davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1923-08-26

wood and fabric, a great glare of
light as the searchlights which had
betrayed US whirled about in the
waves, and then with tremendous
roar the propellers and motors struck
the water. torn loose from their
frames by the force of the impact.
/ felt myself hurled violently for
ward against the instrument board.
a thousand lights dancing before my
eyes as l struck the gauges and con-
trolls before me. Then, like the open
ing of some fearsome grave, the hull
beneath my feet burst apart and l
was swallowed up in the blackness
OF the sea below.
In my dazed state I still retained a
death grip on the control wheel,
which sank rapidly, it's connecting
wires apparently caught by one of
the motors in it's precipitous descent.
Down and down 1 went until 1t
seemed my lungs would collapse.
Then. my all but paralyzed mind sud-
denly coming to my aid, I loosed my
clutch on the wheel and began to
make frantic efforts to reach the sur
face OF the water.
Evening star., 1923-08-26

from IRA. 5000 miles away, and spoke
tragic words about the people there.
They were starving, and near death.
Our train crawled forward through
fiat, desolate country. The people we
saw at wayside stations looked wretched
and gloomy. A light snow lay on the
ground and the woods were black
against it. and grim. Many times our
engine painted and then stopped for lack
of fuel. We waited while fresh timber
was piled on.
The journey seemed interminable but
for the laughter of the ''Milk-fed Boy"
and tales of Russian tragedy by Mr..
Wilton, the kings messenger, who had
a queer red CLINT In his eyes and a sup
pressed passion beneath his quiet and
charming grace of manner. when he
spoke of all that agony in the country
he loved. So at last we reached Mos
COW, and a little while came 10 know
its way of life.
Spray and ] explored the life of Mos
cow freely, as l must admit, for never
once We're We aware of any deliberate
espionage about US. though often there
We're watchful eyes.
WE had arrived in time to witness a
w complete reversal of the commu-
nistic system by what Lenin called the
Evening star., 1923-08-26

new economic laws" On October II,
1921, while we were there, Lenin made
historic speech in which he admitted
with amazing frankness, the complete
breakdown OF the communistic way OF
life which he had imposed upon the
people. He explained. with a kind of
vigorous brutality of speech. that owing
to the hostility and ignorance of the
peasants, who resisted the requisition
OF their foodstuffs and the failure Of
world evolution which prevented any in
ternationai trade with Russia, industry
had disintegrated, factories were aban-
doned, transport had broken down and
the system Of rationing which had been
in force in the cities could no longer
be maintained.
The cardinal theory OF communism
was that in return for service to the
state all individuals in the state re-
ceived equal rarions of food, clothes,
education and amusements. That was
the ideal. but 1t could no longer be full
filled, for the causes given.
I'VE have suffered a severe defeat on
the economic 'front.'" said Lenin. Our
only safety lies in rapid retreat upon
prepared positions
He then outlined the new economic
laws" which abolished the rationing
system, re- established the use of money.
permitted private trading" which had
been the objectionable crime, and even
invited the introduction of foreign
capital.
Even now l dare not write too freely
about the people we met by hazard, or
by introduction. lest any words Of mine
should do them harm. There was one
Evening star., 1923-08-26
May Sign Ten Checks
At Once With Machine

TN modern business establishments
every precaution Is taken to guard
tho valuable time Of the high-salaried
executive officials. In one respect the
president or treasurer of great cor
poration is at times more burdened
with perfunctory work than the least
important clerk, and that Is in the
labor of affixing his signature to
checks, stock certificates and other
pieces of paper that stand for money.
At dividend-paying time important
officers must spend large parts of sew
eral days in succession In simply
writing their names over and over
again, to the exclusion Of other work.
A. machine has been introduced to
lessen this expensive labor by causing
the movement Of the pen, held in the
fingers of the signer. to execute ten
signatures at once.
The machine consists of substan-
tiaI steel writing table on which is
arranged a monitor pen,'' which is
handled in the usual way. This pen.
however. does no direct writing. In
stead, it Is connected by q flexible
joint to a light aluminium frame. sup
Evening star., 1923-08-26

