Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1920-12-10
CZECHO-SLOVAKIA: BORN
ABOARD FREIGHT
TRAINS

Amid the disorders of Central Eu-
rope one new nation affords a con-
s~picuous exception to the chaos, strife
and revolutions prevalent on all sides
of her. That nation is C~zecho-Slo-
vakia.
The inception of this new national
ity from a racial unit of ancient n
distinguished lineage Is a modern ro-
nance comparable to the crusades OF
the middle ages.
Early In 1918 the intrepid Czech
warriors started out from the kiev
district of western Russia in railway
cars, some Of which were decorated
with the slogan, From Wal to War
Around the World"
At that time 1t looked as though
the summer OF 1918 would find them
in Champagne or the Arg0nne. Joined
with the thousands of their cOmpa-
triots who were already lighting In
the allied armies to down the Hun.
But a strange combination Of circum-
lance delayed them In Siberia
through the short summer of long days
and the long winter of little sunshine.
A communication follows from
Maynard Owen Williams. first Amer
lean correspondent with the spectacu-
lar anabasis of the Czech0-Slovaks
across Siberia:
"Xenophon had a fine trip, IL one
is to Judge from the accounts of his
favorite press agent. and Napoleon
| and Sherman have made famous ex-
| cursions, but when it m to the
world encireling vision of the tourist
| bureau writer, and the doggedness OF
death, the wonderful Czechs take the
palm.
1.-THE wal found them about as en-
thusiastic in their friendship for vii
liam Hohenzollern and his Potsdan
c~onfederates as they were for the
Hapsburg house that betrayed then
centuries ago. after they magnanimous
ly Joined the Austrians in the repulss
Of the hordes from Asia that ther
threatened Europe.
"Their going over to the enemy was
one VI lit lCdSoho WHY
southern neighbor failed to pick III
rapidly amid the heavy traffic that re
suited from the mobilization o
Europe.
whole regiments of them went owe
to the foe. Other thousands wer'
shot down by their Austrian compan
ions in arms, and all their organiza
lions were heavily Offered by tn
Germans or Magyars, whose method
and aims they hated. Thousands o
them escaped to Russia, where the
were sent to the cold of Siberia or tn
malaria of the Tashkent region a
prisoners of wal.
MANY of them entered the Russia
army under Kerensky, but with tn
signing of the Brest-Litovsk treat,
they lost faith In their Russian con
panions in arms and with a spirit Q
LOYALTY to the cause of freedom the
no other group surpassed. they set OF
from Russia to cross Siberia, the p,
ciic, America, the Atlantic and Franc
to hurl themselves once more again'
their oppressors and traditional foe
"When / met them their IS trair
were strung out from the Ukraine I
Lake Baikal. all moving toward tn
port of Vladivostok.
"The Bolsheviki walked into tn
trap which they had themselves pr
pared. for had they lived up to the
promises. the Czechs would have a
been in vladivostok by July. VIII
, the Reds attempted to disarm Il
Czecho- Slovak expedition. the B
hemians refused to be as meek I
> the anti-B olsheviks usually were the
, and the result was a continent save
Z for democracy while the world WI
hunting through its atlas to find O
who these fighting men with q
strange name really were. and VIII
they were doing 30 far from home"