Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1920-10-22
MACK0FF TELLS STORY
OF RUSSIAN MISSION
Rescues Family From Devastated
Lands-Finds Home Town a
Starving Mass

None can realize what it means
to be an American until he has seen
with what hope the people of devas-
tated Russia look to u.s." said Her
man Mackoff, who has just returned
from Ukrania, in an address to the
Pharmaceutical association of the
State College last Thursday after
noon.
Mackoff started for Russia last
February to bring his mother and
sisters back to America with him.
He arrived in Danzig without having
encountered trouble or inconveni-
ence. Here he was obliged to board
transport bound for Warsaw, for
no one was given permission to re-
main in Danzig. The trip to War
saw, which ordinarily takes but II
hours, lasted four days, and those
/ four days were ones of misery. for
there were no provisions-no food
nor water.
After arriving in Warsaw he
searched for hours for a room and
it was not until an American marine
advised him to show his pocketbook
that he was successful After pay
ing 500 marks for small room. in
which he remained but a short time,
he decided the only thing for him to
do was to go on. Permission, how
ever, is required before one can en-
ter remain in, or leave a town, and
it was sometime before he could Sc
cure the necessary stamp on his pass
which allowed him to leave Warsaw.
First Glass Accommodations
On his next trip he obtained first
class accommodations on the train.
First class! He had to stand up for
four hours in a crowded. stuffy, I'M
ventilated coach, but he finally ar
rived in Lemburg. There he sought
help of the American consul, but was
laughed at and told to remain
]
himself lucky.
He travelled from Poland into Ga
lacia better than he had come into
Lemburg. The first class coaches
which he saw looked about as first
class as those which he had expert
enced, so when he beheld car la
4 beled "Officers Only" he boldly
stepped up to the bayonnetted SOL
der in charge and said American
Red Cross Commission" meanwhile
! showing the American flag in the
lapel of his coat.
/ After being arrested by the Boil
sheviks for being a Polander and
/ by the Polish for being a Bolshevik,
and by both for being a Spectator;
after passing his passport and dis
charge papers off as credentials for
an American Red Cross worker and
a member of the American typhus
commission, and after bribing nu-
merous Russian officials ("There
are none in Europe that won't ac-
cept a bribe," said Mr.. Makoff) he
/ arrived at small town about II
miles from his own home
There he met some OF his own
people, who insisted that he could
not go further, but he would not
stop after he had come so far and
continued unmolested to his native
village. His mother would not be-
lieve that he had really come and
an old friend of his, shaking his
hand, said, My boy you have done
a great thing, but you are a fool. No
one else would take such chances"
Home Village Changed
He found his home village in d
sad plight. You can not i'm
agine," he said, the terrible reality
as | saw it. My village, which had
had population of 900 families,
had now but so. There was not a
home but had lost one or two or
three members. People flocked to
me. kissing my hand and asking the
same question over and over again.
Had l come with help You see
was an American and America to
them means hope and hope means
life-not the life they have been liy-
ing-not an existence but life of
rest and peace
At some future date Mr.. Mackoff
will tell of his return trip.