family. of noble blood. who lived in two
squalid rooms divided by a curtain
from public corridor. The two daugh-
ters had one pair of decent boots be-
tween them. They took turns to go out
visiting" at the British mission, which
gave Sunday afternoon receptions to I
little group of ladies, and taugH then,
the fox-trot and two-step and other
dances which had become a mania in
many western nations. but were utterly
unknown in Russia. cut off from the
world
The old gentleman, their father.
and their charming mother had dirty
hands. There was no soap in Russia
and in those rooms no chance of hot
water, except for tea. / marveled at
their courage though the old man
wept a little), and at the courage of
all those people OF the old regime. who
We're living in direst poverty. in per-
petual fear of prison, or worse than
that. They saw the ruin OF Russia, but
still had hope that out Of all that
agony, and all their tears. some new
hope would dawn for the country
they loved. So many people told me,
and among them one bedridden lady,
near to death. l think, who said that
there would be Il new and nobler Rus
Evening star., 1923-08-26

sia born out of all this terror and
tribulation.
NIOSCOW was not starving to
wi death. though many in it were
always hungry. When the American
Relief Administration opened soup
kitchen in the famous old restaurant.
the Hermitage, thousands of children
came to be fed. but. on the whole,
they were not ne-stricken-only
underfed and uncertain of the next
days meal.
With its dilapidated houses, many
of them wrecked by gunfire in the
first days of the revolution, Moscow
had a melancholy look, and few of
it's people. outside the commissar and
soviet official class, had any margin
beyond the barest needs of life. But
the people in the mass looked healthy,
and they were not deprived of all
light and beauty in life. The opera
and two or three theaters were open,
crowded every night by the "prole-
tariat" in working clothes. In the
imperial box Of the opera, with it's
eagles covered under the red flag, sat
a group of mechanics with their wives
and between the acts the foyer was
crowded with what looked like the
'Iower middle class" The opera and
the ballet were as beautiful as in
the old days. maintaining their his
toric traditions. though all else had
gone in Russia. and it was strange
to see this stage splendor in a re-
public of ruin. But not yet had ]
seen the famine.
came closer to the effects Of fam
Evening star., 1923-08-26

able barrier formed by the wreckage
which was everywhere above, but
somehow the well known instinct of
self-preservation gave me almost su-
nerhuman strength to struggle fren-
ziedly until at last l broke through
the mass of broken wood and twisted
canvas which covered the water.
Here he is now came a cry, as l
appeared above the surface, and a
welcome hand reached down to haul
me up on the edge of the top wing
which now protruded less than two
feet above the water.
1t was Nelson, my crew chief, who
had been beside me in the assistant
pilots seat. AS soon as I could speak
l asked him about the other men,
dreading to hear the answer for I be-
lieved that two or three of them must
be still under the crumpled plane.
They're all here" replied Nelson, at
which a great thankfulness swept
over me. To make certain, we called
their names again, and from out of
the darkness came an answer to each
one. in voices remarkably steady, con-
Evening star., 1923-08-26
Famine Year in Russia Produced
Much Misery Throughout Big Areas

Inc in Petrograd. That city, grim but
magnificent as I saw 1t under heavy
snow, had a sinister and tragic look.
During the war its population had
been 100000 and more. When Spray
and I walked along tho Ncvski Pros
pekt. where all the shops but six or
seven were karricaded with wooden
planks. there were only 10000 peo-
pie In the whole OF this great city.
Palaces, government Offices, great
banks. city offices, huge blocks Of
buildings. were uninhabited and un-
lighted. Many OF those who had been
government officials, rich merchants.
factory owners, were shoveling snow
upon the streets or dragging loads
of wood on sledges over the slippery
roads. They wore bowler hats, black
coats with ragged collars OF as
trachan. the clothes of a "genteer"
world that had gone down into the
great gulfs of revolution.
At every street corner were men
and women selling cigarettes. Some
OF those women. and one I especial
ly remember, were thinly clad, shiv-
ering in the biting wind. and obvi-
ously starved. The very look of them
made me shiver in my soul.
In Petrograd 1 went to a home for
refugees from the famine region. All
round the city were great camps Of
these people. who had come in a tide
OF flight - hundreds of thousands -
when the harvest of 1921 was burnt
as black as that Of 1920 in the awful
drought. Four thousand or so were in
one of the old imperial barracks, and
they had come three thousand miles
to reach this refuge at the end of
their journey. Outside, in Petrograd,
there was hard. grim frost. In these
bare, whitewashed rooms there was
no heat, for lack OF fuel, and men,
women and children lay about In
heaps. huddled together in their
Evening star., 1923-08-26

