Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-06-12


learned, and was met in the office by the
doctor himself, who was there in con-
ference with the American doctor re-
garding the new hospital location.
neglected to state that when the Red
Cross men were here and we were on
tour of inspection of the hospital. that
one Of the officers asked me a question
In English that the doctor was unable
to hear or know did he not
know English as he was part OF the
way down the hill. but he forgot and turn
ed about and answered the question In
English. When we went into a doorway
! asked the officer If he caught 1t. and
he said "That fellow will bear watch
ing"
That evening when I sought out the
captain in his quarters, and found the
doctor there I said in an undertone to
the captain. when you have a few
minutes slip out into the other room and
will tell you something" There sat
at the table in the next room. an officer
who. with the aid of a dictionary. was
trying to decipher the name of a phon-
ograph record which was printed In Rus
sian. When I came into the room he ask
ed me to help him read 1t. I stood there
and the captain came out. and close
ly had heard what I said. When the cap
tain saw that he was there, he went
into his own room. On the table in front,
where the officers had been at work de-
ciphering and coding some messages.
were few papers. The doctor stopped
as I said, when he came into the room,
You are just the man we want. Tell
us what this name Is on this record"
and turned off his entrance in that way
He stopped and began to tell us about
the opera, of which this was a selec-
ton. Looking up once I saw that while
he was using his mouth to talk and tell
us Of music he was using his eyes to
scan and read those papers. I as hur-
riedly left the room as / could for the
papers were not mine to touch, and
rushed into the captains room with the
question, Anything you do not want
read in those papers on the table? The
doctor is reading them" He jumped as
though hit and went into the room and
| casually picked up the papers. and in
about 10 seconds the doctor skunk out
of the room. We talked over the Incl
dent, and with few other words, there
the matter rested.
The next I heard was when I was in
the quarters the next day. l heard the
| order for guard of 10 men to come in
to surround the hospital at certain
hour, and then I knew what was COM
ing. 1t had always been my plan to be
at the hospital about one o'clock and
when I went there that day. I met the
doctor coming out. l found that he did
| not return there till about six O'clock
so fearing that if they came there and
did not find him that someone would
| tip him off. and knowing that the hour
set for the surrounding of the hospital
| was at three. I went to the officer and
| said Your bird has flown" where is
he?" he asked" I'm the street with his
wife," I replied. and he went out. I
! stood at distance and saw the officer
| stop him on the street and take him in
| to his office while his wife walked the
streets and waited for him. I think the
| only time when l was sorry for the
whole thing was when I saw his wife
walk up and down the street and wait
| for her husband whom knew she would
not see again free upon our streets. A
day or so afterwards he was shipped
| along with other prisoners to the place
where they are confined as there was no
| cause for execution.
This may be of interest to you as It
| shows in a small way how we are in
| tested with spies, some of whom are
Bolshevik and some of whom are anti
| interventionsts. About half through this
| letter word was brought to me of the
attempted killing of the strongest officer
| in our force here, one whom the "Bolos"
| hate; shot at as he rode through the
streets of nearby village, one wound
through his scalp and the other through
his face. He lives, but seriously wound
| ed.
Some tir1e in the near future I will get
letter off to you telling you about fur
Their Bolshevik intrigue here in town.
| This is some different from living in the
old Green Mountain State. and there
are times when / feel tht l must get
away from 1t all, and then there are
days when feel that some of these days
l too may be picked off. But there are
other days. and they are in the major
| ity, when we Americans are glad that
we are here, for there is a need that
| these people shall know that the friends
| of this needy people are not all on this
side of the water, and that the resources
| of America are ready to help this strug-
| Cling people. / see disorder, but I think
| Of the critical period in American his
tory" as John Fiske called it. l see
plundering, but l think of the carpet
bag days" after the Civil war. I see rags
on soldiers but l think of Valley Forge
and / am comforted as see travail pains
which are never easy or comfortable.
| Let me convey to your readers in Yer
mont this one fact, that If America is
not alive to her job she will make one
of the greatest plumbers that she car
make in Withholding a helping hand
that is American in all that means
The great war; Is over, and already we
see the same old plans that previously
actuated certain people before the war
things that must not be permitted under
any circumstances. Some time ago we
| cried. wake up, America! and we
Americans who are here and know some
thing of how things are going, cry out
why doesn't America wake up, and sec
the critical need of these people?" II
is one thing to free this people from
Bolshevism, but there are times after
the war when this people must live and
then they will need help Shall we wait
till after others have put their hands
into the center of things and we find
that we are playing second fiddle. l ask
that you keep closely in touch with the
Russian situation and that you insist
that the government or all that any OF
the allies does shall be done as "allies'
and not as French. Italian, or English
We who are here hate to think that
American strength was only used to con.
clude the war, and that now the per.
sonal ambitions of any of the allies
shall be permitted to come in here, and
establish themselves when the Russians