Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-07-19

| Arrival of more than thousand
| fighting Czechs in this country en-
| route to their homes in central Eu-
| rope marks the beginning of the
! end of a sacrif1cial. pilgrimage to the
| shrine of liberty" says a bulletin
from the National Geographic Society.
Seventeen months ago these in
trepid warriors started out from the
klev district of western Russia in
| railway cars. some of which were dec
| GRATED with the slogan. From War to
War Around the World
AT that time it looked as though
the summer of 1918 would find them
in Champagne or the Argonne Joined
with the thousands of their com
patriots who already were fighting
in the allied armies to down the Hun
But a strange combination of cir
cumstances delayed them in Siberia
; through the short summer of long
days and the long winter of little
sunshine, while in Europe armistice
gave way to peace treaty"
Quotes American Correspondent.
The bulletin quotes from a commu-
nlcatlon Of Maynard Owen Williams.
nrst American correspondent with
the spectacular anabasis of the
Czechoslovaks across Siberia, as fol-
lows:
"Xenophon had a fine trip. if one is
to judge from the accounts of his
1aVorlte press agent. and Napoleon
and Sherman have made famous eX-
cursions. but when it comes to the
orld-encircling vision of the tourist
bureau writer and the doggedness of
death the wonderful Czechs take the
palm.
The war found them about as en-
thusiastic in their friendship for Will
HOhenZpllaTn M or a m
confederates as they were for the
Hapsburg house that betrayed them
centuries ago. after they magnani-
mously joined the Austrians in the
repulse of the hordes from Asia that
then threatened Europe
Their going over to the enemy was
one of the reasons why Germany's
southern neighbor failed to pick up
suited from mobilization of Europe.
Bohemia formed the foremost
salient thrust northward from Aus
tria Hungary toward the heart of
Germany. and hence was subjected
| for centuries to the utmost Germani-
J hearted Czechs. who lost their indie
pendence the same year the Plymouth
Pilgrims landed. did not lose their
spirit of Independence, and 1914 was
Regiments Desert to Foe.
whole regiments of them went
over to the foe. Other thousands
were shot down by their Austria n
companions in arms, and all their or
CARNATIONS were heavily Differed by
the Germans Magyars, whose
| methods and aims they hated. Thou
sands of them escaped to Russia
where they were sent to the cold of
Siberia or the malaria of the fash
kent region s prisoners of war.
Many of them entered the Russian
army under kerensky, but with the
signing of the Brest-Litovsk treaty
they lost faith in their Russion COM
pan1ons in arms. and with spirit of
loyalty to the cause of freedom that
no other group surpassed they set
out from Russia to cross Siberia. the
Pacific, America. the Atlantic and
France, to hurl themselves once more
against their oppressors and tradi-
tional foes.
When / met them in mid April of
last year their seventy eight trains
were strung out from the Ukraine to
Lake Baikal. all moving toward the
port of Nladivostok.
'Ienin and Trotsky, fearing these
, stalwart defenders of law and order
adopted the policy of good radiance.
although not even their worst enc
mics have ever accused the CZechs of
being bad rubbish. For time the
CZecnS advanced, carload a1teT car
load rolling generously across the
many wide bridges from the Nolga
to the Ussuri.
AT this time the red guard of ST.
IBERIA, which contained many German
and Austrian prisoners of war. was
organizing for an attack on Semen
| off who. with his band of ruffians and
mercenaries, was driving west along
| the Chinese Eastern railway from
Harlan toward the junction of the
| Amur river railway and the main line
| of the transsiberian at karumskaya.
Czechs and Red Guards Meet.
THE Czech general staff train on
I which l was riding was halted at
| Omsk. where both Czechs and red
| guards had recruiting stations. The
| trains of the two factions stood side
| by side in the railway yards. On May
day, 1918. the Siberian red guard. or
| international proletariat army as it
was called in Omsk, entrained for the
! Tchita district and soon puffed out
! for the east which at that time was
! the end of the Czech rainbow.
ITO have allowed determined Czechs
/ to roll into the melee. which the ar
| rival of these red guard trains in
| Semenoff's vicinity was sure to cause