. Three men We're killed, and
while those who did the deed were
overpowered eventually, the crime,
the violation Of honor, had been
committed. They have no sense of
honor; they are outside the pale of
civilization.
1.-The Red Cross ships are easily
identified. They are painted white
with green bands and the vivid Red
Cross on the sides and yet they are
attacked, and women are drowned
| like rats. The German desires to
kill and to destroy
He has no sense of gratitude.
A student of mine in the University
of Toronto Joined the Canadian
troops and went overseas. While
caring tor a wounded German
officer, the German shot him dead,
shot him while he was trying to
help him to allay suffering.
THE horrors of the prison camp
where men are inflicted with typhus,
insufficiently fed and clothed, herd
ed in cattle cars from which the
filth and refuse has not been re-
| moved, packed closely so they can
not care for bodily functions,
starved and beaten, tied to posts
! for trivial otenses for three or four
hours and then thrown into dark
dungeons from which they emerge
absolute physical wrecks, these
are the atrocities that make US
shudder. IT is from the Red Cross
that the prisoners receive their only
help. From it they receive food
and clothing. Three parcels con-
| tanning necessities are sent to each
man every month. The Red Cross
saves this war from being the worst
war. The motor ambulance, for
instance, enables the wounded to be
moved quickly and comfortably to
| the dugout where the first dressings
are received. In these ambulances
they are moved at night SO as to
escape detection If possible.
my son who was wounded at
St. julien was brought out in an
ambulance which also picked up a
Belgian woman on the way. 1t
was fired upon by the Germans,
and they took off the heads of two
officers, killed the Belgian woman
and only by miracle, did my son
make his escape"
General Ryerson stated that
while the hospitals are under gov
eminent supervision, the Red Cross
does the supplementary work and
provides the comforts. THE wound
ed men, he said, come naked
from the battles, often, and are put
into the very pajamas that you
women make. The socks do not
last long there and if every woman
in this country knitted socks, there
would not be too many"
The general stated emphatically
that the socks and sweateas are
never sold and that the soldiers re-
ceive them without paying a cent.
Any talk to the contrary, he branded
as German propaganda. The sup
plies as they are received in France
at the depots provided, are properly
catalogued and cared for and dis.
bursed according to need as proper
ly recommended. Games and a
musements for convalescents are
furnished for use in the rest billets
and the giving is always syste-
matte.
The Red Cross" continued the
general, is the channel OF com.
munication between the wounded
soldier and his people. The men