Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-10-17
REFUGEES IN FLIGHT
into THE UNKNOWN
East Thrace PopuIace
Streams to West Before
Turk Occupation.
& -.
NO DESTINATION IN VIEW
Struggle on Amid Pitiful Sights,
Clogging Roads and Creating
Serious Relief Problems.
NO DESTINATION IN VIEW
BIZ the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press
ADRIANOPLE, October 17.-Thirty
thousand Greeks and Armenians have
passed from this city to the west
since Saturday. and the road between
here and the Martha river is an I'M
broken line of men. women and chill
dren with oxcarts. cattle and camels
Through a steady downpour of rain
they are Flooding doggedly toward
their unknown destinations. driven
forward by the nameless fear which
has gripped the whole populace Of
eastern Thrace since the govern
ments bulletins were posted on Sat
urday announcing the terms of the
Mudania armistice. which provide for
occupation of the province by the
Turks within forty-five days.
Nearly Uninhabited.
The members of the allied missions
stationed here declare the extent
OF the refugee exodus indicates that
The Turks, upon their entry. wifi find
eastern Thrace almost uninhablted.
The procession has been orderly, but
the misery of the refugees is already
extreme. and pneumonia will claim
many victims II the present Indictment
weather continues. The American in
charge of the little near east relief
soup kitchen at the railway junction
on the opposite side OF the Martha
declared:
= In all my experience never
imagined such pitiable sight as the
march from -Adrianople in the driving
rain. Every refugee arrives soaked
10 the skin. with wagon load /Of
bedding floating in water"
Pitiful scenes.
Perhaps never in the eighteen hun
dred years of its stormy history not
wars has Adrianople witnessed such
scenes
When. on Saturday. the Greek civil
authorities attempted to reassure
the peo-le by stating that the Turk
ish gendarmerie would not arrive
for fifteen days. the Christian inhabi-
tants simply refused to believe them.
Nearly every Christian family in
Adrianopie gathered up all they
could carry. either on their backs or
on oxcarts. and as soon as possible
were off.
Jammed With Humanity.
similar exodus is under way. and
every road leading to Martha Is
damned with humanity. cattle and
wagons. This whole flood converges
upon q single road as 1t approaches
the Karagatch bridge across the
Martha. The refugees believe that
if they can reach Karagateh they will
be safe from the Turks. This small
village, which Is just across the
boundary. will be in neutral terri
tory until mt the the peace conference de-
Although the railway is moving a
considerable number of refugees
westward from Karagatch. the sta
a vast concentration camp. The rain
has flooded sll parts Of the village.
forcing the refugees from the low
lands into new camping places in the
higher areas,
cattle Drowned.
Many cattle have been drowned by
the quickly rising Martha. on the
west bank of which thousands Of
refugees are encamped. Groups Of
giant dromedaries belonging to the
army have been assigned to the duty
Of pulling refugees carts from the
mudbanks into higher and safer
places.
Meanwhile Adrianople has taken on
the appearance OF deserted city,
with the shops and houses closed. The
Greek and Armenian priests remain
and are doing conspicuous work in
assisting the fleeing Inhabitants.
Troop Trains Leave.
Two troop trains leave daily for
western Thrace. and there is no more
talk of resistance among the soldiers.
although they boast they could have
held up the Turks at Chatalja with
three divisions. and declare they are
only leaving because ordered to do so
by the allies. The first French de-
tachments OF the allied troops Of oc-
cupation arrived yesterday. Express
sions Of regret are heard that the
English are not coming to Adrian
ople. having been assigned to Rodosto.
Allied airplanes have flown over the
city at q moderate height for the last
two days, apparently taking photo
graphs to show the orderly character
Of the evacuation. One Of the aviators
who landed said he was under orders
to observe carefully whether there
was any evidence OF burning villages;
thus far he had seen none.