davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The New York herald., 1922-10-29

of good books on car repairing. These
books showed some illustrations of car
repairers at work, so that began to
get some idea of what was to be ex-
pected of me.
At o'clock returned to the office
and found a congregation of about
fifteen men. They were very different
types OF men. 1t was rumored that we
were going TO Scranton, Elmira or
Buffalo VT was an the same to me.
We were escorted over to Hoboken and
boarded together in a large room
where there were two Enclosures. This
room was probably used for immi-
grants. II was here that found out
about my fellow passengers. There
was a cloakmaker going in as a ma
c1inlst. an apartment house superin-
tendent going In as pipefitter Ca good
man, he at least knew what valve
was), chauffeur going as boiler
maker.
Also ! remember there was a cook
going as a machinist, a plumbers ap-
prentice, n driver. a radio expert who
had gone in business for himself with
too little capital, n couple Of fellows
who wanted to get to Buffalo because
their home was there and a profess
sonal crap shooter. discovered later
that there were a number Of these
professional crap shooters who took
'obs on different roads and who re-
fused to work when they reached their
destination, only to ply their art on
the return trip. Well. Il was rumored
about that we were to be questioned as
to what experience we had and as to
what we knew about these jobs. One
fellow told us to say that we could
wipe a journal, make a coupling"
and replace a brake shoe" Well,
somehow we all got by except one fell
low who was asked II he had ever put
any rubber tires on engines. He said
The New York herald., 1922-10-29

pair an engine. The engineer on his
return from a trip makes a report as
to needed repairs and this is given to
the foreman of the roundhouse. The
foreman gives a written slip to a ma
chinist and his helper. The machinist
has the number of the engine on the
slip and with a hammer and Stillson
wrench in his hand he locates the
trouble If he cannot find out what is
wrong he asks some one near by to
explain his order and proceeds to make
the necessary repairs. The foreman
later comes around and gives further
instructions. The foremen did not be-
long to the union and did not go on
strike.
1t is remarkable how much could be
accomplished with these unskilled men
who were taking the places of men who
had spent years of apprenticeship. OF
course there were some cases where
the man not only didn't know the diff
ference between an alligator wrench
and cotter pin, but didn't know what
either of these was. In some cases
the foremen did most of the work
themselves.
Somehow the engines were kept
moving. and this in spite of the fact
that 1t was believed that some of the
engineers were trying to damage their
efgines purposely. What bothered me,
however, was that some of these un-
skilled men might blow UP one OF the
engines and kill some of us. There
are so many intricate partssto an en-
gine and so, many curious noises are
emitted from them that anything out
of the ordinary would give me a scare.
The injector was the worst of these.
1t Is valve which when turned allows
water 20 run from the tender to the
boiler. This causes pipe on the out
side of the engine to emit steam, hot
water and bubbles. The immediate
The New York herald., 1922-10-29

very thickly populated coal mining
district, at one point OF which the
houses are very near the railroad
track. This small place is named
Keyser Valley. A little further on
there is a place that / heard a guard
call "dIelps Kitchen" Our little bag
gage car and engine. commonly called
the "jitney," frequently met with
trouble at these two points. Stones
would hit the roof or side of the car.
The uniformed guard would point his
riot gun, but l do not believe that
shots were ever fired. One fellow,
however, got a scar on his nose much
worse than mine. He was standing on
the back of an engine with two or
three others going from Scranton to
Hampton. The engine caught up TO
the rear of a freight that had stopped
and the engineer came to a stop under
an overhead bridge.
A crowd of small boys began to con-
gregate on the bridge. The uniformed
guard. realizing the unsafe condition.
implored the engineer TO go back.
This the engineer refused to do with
out orders. He wasn't putting himself
out to protect "scabs" anyway. The
guard then thought he might dispense
the crowd by pointing his gun at
them. He soon realized that he had
made a mistake, as a number of angry
men soon replaced the boys. Then
the stones began to fly, and the fellow
that was hit on the nose had to be
rushed to the hospital.
We arrived at the Hampton round
house at IL o'clock Saturday night.
The foreman insisted on putting us
right TO work. The crapshooter and
another fellow that had become chum-
my with him refused to work, and
left us the following morning. Hav-
ing donned their overalls. caps and
gloves, our crowd looked more like
The New York herald., 1922-10-29
Fires Started in Smyrna
When Patrols Withdrew

