Norwich bulletin., 1920-10-07
Fearful Conditions Existing in Petrograd
Inhabitants Hungry, Sick, and Dying by Thousands - Streets and Houses Choked With Filth.

Paris, Oct. 6.-lBy the A. P)-A graphic eye witness description of the
 fearful conditions existing at Pe- trograd is given by the Finnish Red Cross in an appeal, just issued to the
 Red Cross societies of the world. It IS Accompanied by documents prepared by Professor Zeidler, formerly head of-,ns
 Petrograd Red Cross, but now refugee l in Finland.
 The documents which reached the Paris 1 Bureau of the American Red Cross today | tell the story of the agony of a dying city. Petrograd's present population. bas- ed on the food cards is 500,000 to 60Q,- l 900, and the capital of the czars is de- scribed to having shrunk to one-fourth l it's nre-war size The report says: "Death stalks on every side waiting for winter to aid in the grim work of moving 1 down the silent, hungry, sick and dying | thousands With streets ~and houses ehoked with filth that is already spread l ing spotted and intermittent typhus. the cold weather will finish the task with pneumonia and abdominal typhus
 ''The fuel situation was never so bad.
 Wooden houses have been torn down for I fuel. The material is distributed equally among the population, but during the
 nights the. more energetic citizens steal the quota of wood from others.
 t"The wood yards have been nation
 alized, one of them has been given up entirely to the manufacturers of 800
 coffins monthly. But even this number is insufficient People have not time to bury the dead, and the bodies take , their turn waiting.
 Attempts to repair the streets. whicl are full of holes owing to bursting wat , CT pipes have. failed because the wood blocks for pavement have been stolen 7 during the night for fuel
 Kerosene eos a "E pound
 There are no candles. Most homes
 in darkness There is means of trans g porting things by waterway. because ths f barges were long since demolished for fi' l el The railway transportation is / , voted almost exclusively to the distribu l ton of four
 f "Only 200 people are permitted to le- = Petrograd daily by passenger trains : Workmen receive half pound of breat r daily. and sometimes other food is given
 The prices of foodstuffs continue. to rte
 to incredible heights. Many product
 have almost completely disappeafed iron 6 the markets.
 'The mortality has reached startlin n rate owing to the lack of food and un '+ sanitary conditions of houses and streets = Fat has left the majority of the popula :. ton long ago.
 Y At present the muscular tissue Is cor sumed. The faces of people have take , on wax-like color. In order to fl
 their stomachs with something they drin different substitutes for tea and coffe 's or great quantities of plain water. re = siilting in puffiness and dropsy, whic d change the expression of the face so ths . old acquaintances are unrecognfzable m "lndescribable dirt and filth is on ever If side within the houses. When plnrnbir
 (f NVINr ,k sr Whole houses become filthy from ton q. bottom and it becames impossible to +, z. Tn them. These houses are then barra f'ano tenants move into other .bonsn n- when are neglected in the same mann, 5e Petrograd is facing a dreadful nh., x9 tom or epidemics. Thousands ara p- teduy uylng every month of sootted ., n aominal and intermittent tyr,bns ~, q" ut inonary ,iII diseases hunger and exharstip,, ip d.o.,d 1ne hospitals are overfowing vii
 e.opss tctins mostly women, elder ,e men and children. Hernia. is more fr h. quent than eyer as the result of ,ueo,la, 1a he ing @ or rom climbing steep SepS of The moral breakdown of tba ro, in u!alloh IS well illustrated in the bosnita :" "!iere there is no discipline and m cs ', of patients emu iio Ca e. Patients are taken in the hos,ita he whilo lroui in b paIh, II they want to be war or r,,e+ =, ''SieinS operation thu H. must mus prlng their own blankets and fin ay 1o %itn tnen; Both the patients and il
 .o"er medlcal personnel are engaged
 steailng warm coverings The meJic
 attendants. who are not trained to ire
 the sick, work because they are e1,ars ID teed army ratiens. They are hnnq1 . rough, lazy. They rob the sick. steal f as as property of the hospital, steal wood w wrs take home, andN help themselves to lin o o tiignt gowns and blankets. Each plfy u- In the military hospitals where .ho n- are surgical instruments. operations 2 n- performed in unheated rooms Am, ia all the operations result in complicatio gre such as pneumonia and ulcAre 5. ~