The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1922-02-14
NEAR EAST RELIEF
WORKER BACK HOME
Field Secretary of the Y. NJ. c. a Ar
riVes in Boston After Two Years
and Half in the East.
Especial to The JournaI)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla, Feb. 18th
Rev. c. +. Hill Crathern, formerly pas
tor in Worcester. Mass. recently ar
rived in Boston after an absence Of
two and one-half years as Yield Sec
rotary Of the Y NJ. c. A, Ia the eau
casus, Armenia and Turkey in Asia;
having served with the American TX
peditionary Forces in France.
Mr.. Crathern was sent to Constant
nople where he organized and directed
the first Boys Camp in Asia for six
hundred refugee orphans from the in
terror. He was later sent to Aintab
and Marash in Cuicia, and left Con-
stantinople on the Bagdad railroad,
commissioned by Near East RELIEF to
distribute supplies in Konia, Adana
Tarsus, Aleppo and Urfa.
For three weeks ne lived in a Near
East box car, cooking his own meals
assisted by an American interpreter
After organizing the work in Aintab
he was sent to Marash, and while there
serious trouble arose between the
! Turks and French forces who were in
possession of the city.
It was while Mr.. Crathern was re-
turniag to Aintab that his automobile
party ran into a pitched battle be-
,, tween the Turks and the French and
barely escaped with their lives-sev-
eral shots passing through the car, one
splintering the steering wheel. The
party, however. escaped and reached
Near East Relief headquarters in Ma
rash, safely. The next day the battle
was on, which resulted in the famous
siege Of the city and the massacre of
more than 10000 Armenians. Three
weeks later, the French garrison short
of food and munitions evacuated Ma
rash, and left the city in flames. A
reign of terror ensued during these
three weeks, which only the workers
in Near East compounds could de
scribe.
DR.. and Mrs. Wilson had charge of
Near East work during that reign OF
terror and did heroic work. Hundreds
OF the refugees and French soldiers
We're wounded and killed, and DR. WI
son was the only physician on hand to
help them. Hundreds of the refugees
were under their care day and night
and but for the supplies furnished by
Near East would surely have persisted.
Miss Buckley, a Near East worker,
Gals and isolated in an Armenian COM
pound, unable to secure help or sup
plies. Besides the orphans and refu-
gees in her care, she was in charge of
eighty Armenian girls who had been
rescued from Turkish and Kurdish
homes by Near East workers. and
these were saved with great difficulty
from the ferocity of the Turks. Every
they were trying not only to save the
women, but the children as well.
When the French evacuated the city
Mr.. Crathern was commissioned by
Near East to accompany the three
thousand refugees for the purpose of
affording the help and sustenance.
when they reached Eslahier. 1t was a
trip of seventy five miles in the winter
snow, the last day Of which was a Sc
we're blizzard, when more than twelve
hundred of the poor Armenian Tcru-
gees lost their lives in the snow.
The Near East organized at Adana
under DR.. Dodd, the director did splen-
did service by dispatching Immediately
hundreds of cases of milk and scores of
bales of blankets to meet the urgent
need. over eight hundred cases of
frost bite was treated in the Adana
hospital and the first news of the
Kamalast uprising in the interior was
despatched TO the outside world thru
the information brought by DR.. Crath-
ern and Near East workers. in some
of the remotest parts in Asia may be
found men and women belonging to
the Near East who are doing a quiet
humble WORK, far removed from the
comforts and benefits OF civilization.
Any one who has the privilege of
participating in the work of Near East
whether through personal services rem
dered in the field or through financial
aid given to the organization. should
be grateful for the opportunity. Tens
of thousands of people across the sea
will in the days to come rise up and
call America blessed for the benefi-
cent work she has accomplished in saw
ing them from restitution and death.
While. America has not assumed the
political mandate of the Near East as
many hoped and prayed she would, yet