The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1920-09-16

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VOL. XLII-NO. "a.
EXPERIENCES WITH
B0LSHEVlkI TOLD
The following letter has been re-
/, ceiyed by relatives Of Alma Kerr, q
!: Valley City girl, who is at present do
ing relief work among the Turks in
.:thc Near East in the Trebizond pro-
3,jrce. The young lady has been doing
G,s kind OF work for more than q
\ = and tells some interesting facts
Bang her work and the conditions
ofx Saatives of that country. She is
{, A@ter Of Charles T. Kjelland
wi.., /. ebout ten miles southwest Of
this cN The letter follows:
T~e> .ond, Turkey, Aug. 9, 1920.
Dea: Albert. Just line to let you
know that am feeling fine and am
veyy happy. had an accident yester-
day so that I want to write and tell
abouk it and see if it will increase
YOUR love for the Bolshevists.
AS YOU already know great many
Russians come here and we try as far
as possible to help them ecure work
and as most of them are excellent me-
chanists, we often give them work in
running our trucks and Ford. For
several months a man by the name
of Michael had been running our Ford
and although none Of us liked him
. verv we'll we were forced to keep him
because there was no one to take MS
place. He objected to driving the car
on Sunday-so his salary was raised
until he now receives more than any
other man employed. Yesterday
morning three of us, Miss Gillisple
and / with the director decided to 60
out along the shore of the Black sea
and picnic. He came here at twelve
and started out. At the outskirts OF
town we discovered that we had for
gotten something and we asked him
fo turn around. q doing so he back
ed right to the point of a precipice
which would have meant death to US
all had he not put the brake on at
our cries. At last we got out OF the
nerilous place and started back home.
We told him to go slowly which ne
did and amidst his horrible curses in
Russian as to that not being our car,
II was his and everything belonged
to him. We did not pay much atten-
tion and started on towards the little
village. Such a terrible ride I have
never had in my life. It soon became
evident to us that he was drunk and
meant to either frighten or Kill US.
Major Newton sat in the front seat
with him and knows nothing about. a
car or he could have stepped on the
.brake-but he had no intention OF
obeying us when we tried to make
him stop. Everyone Of US yelled at
the top of our voice TO him to stop
but he went on as fast as. the car
could 60 for. five or six miles, each
minute expecting to go over the bank
or or into some Of the poor bewildered
Turks who scrambled out Of the way.
B II was terrible. AS was the only
one who could talk to him in Turkish
I nleaded and coaxeds offering him
anything if he would only slow down
or stop, but nothing availed and l
felt that we were doomed when l saw
before us the terrible bridge which
onlv most sober man could cross
without danger as it crosses gorge
between two small mountains. sup
bose YOU will laugh at me when l tell
CT I'm
my hand around his arm and pinched
for dear life and Doctor Newton rea-
lizing why did that got his hands
around his neck and just the minute
his hands dropped from the wheel, :!
grabbed the brake and jerked it on and
we>came to standstill. But we had
to contend with raving Bolshevist
who hungered for our lives and / did
not know what to do. Major Newton
could of course take care of him,
which he said he would if ! was not
afraid to go back and get a police
man at the station three miles back.
Being in Turkey one must get along
with primitive ways and therefore
there was no way Of getting tele-
phone for help from our own people.
However did get lot of Turks to
come with me and we started back,
only to meet Miss Gilispie on her way
to Trebizonde, to get the truck, to pull
the Ford out of the ditch as Mike had
tried to turn around and tipped the
car. hastened on and found the
Bolshevist trying to hurt Major New
ton. When we came close he ceased
and we gave him over into the hands
Of the police, who also ate his nice
lunch and had the satisfaction of TAX
! ing the drivers place at the wheel,
while every once in while Michal
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