The Republican journal., 1922-10-05
A Belfast Boy in the Near East

Writes Home About Conditions here
Fred w. Wiley, only son of Mrs. Ethel
| White Wiley and the late Axel w. Wiley
of this city, now Runner's mate with the
| u S. S. Lawrence In the United States
naval forces in Europe, writes home about
| his six weeks stay in Bulgaria, bis visits
in the different ports in the Black Sea,
etc. 81 think hat Constantinople is the
lowe. and toughest city in the world. 1t
has two million people. l have been on
shore two or three times to see the city.
Conditions in Russia are certainly all You
read about and then some. Every one
seems starving and they are dying by the
hundre s. We were tied up to the docks
when young girls and old women wou d
come down early every morning with
cans for scraps, but we were not allowed
to give to them as they would crowd the
ship if we did. The people here will eat
anything, and ali of our scraps 60 to the
hospitals. There is no use for money Tor
there is nothing to buy. We give away
lots of our clothes to the Kids who live
under the dock We get liberty three
times a week until midnight and we take
soap ashore to swap for wine as we had
TO drink that instead of the water which
is filled with cholera germs. he Bolshe-
SITS are cruel all right They burn large
buildings and factories; put women In
iai for not having leweiry, and do most
everything. | wanted to send some cards
from Odessa, but the Bolshevists Will not
allow it.
At Sausun we found the ruins wher-
the Greeks tried to take the place from
the Turks, but all is quiet now. We got
a plenty of fresh vegetable here, as they
are all they do raise. The people here
are m ore prosperous than in Russia, even
if they are fighting half the time"
Under date of Sept. 18th, he says: I'VE
are now in Smyrna, Asia; came to bring
some Near East workers down from Tur-
key and also to p. otect American prop
erty. There has been lot of fighting
between the Turks and Greeks, but II is
more quiet now. This place is worse
than Russia. There are about 5000 Greek
refugees in barses tied up very near US
t, end none of them have had anything to
! eat for the last three days. lhe turks
! took the place the day we arrived, Kill
| ing the Greek soldiers right and lett.
Civilians, women and kids, rowed out TO
the ship and tied to the stern Tor pTotec-
tion hut we could 90 nothing for them.
The Turks kill the people oil the street
and some body will coEe along and push
their bodies into the water. We are only
a few yards from the main street which
is on the water 'front.', SO we see every
thing that goes on. Believe me, 1t is
some cruel. The Turks recently killed
about 1. 600 Armenians living here. Lots
of women and girls drown themselves TO
escape from the Turks.
Every other night we go to the Darde-
nelles to send wireless messages TO the
United States"
A letter under date of Sept 18th says:
1--WE are still in Smyrna and the lighting
must be nearly over as the place is burned
| up. There were about two million people
here before the war began. l have seen
/ things | nsver want to see again In my
life The Greeks were killed IN every
way ina ginable by the Turks. Papers In
the States stated only about one thousand
were killed, but it seems TO me as II 1t
must be nearer seven or eight thousand.
The only way the refugees can get out is
by ships and there are only two or three
of them available now. We have two
boat loads now at our stern waiting ior
ship. The Turks are bunch OF heather.
When the buildings were burning they
would take four or five hundred Greeks
and march them into the iires. We could
not sleep on account of the women and
girls screaming. A few very OLD iadies