The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-05-04
MRS. JOHN E. MANDY

American womanly pluck, has accom- panied her husband in many months or humanitarian relief work among the Ar menans and later during the most ex- citing moments of the Bolshevik revo- 1ution. They had never left Illinois becouse coming to the Caucasus for the committee on Armenian relief. Now Mr. Compton is in charge of the America Young Mems Christian association work at Omsk.
 They were first stationed at Alexandro- pol, Caucasus, then in the hands of the Russians, and were occupied with indus trial relief work. Positions were found
 for refugees as they arrived, fleeing from Turkey They estimated that they and other members of the corps distributed
 clothing for 15,000 Armenian orphans, whose parents had been massacred by the
 Turks Help was furnished to about 60,- GOO refugees.
 Then suddenly the Russian revolution developed The Bolshevki abandoned the battle front and the Turkish army ad- vanced. It was feared that the Germans would come down the Black sea and seize the line from Batum to Tiflis. The American consul advised all the Ameri- cans to leave at once, and a special train l conveying sixty foreigners finally ar- l rived at Baku on the Caspian sea. There l they were caught in a battle between l | and Tartars on the other The street in
 which they lived was dominated by Tar tars who sprayed the roadway with ma l chine gun bullets. For three days they
 did not dare leave the house and had only bread to live on Eventually, by paying
 a high price, they were able to charter a special steamer for Astakhan, which Is ! situated at the mouth of the Volga. we
 had to sleep on the deck throughout the whole trip" said Mrs. Compton. 'The ! crew and the families of the crew slept Tn the cabins and refused to give them up "We waited for two weeks for the ice to break up in the Volga and then we went up to Samara. The others went on to Vladivostok. The Bolsheviki were in i possession of Samara then, but We were
 able to carry on general relief. Thou sands of refugees came through and we | started a soup kitchen at the station. Later maternity and general hospitals 1 were organized.
 eve had rather an exciting time at Samara when the Czechs came in We lived not far from the river between the 1 Bolshevik barracks and the principal Bolshevik club of the city. The place drew most of the shell fire from the l Czech army Bullets came through our
 windows and our room became filled with brick dust from the exploding shells. The l Bolshevik soldiers lay flat upon the club roof and fired down on the Czech Soi- diers, so we had very good view Of the fiehting From my window could have touched the Bolshevik troops With my hand.
 eve were awfully glad to get down into the cellar There was a slit in the wall, and we could see the end of the battle | Finally we heard the Czechs cheering, and Saw people running from the houses, II all making the sign of the cross. The Czechs had won. Everybody put on their
 best clothes and paraded in the streets
 with bands Collections were, taken up for
 the Czechs, who were hailed as heroes
 and deliverers.
 s.When the bolshevill had the city we could see them lying in the streets. They were always chewing sunflower seeds" MT. Compton said he had never seen any Bolshevilx atrocities but he had seen nroclamations issued by the Boshevik declaring they would butcher the people | if they captured the city. He said thai once a Bolshevik broke into an Ameri | ca,,'s room but had immediately apolo II sized. adding that America was ~le only N friend Russia had. HI Mr. Compton also said that Russian of H ficers told him nine-tenths of the peopi Il became Bolsheviki because they didn' II have enough to live on, and because the' Il thought anything would be better thai II their present condition