The Washington times., 1920-04-29


bravery, the Cross OF 81. Vladimir. by
the cIar. was wounded by the Bol
sheyists in 1915 and taken TO hos
pital In Moscow.
MY parents, who were in America
at the time, left at oree for Russia.
and / have never heard from one OF
the three since then. That IL now
nearly two years ago. i have trise
In every way TO set In communiea-
tion with them. but IL 10 useless. The
last word l had from Russia came
through Copenhagen.
ut is terrible to live In the sus.
pense In which their silence forces
me. though l know II 10 not their
fault that l do not hear from them.
Organised Hospital Train.
"After / graduated from the uni
versity. ] took up nursing and fin
ished a course at the Imperial Hos
pitsl in Petrosrad. when the war
broke out ! organised my own hos
pital train consisting OF ten ears, one
OF which was used as an operating
room. There were fifteen nurses In
the unit and we were all under the
Russian Red Cross.
We were assigned to the western
front From 1914 to 1915 i served be-
hind the lines. In 1916 l went to
France as a Red Cross nurse and was
on duty for six months at the Siege
OF Verdun, returning TO Russia late
that year.
an the early part OF 1917, while
bnndaging the wounds OF a Russian
officer on the battlefield. a Zeppelin
new over us and began 10 drop
bombs. The officer was In a pitiful
Al, aa
explosive bullets I think they only
used them against the Russians) and
stuck TO my duty with the result
that one of the bombs fell near us
and / was hit by fragments OF the
shell. For six months i lay In q
base hospital. my right side para
lyzed as a result my wounds, and
when / finally recovered, was dec
GRATED with the first degree cross
OF St. George. the highest honor that
the Gear could bestow upon me.
Praises Cossscks.
And. speaking Of the war, i firmly
believe that II the Russians had had
ammunition In the early stages Of the
conflict they never would have stop
ped until they reached Berlin. There
are no finer body OF soldiers in the
world than those Cossacks. who were
in what was called The Wild d.
vision
"For fve years each man had been
trained In horsemanship. and the use
of the knife and the gun. They were
indeed. wild. No soldier could have
withstood the hardships they under
went in the Carpathians when they
fought in snow up to their necks at
times.
"They knew not culture as your
American soldier. and 1 will relate an
incident to explain what i mean. |
was attached to the general stan. and
while on duty / was present when
four of these cossacks brought in
four German prisoners. The general
in command wanted to know where
the other sixty-five prisoners were, a.
the four cossacks had started out
with sixty-nine Huns. Without the
slightest embarrassment one of the
quartet stated that the prisoners had
bene sent to get some horses and had
refused to go on the errand, where
upon he four cossacks shot them to
death.
Horrible Torture.
when / demonstrated with them
for their act they bade me accompany
tHt1u u q py hSsPiNoi "hNi
some of their comrades were lying
wounded The Cossacks wear blue
riding breeches with a broad red
stripe running up the side OF each
leg.
Lying on their cots moaning in
agony were a number OF these wild
men. the flesh stripped from each leg,
the width Of the stripe, by the Ger
mans, into whose hands they had fal-
len until rescued by their company.
"As soon as / was well enough to
travel l came to the United States,
and at Boston l met Capt. Victor A.
Turin, who had served in the Russian
Imperial Guards, and who was at
torney for my estates at home.
HE was the handsomest man
have ever met, and 1 married him in
Boston. October 81, 1917. Captain
Turin was at that time member
OF the commission sent here to in
spect the artillery that was being
shipped to Russia. He resigned from
that commission and Joined the
French army and was killed at YER
dun.
Exchanged for Prisoners.
Returning to Russia, l was sent
to Petrograd to arrange for the ship
Tncnl Oh Suppii'S ~ ihS - ~
when the revolution broke out, and
l was captured. kerensky was
obliged to give ten OF his prisoners
in exchange for my release. and l
at once decided to escape from Rus
sia.
CARRIED in the dress of a sister of
Mercy l got as far as 1rkutsk when
was again taken into custody by
the Bolshcvists and held for two
weeks before / was again exchanged
for a number OF prisoners and given
my release. lost no time N getting
to Nladivostok and from there went
TO Japan. from which country l came
TO America eight months ago,
some day l hope TO return to my
country when it iS safe for me 10 do
so, as / have vast estates there in
all parts OF 1t. No doubt they have
been confiscated by the Bolshevists.
Fires were raging in the forests on
some of my places the last heard
frop, Dnaeio adpnira NOur Amer