ported on almost frictionless roller
bearings SO as to move with the ut
most freedom in any direction in the
horizontal plane.
Ten separate fountain pens are Sc
cured to the frame. spaced at regular
distances apart and slanted at the
best writing angle. The papers to be
signed are placed on fiat bed below
the frame.
By a simple pantograph mechanism
the frame follows every slightest
movement of the monitor pen. SO that
a signature executed by the latter Is
simultaneously written by each of the
ten pens, giving ten Identical sigma
lures.
The writing bed consists of a
rolling frame with spring receptacles
for four piles of sheets. When the
top sheets of two adjacent piles are
signed by the single operation de-
scribed the frame is shifted along on
its rollers, to bring the two other
piles of sheets under the battery of
pens for signing, while an assistant
Is removing the top sheets of the first
pile,
Evening star., 1923-08-26

A THOUGH accounts of disasters
~ in airplanes are common
~ enough in daily newspapers.
1t is seldom, If ever. that one
reads the story of such an accident
as told by a participant who Is
fortunate enough to survive. It is
with the belief that the sensations
experienced by victims of airplane
Crashes will be OF interest to the
public that I offer the following
description OF an unusual accident
which occurred to a seaplane Of
which I was the pilot.
AS one of the aviators attached to
the marine air station on the Island
of Guam I was in charge OF F-5-L.
1891. one of the large -motored
flying boats which weigh almost
seven tons and are capable of carry
ing over a dozen passengers.
Having had fair amount of ex-
perience with this plane. including
successful flying in moonlight. ! un-
dertook the more difficult feat of
flying on an extremely dark night,
making such preparations as were
volunteer crew of six men with me-
Cutting loose from the mooring
buoy. | started the two Liberty
twelves and TAXED slowly down
Apra bay, from which 1t was the
custom of all station pilots to take
off," For illuminating the water in
taxing and in landing I had pro-
vided a pair OF small but powerful
searchlights to be operated by two
men in the bow of the plane. The
two attending boats stood by at as
signed places to assist US with land
ling flares should we signal for their
| aid.
AS soon as the motors were warm
ed up 1 pushed the throttles wide
open and in an instant the huge plane
was churning through the water.
throwing up great clouds of spray
and foam. which glistened white in
the glare of the lights. Feeling the
plane gain flying speed, pulled back
on the elevating controls and put the
| ship" in an easy climbing turn above
the harbor.
Once In the air, found flying to be
quite easy SO I circled around for
half an hour before attempting to
aiight. Then. throttling the motors
down. / put the plane into glide,
the men in the bow pointing their
searchltghts down into the pitchy
blackness OF the night to pick UP the
first sign of water.
Straining my eyes along the light
! beams in an effort to see the surface
, of the bay. slowed the plane slight
ly. intending to come down step by
step"-that is, by flying level, nosing
down for a few seconds, then flying
level again. and so on until the water
came into sight.
X X " x
THINNING the ship to be at an
i altitude of about one hundred and
| fifty feet / nosed down and opened
the motors up for a moment to keep
| flying speed. The searchlight bored
Evening star., 1923-08-26

