Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1921-10-08
vOLCA TOWNS IN
HUNGER DESPAIR
People sit Silent in the Streets
Awaiting Death to End
Their Sufferings.
PICTURES OF GRIM MISERY
Docks and Railroad Stations Piled
High With Belongings Of Refugees
Driven From Their Land by
Drought and GrasshopPers

Syrian, Russia.-There was a time
when Syrian was the most colorful
city along the Volga, but that time Is
gone. Today 1t is crowded with dust
begrimed peasants, who group them
selves into gray masses In their search
for food.
There was a time when the air was
filled with a perfect babel of tongues
the languages of the Kalmucks, Mon
gols, Tartars, Chinese and Russians
but the crowds that throng the streets
of the city at present are mute. Even
the laughter of children has been 81"
fenced in the despair that has settled
over these tens Of thousands, who sit,
crossing themselves, and wait for
what seems to be the inevitable.
Pictures Of Grim Misery.
Pictures Of misery seen here are du-
plicated in Samara, Simbirsk, Saratoff,
Tsaritzln, and every other city in the
ADMINISTRATOR valley of the Volgs>
Docks and railroad stations are plled
high with the belongings of the refu-
gees, who were driven from their land
by the drought and the clouds or
grasshoppers that destroyed even the
meager grain that had detied the heat
of the terrible summer now drawing
to a tragic close. Committees are try
ing to move the refugees to other
points where there Is some promise
of food, but 1t is necessary to use
the limited river and railroad trans
portation facilities to send seed grain
into the country and to bring bread
into the famine districts.
Many professional beggars OF the
gypsy type are to be found here and
In other large centers in southern
Russia. but the starving farmers ask
no aims and utter no cry. They
stand silent and await their fate with
the stoicism pictured so graphically
and truthfully by Tolstoy and Dosto-
ievsky.
Sell Rings and Clothing.
Markets have sprung UP mushroom
like here and there about the refugee
camps, offering for sale vegetables,
bread, flour and meat. They are sur
rounded by hungry people, who have
no money to offer, but who exchange
wedding rings, fur coats, caps, ket-
Ags, pans, boots and other small pos
SESSIONS. They know the RussiaA win
ter Is coming, and that 1t will ma
them without shelter and clothing, but
they are obliged to give up the ne
cessities Of the future to meet the de.
mands Of the present.
Large peasant families arrive In
state of exhaustion, their carts being
dragged by camels and starved
horses. There is no hay or grain
here, and there is slight prospect that
the animals can be kept alive until
spring.
In the carts are samovars, talking
machines, concertinas and American
sewing machines, which are bartered
for food or for collins. The dead
lie unnoticed for hours. while near
them are pitiful groups boiling few
potatoes and onions with which to
keep alive. Some markets are under
armed guard, but this appears to be
unnecessary, MS the peasants are TOO
weak and passive to take violent
measures.
Typhus Claiming Victims.
Great crowds attempt to cling to
the few trains that leave here daily,
and soldiers often pull some of the
refugees from the cars, frequently
separating families, some members OF
which have managed to secrete them
selves between the cars.
Typhus has appeared In many
places and the hospital superintend-
ent at Samara said the other day the
only way to handle the situation was
to segregate those who have been
stricken. They receive rations when
food is available, but there is no soap
Five hundred sick children were
found grouped In one building In Sa'
mara. Some of them were seen eat
ing leaves from shrubs, while Others
were lying dDOut on ullty DeuS' Hoi
dead than alive. Most of these chill
dren were so ashen and emaciated
that they resembled old men and
women.
Germans Among Sufferers.
Many once prosperous German fam
flies from Mariupol and other Ger
man centers are among the refugee!
at Samara and are living In filth ant
poverty In crowded dock sheds Of
have no shelter at all. Several Ger
+ mans told the correspondent they hat
relatives In Siberia and were trying
to reach Omsk, but they had exhaust
ed their money and could not get per
mission to migrate eastward.
Miss Anna Haines Of Philadelphia
a worker for the Friends relief organ
ization, is in Samara and recent,
said the mortality among children les
than three years old is very high ant
that nearly 80 per cent are alread,
dead. She told of four persons dyinI
on a station platform in Samara tn
other night while they were waitin
Ill Ax.NWr