While they were discussing the
burning Of Alashehr the subject of the
burning Of Smyrna was brought up.
We asked them to explain how 1t
happened that Smyrna did not burn
until the fourth day after the Turkish
occupation and what precautions had
been taken to save the city from de-
struction by fire. The Turkish In
telligence Officer said they did expect
that an attempt would be made to
burn Smyrna and they believed that
1t would start in the Armenian quar-
ter: that for the first three days they
had kept "a heavy patrol in that Sec
ton. When three days had passed
and all seemed peaceful and secure
they had reduced the patrol and then
the fires were set.
Asked why they had expected the
fire to start in the Armenian quarter,
he said that the Armenians had more
courage than the Greeks and were
consequently used by the Greeks for
most of the dirty and dangerous work.
Alashehr had population of $4,000
1900 in the city proper and $4,000
in the suburbs. Now there are 5000
left; there were 1000 houses and now
there are 100 standing; there were
5000 shops or stores. of which but
three remain; there were twelve
mosques and twenty smaller places Of
worship, of which none remain. The
The New York herald., 1922-10-29

remain for q certain length OF time.
My partner was a widower with three
little girls to pay board for. But what
worried him even more was their
clothes for school and their winter
underwear.
During one of the long drawn out
mornings when we used to talk great
deal he told me that short time be-
fore he Rad taken this job he had been
walking along the streets of Boston
with two OF his daughters. They
passed a store where number of
large dolls were displayed. His Oldest
daughter said, Papa, do you suppose
you have enough money to buy me one
Of those? or course, II you haven't
it will be all right, but" And he
had been out of work for three weeks.
He was making more than $64 a week
here. with board and tobacco free. He
had sent the money for the girls
board and insurance, and was $500 to
the good when I left him. I hope he
was able to stand 1t for while longer
and went home with enough to buy
real doll.
These men, taken as a whole, were
not professional strikebreakers. They
were thore because they needed the
money pure and simple. Some wanted
1t for one purpose and some another.
One fellow from the South was there
tucause his wife was to be confined.
Hs was out Of work and left torne
three months ahead to make ready.
He returned home In time nearly $500
ahead. A young fellow from Brook
lyn, who developed into very useful
machinist, had got into some auto
mobile trouble and was out on hail.
He needed his money for lawyers and
other purposes.
AS to the unskilled men doing the
work, 1t turned out this way: The
duty Of a railroad machinist is to re-
The New York herald., 1922-10-29

vicinity is no place for a person any
way nervous or with a weak heart.
An army of guards were to protect
these men while they were working.
They were recruited from everywhere
and were old and young. Some were
merely boys. They were armed with
pistols. clubs or riot guns. During the
night they sat around bonfires on the
surrounding hills. These men received
$3.50 q month and their board, with a
promise of better job after the strike
was over. Their total all over the coun-
try when the strike was in full swing
must have come well UP to tho
strength Of the United States Arnv
and must have cost the railroaG>J .
considerable sum. Some of thess
guards seemed to have the impression
that they had been hired to watch us
and see that we behaved ourselves.
This at times became quite annoying.
They rarely arrested anybody.
For a while these guards had tina
privilege Of eating their meals firss
We would have to wait until they were
finished and the dishes were washed
and set up again. This ended In a
dispute. the outcome OF which was
that the guards had to take their turn
like the rest of us.
For thirty days I stood 1t and then
I was so anxious to depart that / could
barely resign myself to walt for the
"jitney" to take me the first lap.
washed In water almost too hot to
bear in order to get some of the dirt
out Of the pores of my skin. Then I
rubbed my face so vigorously that
caused an abrasion above the bridge
OF my nose. I was forced to go home
with this scar and admit that | had
been a strikebreaker. Some would not
believe that | had not been hit. The
story Of the towel sounded like a
fiimsy excuse.
The New York herald., 1922-10-29

mechanics, but we were very uneasy,
to say the least, and there were many
questions as to whether there were
sufficient guards about. One of the
guards accidently discharged his gun
at this time, and one fellow remarked
that there were some pretty bad
farmers around here"
was assigned to work with a man
who put oily waste in the Journal
boxes of tenders on engines and spent
the remainder of the night holding a
kerosene torch so that he could SEQ to
work. At o'clock In the morning
had earned s16.2S. At least I was
credited with this amount, as I was
allowed eight hours for travelling and
time and half, as this was Saturday
night. l went to bed In a box car,
satisfied that this was a more certain
job than the commission Job I had
held.
The most impressive thing about a
round house Is the dirt. doubt IL
there is any place much dirtier. 1t is
black, greasy dirt that gets right
through your clothing and into the
pores of your skin. where, under the
conditions, II is likely to remain for
some time. The next most impressive
thing is the noise. When a fire is
started In an engine a blower is at
tached to the smoke box and steam is
blown In with a shrielting. whistling
noise that rattles your ear drums. A
number OF engines are generally being
fired at one time.
Frankly, I had never been in a
round house before in my life and
doubt IL any of my fellow workers had.
| certainly would not choose one as a
place to work in. am glad there are
other men willing TO. That let's me
out. Every man there had taken the
position that he had undertaken a self
imposed sentence and that he would
The New York herald., 1922-10-29

