The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-05-22

| rTe rected us to follow him to the command ing officer of the detachment. The com mander was busily engaged when we reached him, and told our guide merely that he didn't wish to be bothered with US. So our sub-commssar took us over to the peasants cottage where there was a number of women and children from the train. We were treated very kindly there, although I had no oppor- tunity to get any shoes or additional clothing. After about two hours Tn this house great outcry arose outside. mere was an alarm that trainload of Wran- gel troops were approaching, and our raiders prepared to evacuate hastlyi Our guard took us toward the train, but we found it on fire, with two or three cars of ammunition exploding Tn cu- riously haphazard fashion. NO chance for the cavalrymen to escape py Ialh so we started on march across the steppe We walked about 1S versts In temperature of 15 degrees below freeznS,
 "It was midnight when we cached A small village where the raiders felt they were safe from immediate pur- suit We were put in small room under guard-myself, Miss kniaJeVltcn and my two sanitaries. Ihe chleI ol the intelligence staff questioned me for an hour. He did not ask me any military questions, but talked mainly about conditions in America and about ythe humanitarian theories and motives of the American Red Cross, which ne praised very highly. l talked Wltn hlm frankly, particularly on conditions Tn America, but he listened with an up lifted eyebrow and assured me that he knew better. He insisted that all the working classes Tn America were starving and that the whole country was on the verge of revolution. l told him that the work of the Red Cross was largely supported by laboring peo- pie and middle class people, who while not rich were moderately prosperous and anxious to help other nations not as favored. He shrugged his shoul- ders and passed to other subjects.
 MANY OTHER PRIONERS | There were about 60 prisoners in the house with us. Many of them were taken out during the night in groups l of or 10, probably either for release or for enrolment in the cavalry. Some of them may have been executed, but have no definite knowledge of this.
 "In the morning, Miss Kniajevitch and I were sent back to Alexevka by | the Indulgence officer Miss Kniaje- witch was pressed into service as q nurse and I was asked to assist also in the care of the sick and wounded. was very glad to do this and told everybody so. gathered up some non- | All the while was guarded and felt 1t would be a mistake to make any at
 tempt to escape.
 "A few days later came another alarm of an approaching attack by Wrangel forces. Guns were heard a few miles off, and the cavalrymen around Novo- | Alexeveka took to their heels without waiting for any orders. Miss Kniaje- witch and I were put into closed carriage under guard and rode all day, covering a distance of about so versts. 1 The journey was full of incidents as shells from guns and aeroplanet feli all along the road and we made many stops to give first aid to the wounded I men.
 s4"Our Journeys end was a village which was serving as headquarters Of General Budenny and his adjutant, Gen. eral Verschiloff. I had long talk with the two generals, who were very affable. Budenny asked me to have dinner with him, and we spent two hours, from to 8, discussing condi- tions in America and the principles of American relief work in Russia. Bu- denny showed the same incredulity as my previous interviewer when 1 spoke to him about conditions in America. All these men are obsessed with the idea that conditions everywhere in the world are the same as in Russia.
 hElCH OF
 GENERAL BUDENNY
 I General Budennys headquarters were very simple and transformations, but I was shown great many fine watches and elaborate fur coats which the soldiers and officers said had been siven them by Russian people as al | appreciation of their service
 The Budenny army was we'll clothed and all had excellent horses, many Of them brought from Poland. This army gets the best of everything all the time, and fares much better than the infan- | try divisions
 Budenny wears high black mous- tache, and is a very unusual type. He IS extremely shy and blushes easily. He is fond of compliments and has a tremen- dous reputation for personal bravery, which l have no doubt he deserves His soldiers idolize him.
 'Vorschiloff is workman, and the workman's representative with the Bu- denny army. He is undoubtedly very 1 clever man.
 The third member of the committed" in charge of the Budenny army former jurist. is intelligent and well educated.
 The next day we were sent to town called Bereslovil where we were supplied with uniforms. underwear, boots, caps, nittens and overcoats, all new of army tissue Two days later we took an auto across country to a railway station, whence we were put on train for kharkov, travelling very slowly in a box car, so that the trip took nearly week. We remained in Kharkov several days. fAn odd things about this very large city is that all the street names have been spelled out on the street corner signs in both Russian and German
 | T learned in Kharkov that arrange ments had been made for my immediate release, as had got along very we'll with all the people Ishad met and had encoun- | tered no serious disposition to treat my Red Cross mission with anything but the | greatest consideration. However just as these arrangements were about to be made, highly placed officer named Eela-Kun came along and vetoed the plan suppose that he is the same man that was formerly in Budapest He had arrived in Kharkov to take up his duties as the new governor of the l Crimea He got report on my case and l or dered that I should be sent to Moscow 1 and held for exchange. It was then or dered that I should leave for Moscow on November IA.
 "I talked to Bela-kun. He is one of the few men I met who is distinctly un- friendly to America
 | "I was told about the refugee evacu- ation of the Crimea while in Kharkov, and it was stated that all the ships bear ing refugees had geen sunk before they reached the Bosphorus
 'I contracted a severe cold during the first day or two after my capture, and for several days had rather high fever,