The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-02-08
Human Skeletons
Mark Path in Snow
Hundreds of Thousands of
Men, Women and Children
Die From Hunger as They
Press on in Search Of
Bread

Cla, NolSa Region. Russia, Feb.
5.-(Dy the Associated preSs)-
When the SHOWS melt next spring
the Russian steppes will be strcwn
with Skeletons. They VIII rcscTn- :
bic the high prairies OF the Alneri-
can COW country in the days when
big cattle outfits had insufficient
hay 10 carry thitr stock through
Il hard winter.
But among the skeletons Of cat
tie and camels there will he bones
OF hundreds Of thousands Of men.
women and children who fcl! eX-
hausted in their quest for bread {:
who lived the simple lives their
peasant ancestors lived for cen
turtles and had little conception OF
the political upheaval which made
this famine more terrible than that
Of 1891.
They wandered, and millions OF
them arc still wandering. There
was nothing to eat in their homes,
so they started on the trek for
bread. Some drifted Westward TO
the .Volga and found death in the
typhus- ridden railway centers, or
among the horrors OF refugee
camps along the Nolgi; Others
started for Turkestan; still 9TH
ers moved Eastward toward Siberia
the land Of gold and wheat which
has always been so aluurinS OF the
Russian moujik. who heard little
Of its vaStncsS, its hardShipS and its
heartlesSncSs. The peasants knew
nothing OF modern ways. They were
unable TO ger rides on the trains
burdcned with the Red army and
food for Moscow and Petrograd.
When their animals dropped dead
the families walked on always
hopin. that food lay over the next
knoll.
Eut the country districts have
no grain, or il peasant families
have q small supply they conceal it
in the effort to prolong their own
lives until another crop is har-
vested. In the larger towns there
is food for sale at fabulous prices
but the starving refugees have
neither money nor goods to eX-
change and can only sit down to
await death or trudge on until they
sink OF exhaustion.
"a
railroads are collected on cars and
hauled 10 ccnters where they are
billed in frozen. snow-cOvcred heaps
10 await burial. Freezing refugees
remove all garments from the
dead. so the frozen bodies are nude
when the scavengers collect them.
Families drift apart and wander
aimlessly on to their inevitable
fate. Human instincts are lost and
they become little better than
beasts. The cities and town pop
ulat;ons are so hardened TO .suf-
fering that they are little moved
by the misery which lies ali about
them. Death seems more merci-
full in the country for the retu-
gees: Ahey sink into the white COW
ering OF the endless plain, and
wolves strip their bones.
From Perm and Ekaterinburs to
the Caspian Sea death is stalking
over the steppes. Russians, Cos
sacks. EalmuckS. KirghiZ and Tar
tars alike are meeting their end
with hopclessncSs and patience be-
gotten OF centuries Of unequal
struggle against political eXtoruon
and unfavorable climatic condl-
tons made worse by ignorance OF
scientific methods OF tllling the
soil.
American corn Will be too late
10 save mary OF these wanderers
through the steppes as Well as the
families who have elected TO make
their fight in their villages remote
from the railways rather than en-
,lurc the hardshipS and death their
neishborS have suffered along the
main lines Of transportation.
Entire village populations nave
died in the provinces East OF the
Nolsa and the animals which sur
vivc are so weak it is impossible
10 get adequate horsepower 10 de-
liver food TO the thousands OF
snowbound destitute settlements
far from iood stations.