nothing but suffering and despair.
hunger and pestilence.
Kazan was now the capital of the
Tartar republic" province Of
soviet Russia, on the edge of the
richest grain-growing districts of
the Volga valley, where now there
was no grain. 1t was garden city,
with many great houses where the
mobiles of imperial Russia had taken
their pleasure in summer months.
now inhabited by misery. hunger
and disease.
There were forty homes here for
abandoned children-abandoned not
by cruelty of their parents but by
their love, because they could not
bear to see their little ones wailing
over empty platters. went into
number of them, and they were all
alike I'm general character. In one
Of them were 1900 children, naked
or merely clothed in little ragged
shirts. Their clothes had been burnt
because of the lice in them, which
spread typhus fever. There were no
other clothes to replace their ragged
old sheepskins and woolen garments
There was no heat in the rooms. Tor
lack of fuel. There was no furniture.
On the bare boards they huddled to-
gether, these little wizened things,
with deep, sunken eyes and tight
drawn skin, like little bald-headed
monkeys.
I went into the hospitals. and they
were dreadful. Because there was
no fuel for heat. these people. strick-
en- with typhus. dysentery. all man
ner Of hunger diseases, were hud-
died together in unventilated wards
for human warmth. Many OF the
beds had been burnt for fuel. and
most persons lay on mattresses or
the bare boards. Those who had
beds lay four together, two ono way
and two the other. There were no
medicines. no anesthetics' no SOAP
no dressings. The nurses were starv-
ing and dying of the diseases they
could not cure. They came clamoring
round the doctor of the American Re-
lief Association, with whom l went,
begging for food in a wild animal
way which made his heart sick.
But there was an opera, even In
Kazan! 1t was true that the stencil
of 1t was pretty bad, and that it's
audience frightened their belts from
time to time in lieu of supper. but
Madam Butterfly" delighted them
and they thrilled to the Carmen" Of
a Persian prima donna.
We went down to Tetiushi, and
found ourselves among the people of
famine.
After two droughts in successive
years, there was no harvest of any
account. The red soldiers had req
uIsitioned the peasants reserves Of
grain for rationing the cities. With
out reserves they had no means Of
life. The soviet governpent had
supplied them with seed grain for
the next harvest, and they had sown
1T. not expecting to reap 1t. They
had also sent. lately, some barges Of
potatoes. but these lay there rottins.
To carry them to the villages. horses
were needed for the sledges, but there
was no fodder, and the horses were
diving or dead So We discovered the
state of Tetiushi.
1t is said that 100000 of these
people died. That is Nansen's flg-
ure. That 20.0oo.000 did not die is
due to the magnificent work Of the
American Relief Association and the
Save the Children Fund, who, against
all political prejudice and tor hu-
manity's sake, achieved q great rescue
of these stricken folk.
Copyright. 1928. by Sir Philip Gibbs. AL sights
] fessrvsd.l
Evening star., 1923-08-26

steadily into the darkness. no an
swering CLEAN disclosing any near
ness of water.
Then, with a suddenness which gave
no time for action. there came a ter
rife crash and the plane dived into
the inky waters of Apra bay at almost
seventy miles an hour.
Instantly the whole bow broke off.
flying into fragments. There was a
rending, tearing crash of splintered
Evening star., 1923-08-26

sheepskins for human warmth, tor
mented by vermin, fever-stricken.
weak. Too weak to stand, some of
them. even TO take their place in line
for the daily ration Of potato soup. A
doctor there took us round. He point
ed to those with typhus and said:
There's no hope for them. They'll
be dead tomorrow or next day"
When We crossed a courtyard, he
stopped moment to thrust back a
heavy door. Our morgue," he said.
Three days dead" Inside was a
pile of dead bodies, men, women and
children, flung one on top of the other,
like rubbish for the refuse heap.
Hands and legs protruded from the
mass OF corruption. 1t was the end
of their Journey
LOW did they live, these people?
l. L 1 never could find out in actual
detail. Russian money meant nothing
to me. When I changed ten pounds
In Moscow I received four big bun
dies of notes containing three million
roubles. My first experience with the
purchasing power of the money was
when I wanted to buy a pair of boots
in the market place. They were good
top boots. splendid looking for snow
and mud, but when I was asked one
million roubles I was abashed. Yet,
after all. it was not much in English
money. But what did il mean to
those Russians?
l found out that the average wage
for mechanic or soviet of{icial or
university was 10000 roubles a
month. That sounded well until 1
came up against those boots and later
discovered that in Petrograd a pound
OF bread cost $4,000 roubles, a pound
of tea 10000 roubles, ten cigarettes
$4,000 roubles.
How, then. could any human soul
live on 10000 roubles a month? /
asked many of them. and some said: !:
I'VE don't live. We die" But others
said: I'VE supplement our wages by
specu1ations."
For some time was puzzled by that
word Speculation" until I found that
1t meant bartering. Secretly and at
risk of imprisonment or death, until
the new economic laws" there was
"a general system of exchange in
goods. A man with a second pair of
boots exchanged them for a sack of
potatoes, kept some and bartered the
others for tea or bread or meat; kept
some of that and bartered the rest for
a wooden vest, a fur waistcoat or a
tin of sardines smuggled in from Riga.
And so on, in highly complicated,
difficult and dangerous system of
"underground trade"
But in spite of speculation" life
was hard and almost impossible for
elderly folk and the sick and frail
women. For years hundreds of thou
sands of them had lived on bread and
tea and small ratiops of soused her.
rings and milet seed. Now there were
| no rations, but still bread and tea for
those who had the money.
X y + 4
we left Moscow and trav-
w eled across Russia to Kasan, and
took a boat down the Volga, and
sledgss across the snow fields to the
| villages where famine dwelt, We left
] human happiness behind us and saw
Evening star., 1923-08-26
HOW TT FEELS TO CRASH IN PLANE
Aman Who Stationed Island Of Describes
Volunteers Extremely Dark NghCraf Hits Water Speed


