Evening star., 1919-12-01
|BULGAR PREMIER
STRIKING FIGURE
Giant of Balkans Makes In
preston at Signing of
Peace Treaty.
BY iJI>RY J. SMITH.
BY Cable to The Star and Chicago
Daily News. Copyright, 1919.

PARIS. France. Novepber 27.-The
ponderous black figure of NJ. Stam-
ooullsky is the most definite impress
sion remaining from the signing of
me bulgarian peace treaty at Neuiliy
Today. All the rest had the com
monplace of familiar personalities and
accustomed routine. The personali-
ties VIII pass soon to other fields
than peace-making and the routine
was shorn of the memorable. But in
the remotest seat at the L-shapcd
"a Gle sat new man OF Europe
tne peasant premier of Bulgaria.
He had entered abruptly through
the central doorway into the Sale des
fetes where the entente word, with
us premierS. newspaper correspond
ents and photogra piers waited From
the moment of his entry the spec
tators forgot Premier Clemenceau NJ.
Iardleu and Frank L. Polk Here
was the giant of Balkan politics with
term in prison among the other
accomplishments of his stormy ca
reer He sat alone. separated by
tables, chairs and piles of expensive
documents from the gathering of
treaty makers. admirals and pho
tographers. His huge head. with
dehant mass of black curly hair,
ioomed up among the older and fee
pier statesmen His black, beady
eyes surveyed inscrutabIy the gilt
terlng, overcroWded room. On his
broad. pInkish face. with it's little
black mustache. was no expression
except that of faint curiosity. APP
parently he had never before seen
this sort of world and thought little
of it.
Signs With Splitter of Ink.
Premier Clemenceau said a few
Disk words. explaining why the giant
was there. The giant rose. pushed his
was abruptly to the table. where the
mammoth treaty lay spread out, took
carved pen in his red fist and signed
with splutter of ink. Then he
marched back to his corner without
a glance for his late enemies and re-
garded stolidly the sparkling chan
uellers, the velvet curtains and the
pretty pictures. Among the last
named he found a portrait of Princess
erelgn. Car Ferdinand. If the irony
of the coincidence penetrated his
shaggy head, he gave no sign.
AS the procession OF treaty Signers
began he summoned a young attend
ant from a group standing at the wall
and demanded their names. He knew
scarcely anybody by sight. Thus he
saw pass the American group, with
whom he had never been at war
Frank L. Polk, Henry White and Gen.
TaSker H. Bliss: the British. headed
by Sir Eyre Grove: the Italians, or
W idt ~ lell Ol lHem, the same
Frenchmen who had signed the two
previous treaties and finally the pleni-
potentiaries of a string of smaller ma
tons. 1t was interesting for the lone
ly Balkan giant. He seemed to ar
range whole portrait gallery for fu-
ture use. Upon TIE Greeks his fierce
black eyes rested the longest.
End of Session Announced.
In twenty minutes the pageant had
passed and there remained in action
only the bustling secretaries and the
souvenir hunters. The giant glad
dened three of these with his auto
graph. Then, amid the whisperings of
the restless blaSe crowd long since
tired of treaties, Premier Clemenceau
announced the end of the session. The
giant lifted his bulky form in bulk
ler frock coat from the chair and
made for the door. At the, threshold
he seemed to remember something
turned and threw over his massive
shoulders a bow more casual than
that of the Austrian leader, Renner's,
at ST. Germain and less subtle.
From first to last the giant had
spoken no word. BY his bow he
seemed to say. Thanks for having
done no worse The treaty makers
with smiles and murmured tests
trooped after him down the stairs,
watched by a thin crowd of specta-
tors. AS NJ. Clemenceau descended
they set up thin cheer. Then the
dignitaries of the waiting peace con-
ference passed along the ranks of the
grumbling sentries and into the drip-
ping streets of Neuilly.