Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-12-28
THROW DIAMONDS
INTO TRADE rs
BOATS FOR FOOD
Refugees From Russia Give
Their ValuabIes for ANY,
thing Eatable; Many Chill
dren Are in the Crowd.

New YORK, Dec, 1.-Two nun
bred children of the officers o
General Wrangel's staff. sons ant
daughters of generals. colonies
and captains, were among the 100,
600 Russian refugees brought t.
Constantinople harbor by ships o
the allied nations when the bolShe
Wiki broke down Wrangel's detens'
and overran the Crimea.
Many of them were orphans
their fathers having persisted
while fighting the bolsheviki. On'
was the daughter of the minister
of finance of the Wrangel regime
All were nearly famished when thu
vessels on which they had taker
refuge arrived here. for the ships
larders had been exhausted.
Hard Pressed For Food.
So hard pressed We're all the
refugees to obtain food that they
threw diamonds and weapons oil
any other valuables into the boats
of traders from Constantinople ir
payment for anything eatable.
A graphic story of their arriva
at Constantinople and how an Am.
erican destroyer took the 2,00(
children of Wrangel's officers of
the refugee vessels and landed
them at the trachoma orphanags
maintained by the Near East Re
lief Is told in reports received by
that organization in this city i
reads in part:
"The harbor is a wonderful and
sad sight. One hundred thousand
Russians are on ships there. some
Of them dying. The best of the
old Russian families are among
these refugees, the men who fought
for Wrangel. crowded and sick ant
without food except what the relief
people can get to them and the
bread and water given to them by
the French.
Natives Profiteer.
"Of course, natives are profit
teering. and little boats go to the
ships and the Russians drop dia-
monds, firearms and other valua-
bles to these traders in exchange
for food. The people on these ves-
sells represent the remains Of an
old aristocracy with no country tc
take them though the French ex-
pect to send many to Morocco.
THE children were packed with
grown people like sardines on the
big ships coming from Crimea and
most of them were sick from IA
tigue, lack of nourishment and lack
of sleep. Miss Gunther and Miss
Hastings (relief workers. went to
the ships on board a United States
destroyer and 200 children were
tagged with the names Of their
fathers and mothers. and the faith
er's occupation. Many said; Faith
err died in Wrangeps army fight
ing for Russia The destroyer
the children to the land
ing of the trachoma orphanage,
which is located right on the Bos-
phorus. Ten mothers were taken
with their very young children
and babies and the other children
ranged from five to 13 years.
Some Carried Their Dolls.
Most of them looked exactly
like wellbred American children.
Some carried their dolls tightly in
their arms and one little boy hug
ged Teddy bear. A boy of IL
carried sick little boy of eight
years because he came from his
town in Russia. He would not eat
until the smaller boy had received
soup. Most of the children could
speak French.
First the mothers with little
babies were fed and then the chill
dren, first the girls and then the
boys. One boy ate six bowls of
soup and all the children ate as if
they were starved. There was no
noise, no crying, no disorder. They
we're like little soldiers All the
boys removed their hats upon en-
-ering the orphanage. The moth
srs and babies were first given
bath and then the boys and girls"