T RETURNED to New York with a
large roll in my pocket. and a
scar on the bridge of my nose.
The roll was abundantly large con-
sidering the amount of labor it repre-
sented and the amount of labor
actually put forth to obtain 1t. How
ever, there were others who did much
less, and there were still others who
did nothing worthy Of being called ac-
complishment. AS TO the scar. it an
noyed me considerably, but I can ex-
plain that later. .
1t was after due thought and con-
sderation that / decided to take ad-
vant-ss or the situation, very ex-
eeptional situation. One million skilled
mechanics. more or less, we're wanted
In "A single day. simultaneously there
appeared in all the papers in the larger
cities large advertisements appealing
for skilled mechanics, machinists,
boilermakers, pipeftters, car re-
pdlferS ana OtneI ldueSInen 10 Jake
the place OF the men gceie on -.rihe.
GOOD pay, free board and Transports
tion,'' "This is not a strike against
the railroad" waiting time paid.
"Plenty of overtime" and Call with
baggage ready to go,", were some of
the statements made.
With few belongings I applied at
nm agency on lower Sixth avenue. Was
an experienced car repairer? Yes.
III say was. / worked as brake
man for few months nineteen years
ngo. At that time / remember of see
ing several cars that needed repairing.
My name was therefore put down and
j was instructed to return at ] o'clock.
This gave me an opportunity to go up
to the library, where 1 found a couple
The New York herald., 1922-10-29
BY E. B. PERRY,
u. S. S. Edsall (219).
gssciai Correspondence TO THE NEW YosK
HERALD.

SMYRNA, Anatolia, Oct s.
Y UNDOUBTEDLY the Turk had
4 his day when Smyrna was
taken over, but the Turk is
not the. only one at fault. We have
always been taught to believe that the
Turk was a bloodthirsty sort of fell
low who carried huge scinnitar and
chased poor Armenians all over the
landscape, That is the picture that
] had expected to see when first we
came to their shores. The topography
of the country is ideal for such a
scene. The rolling hills against the
cloudless sky would make an ideal
setting for such a chase. Butt have
seen no such sight. Maybe the Turks
had already caught them all.
After having visited the interior of
the country and looked upon the work
OF the Greeks and the Armenians /
am not so ready to criticize the Turks
for the things that they have done.
When you have looked at scores of
ruined and destroyed mosques it is
rather difficult to Work up much of a
rage at the destruction OF a few
churches. Where thousands have
been made homeless by the one there
are thousands who are homeless as
the result of the actions of the other.
1t is difficult to distinguish between
two shades of black.
In our eagerness to help the evacu-
ated Greeks and Armenians we must
not be too eager to put all of the blame
on the Turk. There are two sides to
this question ms we'll as to- all others
and the American public must not be
carried away by the force of their
sympathy until they have heard the
whole story Undoubtedly there will
be many bloodcurdling tales told by
those who witnesses but one side of
the tragedy, by those whose sympa-
thies are entirely one sided, and by
those who have their own ends to
meet, but remember, there are two
sides.
The Turks have been, and continue
to be, very friendly to all Americans.
The French are in the good graces of
the Turks. 1t is to be expected that
the British and the Turks would be
none too cordial, due to the political
situation, bat / have heard of no mas
sacre OF Britishers.
The New York herald., 1922-10-29
Through the Interior
Along Turks Line of March


Last week I was one OF party Of
American and European newspaper
correspondents taken into the interior
along the line Of the Turkish march
on Smyrna. The trip was arranged
and conducted by the Turkish mill
tary authorities under the direction of
Nureddin Pasha. Military Governor of
the Smyrna area.
Before we had left we were inter-
viewed by various officials and repre-
sentatives Of local Turkish papers
We were informed that we We're going
to see terrible sights-that we would
need perfume because OF the smell:
that it was like going through hell
Also we We're told that we were very
unfortunate indeed, for there was no
one to cook for us, but that they
would do tire best they could. That
had us worried.
Our first stop was Menemen. As the
train pulled into the station we found
that we were expected. All of the vil-
lage was there to greet us. AS we de-
scended from our train we were met
by the Colonel commanding the troops
with his staff, the Mayor, the town
President and the village teachers in
their white encircled fezzes. The
President, through an interpreter,
called upon one Of the leading citi-
zens to tell the story Of the Greek
atrocities.
He started off well. beginning with
September s. and telling in detail all
that happened or was said during all
of the day. He made an especial point
of the fact that the Greek priest an
nounced that Menemen would be
burned the day the Greek troops ar
rived. He went on at great length to
tell of the measures the Turkish popu-
lation took to guard against the burn
ing Of the city and worked himself
into terrible state Of mind. When it
was all finished we learned that moth
ing had happened to Menemen. They
said that the retreating Greek army
did not have time to destroy the viii
lage.
But they had an ace up their sleeves.
They wished us to go for a little trip
into the country where there were the
bodies of some Turks who had been
murdered by the Armenians and we
must see them. Well and good: we all
got into carriages and drove out into
the country for about two miles and
turned into a farmyard. There the
party all gathered around an old we'll
which appeared to have been filled
with reeds.
A soldier in the party, evidently
brought for the purpose, took long
pole and began pushing and scraping
The New York herald., 1922-10-29
JNE OF .TbE TURKISH ADVANCE

