South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-04-07
GIRLS DIARY OF
RUSSIAN FAMINE
REVEALS PLIGHT
Quaker Relief Worker Tells
of Pitiable Conditions in
Stricken Nation.

PHILADELPHIA, April s -- But
worse even than the dead bodies left
sometimes for days frozen in the
snow are the walking skeletons who
totter about from house 70 house,
hoping 10 ind enough 10 live on for
another day
That is one OF the sights seen by
Beulah A Hurley, Quaker relief
worker, Of New Hope, Pa now IL
the famine district of Russia. Her
impressions OF conditions affecting
$4,000. 900 starving and scourge- af-
fected people are jotted down IN a
diary. presented herewith for the
first time. Miss Hurley reached the
famine area in the Volga in mid
Decem Der and is I'm charge OF dis
tribution of Quaker relief in one Of
/ the sections OF the Buzuluk district.
Her diary follows:
we were pulled into Buzuluk In
| the small hours Of the morning one
week ago. our car hitched TO the tail
/ of a freight. and we are still here i'm
our houseboat on rails Our last
move was only a yard or so 10 get
I into the lea of a warehouse; and we
I had frozen so fast 10 the rails in even
those few hours that a locomotive
couldn't move us, and IL had 10 back
off and give us kick. Even then we
coasted. as the wheels didn't move
at all
This business of cooking. living
I receiving callers, running an office
and housekeeping for unit Of l3
in square boXcar. wherein i've
also sleep. is close work, and We
have learned much The kick from
the engine upset the soup, but it hit
nothing but one seat and the side Of
a fur hat; but presently the tea
water was also upset, and il washed
the soup of the fur hat. and so we
are all tidy again.
ION sunday Miriam West and L
moved out in the night and slept up
in rooms in the town, which the Mis-
sion has taken for its headquarters.
For two nights we slept in real hon
/ est-to-goodnes beds. How is that for
a record of the last three weeks?
Take warning. all We who come into
Russia and bring along all the beds
and bedding you hope to use. Also
bring some magic powder 10 lay a
little ring all round your camp on the
floor. and say an incarnation over il
before YOU retire. or else YOU may
find that YOU are a host in yourself.
Moved From BoXcar.
THE reason We moved from the
boxcar for those two nights was tha
! the doctor found that Nancy Babb
who lived on the first bottom shell
81 of our tiny closet. had more than the
flu 1t is typhus, and as there Is NJ
hospital in Buzuluk we planned to
hitch this car TO a westbound trair
t and have her in Sahara the mex
day. Therefore our sudden move il
. the night. with the baggage of al
10 of US and the foodstuffs for Bu
zuluk and the household equipmen
for the five units about TO open
Once at the house we had to oper
{ the foods and pack a supply of then
TO send UP with Nancy Babb and &
nurse TO support themselves at thu
hospital.
o mo train came the next mornin'
either way, as everything wa.
T. showed up: so the day was spent fl
finding a room for an isolation ware
7 in the rooms meant for a few peopl
and which were housing a mob Of us
, II was impossible to secure othe
10 rooms in the village for the town o
= IS, 600 now houses $4,000, and SOM
e parts of il are ruined since the Deni
% kin campaign went across this dis
trict The upstairs room, where tn
G six men Of the unit live. had to b.
T evacuated and their belongings takel
5 to the dining room We hated TO d,
I il i'm their absence but we rolled VI
e -neir bedding and effects and plant
. ed them at intervals around tn
{ dining room. BY nightfau Nancy wa
installed I'm the room. and some o
70 the men moved back into the car, a
the floor of the dining room was al
T taken up by the table. where we at
% in shifts Of 10.
; How Relief is Managed.
- The rest Of the week has gone t,
0 moving us back and collecting tn
stuff TO go with us to our two unit
in the East and also TO the maxim.
70 ready for the supplies and personne
:. 10 accompany the two units to tn
g West. They moved out on Wednes
day night, and we expected on
Q Is foodtrucks from Samara t,
come in the next day. Thursday nigh