Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1919-07-11
WRITE ROM POLAND
STEPHEN sIMoNET GIVES GOOD
DESCRIPTION OF CONDITIONS
THERE IN LETTER HOME.

Stephen Simonet, who is with the
American Red Cross Commission in Eu-
rope, is seeing some country over
there these days. He has travelled
through France, a big part Of Germany
and Russia and when last heard from
he was in Poland The following let
ter received by his parents here des-
cribes conditions over there in most
interesting way: .r ---~7S.z@z u
Bialystok, Poland, June 20, 1919.
Dear Dad: Am writing this letter in
BY the way Of WARSAW, Vienna. italy,
through France and through Y. s.. mail.
| had hopes of being in Berlin by this
tim Time "a, and ! probably pro, y on my way home
to the Germans refusal to sign the
treaty of peace it is not safe to travel
from Poand into Germany and we are
finite takes place. We finished our
work in WARSAW which as far as I was
concerned consisted of a swell vacation
Berlin when a wire came through from
the colonel there telling us to stay in
Poland as the Americans in Berlin did
out and that travel would be unsafe
No doubt by the time you get this
everything will have been settled but
Uncertain. We set very little i news sui up
here so we don't know just what is talk
ing place in Germany and France. All
the news we get is handed to us second
pie coming in from France or Italy.
There are two other fellows from the
Berlin Commission up here with me
hanging around WARSAW doing nothing
so asked to be put. to work. Bialystok
is the main supply depot for, Poland
until we can return to Berlin. It is
about two hundred miles north east of
WARSAW. We arrived here last evening
ton is about 100000 Of which p 50 per
cent consists of Jews the rest Poles
and Russians. It is as typical a Rus
row, dirty streets, old buildings, stone
cobble pavements and hundreds of beg
gars, thousands of kids, dirty and rag
ged, dogs, goats, old peddlers, market
in the Medical warehouse filling orders
for The different hospitals and camps
the Red Cross is running: The Poles
here and a train1oad of wounded ar
rived here last night.
To say conditions here are fierce
given up Being Surprised at anything
run across but Poland is sure full Of
surprises. For instance when the Red
pital. here in a city of 100000 had for
surgical instruments one scapel, one
par OF forGeps and one pair of surgical
place they took absolutely everything,
even the faucets from the water pipes,
the brass doorknobs, everything Of any
H Haspta Gan ya% imagine
low cases, only four towels. no cotton,
Germans left and the Red Cross found.
the city but Major Chesley who was
with the Minnesota State Board of
Health took charge here and has all the
they are given proper treatment and
The Red Cross has shipped in beds,
and food and the amount of good work
they are doing is more than can be inn
agined.
help, Poland needs it ten times more if
and ever set on fheir feet pO; The e' Wheie
first by the Russians and Germans
fighting, then the Germans and Poles
and now the Poles and Bolshevists The
from WARSAW is the direct line from
WARSAW to St. Petersburg and along
which the Russians retreated Every
Whee VAN and aen sn b the track
still in ruins. The three bridges across
the tn! ", Vistula at WARSAW were blown up
mans occupied the city and before they
left the Germans blew up one of the
BRIDGES again and tried to blow up the
other 9th r. two; The river is about a QUAR-
! been quite job to bridge it over but
the Germans. built three beautiful
bridges or I suppose they made the
t them destroying them again.
! As soon as everything is clear we
will leave for Berlin and I expect my
0r1n IN %o 1%os+ ~
will be there waiting. for me. Mean
| in Poland: We are living in what was
swell bunch of Red Cross personnel
working here. Four doctors from Base
=; city and the others out in different
I camps I certainly was surprised to
r run across them up here. Before. I left
! formerly, of B. H: rs, from Rome, where
they had stopped on their way to Ser
bia. I guess rs turned out some tour
! While in WARSAW we lived in the pal
fef II sSh F Eh6sey ts sMs
ed about On thf sn aa o t6e
palace made life pleasure for me
B: there. Not only went up nearly every
in ara
! Of French aviators in Poland besides
! the Poles, a great many of whom came
! over here from America to fight for the
: freedom of Poland so we stood ace
high. In case war breaks out again I
/ am going to sign up with the French
! Aviation squadron as the captain is an
! American and says he will take me on.
! lines from here SO would have to be
with some outfit. They make aviators
here. in three or four weeks and~if I
could only have stayed in WARSAW and
spent all my time at the field I would
=; have been an aviator in a short time.
The courier only leaves here every
! from me will probably be from Berlin.
WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN
; CHURCH.
! (West side). Sherman w. Arends,