My right arm was useless, nerve
having been severed by deep cut
in the elbow. as l learned later, but
I clawed desperately with the other,
shooting upward, only to be stopped
with jerk by some tangled wires
which wound around me like the sin
uous arms of an octopus. Despair
took hold of me as I freed myself
from this death trap, only to be
stopped again by a seemingly impass-
Evening star., 1923-08-26

Newspaper Correspondent Gives His I'm
pressions of the Conditions Under Soviet Rule
How Nurses Were Found Dying of the Di-
seases They Could Not Cure, Without Fuel
Medicine or Food-Opera Presented in Midst
of Suffering.
Evening star., 1923-08-26

THINNING the ship to be at an
i altitude of about one hundred and
fifty feet / nosed down and opened
the motors up for a moment to keep
flying speed. The searchlight bored
Evening star., 1923-08-26
BY DONALD EDWARD KEYHOE.

A THOUGH accounts of disasters
~ in airplanes are common
~ enough in daily newspapers,
1t is seldom, If ever, that one
Evening star., 1923-08-26

VXJHEN we left Moscow and trav-
w eied across Russia to Kasan, and
took boat down the Volga, and
sledgss across the snow fields to the
villages where famine dwelt, We left
human happiness behind us and saw
The Monmouth inquirer., 1923-05-31
Governor SiIzer to Speak
at Guernsey Picnic

The second annual picnic Of the
New Jersey Guernsry Breeders Assoc
citation will be held at Coventry
Farm. Princeton. N j., on June 2.
The program promises to be an en-
Pertaining one. There are to be three
speakers including Governor Silzer,
John S. Clark Of Hard wick. Mass, and
r. Y. Iaindabury of " eadowbrook
Farm. Bernardsville, m j. To hear
these three men speak would indeed
be sufficient unto itself, but in order
to ma it a nevep-toS be for gotten day,
the will be a Judging demonstrate
by Mr.. e. ID. Cleveland Of Eatontown,
N. T., and immediately following that
a Judging contest for Calf Club mem
bers will take place. in which the bows
and girls will compete for Guernsey
calf bought with money contributed
by Mrs. Paul Moore. There will also
be & Home Demonstration exhibit
which will undoubtedly be OF great
interest to the ladies. Lunch will be
served without cost and there will also
be games in which all will participate
and a band. There will also be areview
of MIR. Benson's herd whichis one Of
the finest Guernsey Guernsey herds IN
the country.
All those intend to have lunch at
the picnic are asked to inform Field
Secretary w. Ne. Mutton, Jr. at New
Brunswick, N. j., in order that
arrangements may be made for theii
entertainment.
The Monmouth inquirer., 1923-05-31
FREEHOLD
Memorial Day
al Freehold

The program for Memorial Day
was carried ont as announced last
week. Rev. Frank VanHise delivered
an appropriate address at the ceme-
terry and squad from the Legion
fred lutte over Capt. Conover's
grave. Major Walter i. Teek, OF
Camp Vail, wit words of praise,
pinned the medal on Sergt. Joseph
Levy.
Joseph Levy, head Of the Il I 10
bel company, since 1919 and be-
fore the war associated with III. u.
Zobel at Seabright and Long Branch
was presented with distinguished
Service cross on Memorial day. The
presentation by anarmy officer, was
made part of the Memorial day
observance in Freehold, and was made
in front of the courthouse at 1920
o'clvck a. M.
For extraordinary heroism in action
at. Boise de Grande Fontaine, France,
Sept. 26, 1918."
Joseph Levy, Supply Sergeant, Co.,
B 311th Infantry"