Evening star., 1921-09-06
.GR|PPEDB BY DESPAIR
RUSSIANS SILENTLY
AWAIT GRIM DEATH
Terrible Misery Rules in
Cities of Famine Stricken
Valley of VoIga.
DEAD LIE UNN0TICED.
AS FOLK COOK NEARBY
Personal Belongings Bartered for
Food or Cofins-Transporta-
ton Avenues Crowded.

t1on Avenues Crowded.
By the Associated Press
SYRIAN. Russia. September g.
There was a time when Syzran was
the most colorful city along the
Volga. but that time is gone. Today
1t is crowded with dust -begrimed
peasants, who group themselves into
gray masses in their search for food.
There was time when the air was
filled with perfect babel of tongues
the languages Of the Kalmucks,
Mongols. !Tartars. Chinese and Rus
sians-but the crowds that throng the
streets of the city at present are mute.
Even the laughter of children has
been silenced in the despair that has
settled over these tens of thousands,
VINO sit. crossing themselves, and wait
1or what seems to be the inevitable.
Pictures of Misery.
Pictures of misery seen here are du-
pilcated in Samara, Simbirsk, Saratoff,
Izarltzin and every other city in the
Iamine-stricken valley of the Volga
Docks and railroad stations are piled
hlgh with the belongings of the refu-
gees. who were driven from their land
oy the drought and the clouds of
grasshoppers that destroyed even the
meager grain that had defied the heat
OF the terrible summer now drawing
to a tragic close.
Committees are trying to move
there is some promise of food, but it
is necessary to use the limited river
and railroad Transportation facilities
to send seed grain into the country
and to bring bread into the famine
districts.
Farmers Await Their Fate.
Many professional beggars of the
gypsy type are to be found here and
II other large centers in southeastern
no aims and utter no cry. They stand
silent and await their fate with the
stoicism pictured so graphically and
truthfully by Tolstoy and Dostoievsky.
Markets have sprung up mushroom
like here and there about the refugee
camps camps onerlng for sale vegetables
bread. Hour and meat. They are sur
rounded by hungry people. who have
no money to- offer, but who exchange
wedding rings, fur coats, caps, kettles,
pans. hoots and other small rDsses-
sions.. They know the Russian winter
is coming and that it will find them
without shelter and clothing, but they
are obliged to give up the necessities
of the future to meet the demands of
the present.
Animals Also Starving.
Large peasant families arrive in q
state of exhaustion. their carts be-
ing dragged by camels and starved
horses. There is no hay or grain
here and there is slight prospect that
spring. In the carts are samovars,
talking machines. concertinas and
American sewing machines, which
are bartered for food or for cofiins.
while near them are pitiful groups
boiling a few potatoes and onions to
keep alive. Some markets are under
armed guard. but this appears to be
unnecessary. as the peasants are too
measures.
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
of which have managed to secret them
selves between the cars.
Typhus, Stalks I'm Land.
Typhus has appeared in many places,
and the hospital superintendent at
Samara said the other day the only way
to- handle the situation was to segregate
those who had been stricken. They re-
there is no soap and no hot water to
wash the sufferers, many of whom are
children. Five hundred sick children
were found grouped in one building in
Samara. Some of them were seen eat
ing leaves from shrubs, while others
dead than alive. Most Of these children
were so ashen and emaciated that they
resembled old men and women.
Many once-prosperous German families
from Mariupol and other German CEN
ters are among the refugees at Samara
in nd ;,,
crowded dock sheds, or have no shelter
at all. Several Germans told the Asso-
ciated Press they had relatives in ST.
IBERIA, and were trying to reach Omsk,
but they had exhausted their money and
could not get permission to migrate east
ward.
Miss Anna Haines Of Philadelphia, a
worker for the Friends relief organiza-
ton. Is In Samara, and last week said
the mortality among children less than
three years is very high. and that near
ly 80 per cent are already dead.
Die Awaiting Transportation
She told of four persons dying on a
station platform in Samara the other
night while they we're waiting to be
transferred to some other town,
Others were lying about and were so
helpless that it was difficult to dis
tinguish between the living and the
dead.>
A committee sent to Russia by the
American Near East Relief left Sa-
mara last week for Tifiis after max
ing an investigation. DR.. John r.
Voris, one Of the committee, will go
to New York to report on the situa-
tion.
. PICTURE MARS