Military Governor Of the city. He Is
a splendid sort Of fellow, very pleasant
and likable, and he exerted himself to
make us feel that we were very well
come.
First we learned that Alashehr
means "The White City" It was the
ancient city of Philadelphia, or the
City Of Brotherly Love-" Alashehr
certainly lived up to its name.
The evening was spent in discuss
ing the burning of the city. We
were told the fires were started near
the market districts and almost inn
mediately fires broke out from every
quarter. The Greek civilian popula-
ton helped the soldiers in firing the
city and also wrecked as much Of the
water supply as they were able. The
soldiers robbed and killed the Turks
and many were burned to death In
their houses as they dared not ven
ture out for fear of being shot.
The New York herald., 1922-10-29
An American Observer Describes
For The New York Herald the
Result Of a Tour of the Interior
Made Under the Direction of the
Turkish Military Governor

could start cat fight there. Without
any doubt. all of the houses have been
well looted and little OF any value left.
There is a little cemetery just out
side the town, a European cemetery,
and as 1 had heard tales of desecra-
ton / went in. All of the stones,
crosses, monuments and markers had
been knocked down and destroyed
Many of them were broken into little
bits. Evidently some one had vented
his spite on this little cemetery, and
do not believe that 1t was either
Greek or Armenian who had done it.
l had heard that the graves were
opened up. but that was not true. No
graves had been opened in that ceme-
terry. / have heard from reliable
sources, however. that the graves of
Christians have been opened and the
bodies disturbed.
| also made trip through the Jew
ish section of the city this afternoon.
Everything seemed to be normal, ex-
cept little overpopulated perhaps.
While returning we met four Turkish
soldiers carrying a stretcher on which
was a body covered with bloody rags.
From all that we were able to learn
1t was the body of Greek or Ar
menian who had been convicted of
crime and publicly beheaded.
There are rumors of murder and
torture of the refugees by the Turks
along the coastal cities. and it is quite
likely that many OF these tales are
true. Such things are very hard to
prove, and one may not make state
ment without proof.
The New York herald., 1922-10-29
X[S1z1S1y1S1z1S1S115
SMYRNA REFUGEES ARRIVE
IN EAST THRACE

twenty-five small villages which went
to make the suburbs are all wiped out.
approximately 600 known dead were
found, while there are thousands
missing, and 1t is not known what
became Of them. Searching parties
are still on the mountain side trying
to find trace Of them.
Eyoub Helmi. civilian. testified
that several Greek officers were living
with him and they had told him that
the city would be burned as soon as
the Greeks commenced their retreat
through that area.
The story continued that the Greek
army fired the town, using oil to as
sure themselves of a good Job. looted
and murdered ruthlessly and then
went on their way, taking at least
15o of the young girls with them.
Atrocities in AIashehr
Seemed Devoid of Proof
There were several cases Of atroci-
ties which were to prove the tales.
First we heard Of young girl whose
breasts had been cut off, When we
possible. Next lady was brought In
who was said to have gone mad due
to what she had seen. To us she ap-
peared rational.
Then Turkish lady was introduced
who stated that she was the directress
of a young girls school, and said that
the Greeks had broken down the
school house door, entered and robbed
all OF the young ladies' Of everything
they had and then some Of the Greek
irregulars started the girls toward the
station. They were able to get away
from the irregulars, but were then
fired upon with machine guns and cut
down in the streets.
Many escaped into O garden, when
about twenty soldiers came along and
commenced to beat them. An officer
passed that way and the soldiers ran
away, but the officer entered the gar
den and forced them to march down
toward the station to factory owned
by Mr.. Forbes. an American. That
Is the last she saw Of the other young
ladies, as she was able to escape by
hiding in the garden.
HeH We were SHOWu a CcTtiIleu HIlu
sealed list Of the 500 known dead.
That looked pretty substantial and
was considered presentable evidence.
1t will be noted that up to this time,
except for the burned cities. we had
not seen nor heard any evidence that
would bear much investigation. We
were becoming more and more skeptl-
cal. wondering IL the Turks thought
we were children and would believe
anything they told us. We had not
seen dead body nor had we met any
wounded person who had a first hand
story to tell. We were getting fed up
with what seemed like the 'rankest
sort of propaganda. but now things
were about to happen.
Then one of the inhabitants said
that he could show US graves to prove
their statements Of the numbers Of
the dead. Remember. they said there
were 600 dead and we wanted to check