The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-09-12
THOUSANDS SCAN FACES IF RESCUED
 QUAKE SURVIVORS
Young Woman Tells Tale Of CIinging To Trees To Keep
 From Being Thrown

SHANGHAI, Sept. 11.-(By Asso- ciated Press. )-Touching scenes were enacted when the steamer Empress of Canada, carrying approximately 400 refugees from Japan docked here at noon Saturday. Most of the refugees were residents of Yokohama. They brought no baggage. The bund was choked with the vast crowd that gathered to search for friends and relatives among the passengers. The customs examination of the refugees was waived. There were many wom- en among the refugees, but no weep ing.
 The steamer Hsing Ming has sailed for Japan with an international re- lief party including four American doctors, three Chinese doctors and 3z nurses.
 The ship which sailed just before the arrival of the Empress of Canada, carried thousands of dollars worth fers.
 All of the refugees relate har- rowing experiences in the quake.
 The most graphic of the tales are those told by Miss Isther Robertson, a Shanghai stenographer; Miss Billy Mrs. Mccain is prominent in the Orient and wealthy. Miss Coutts is one of the most widely known horse women in China.
 Miss Robertson said she was sit ting in her room at a.hotel in Kama kura knitting when the building sud- denly started to vibrate. Her chair was upset and she was thrown to the floor.
 Held On To Trees.
 T scrambled hastily to my feet" = outside. The ground shook with great violence and I was forced fre- quently to seize the trunk of a tree to avoid being thrown down. My up- permost thought was to remain in the open to escape being crushed by fall ing buildings.
 T spent the first night in the woods and started the following morning to walk in the general di rection of Yokohama, IS miles away. was scantily dressed and my fe et were covered only with thin slip pers. My feet were bleeding but l realize the impossibility of remain ing in a country that was the scene of death and desolation.
 All houses that 1 saw were flat tened and the bodies of men, women and children were strewn every where along the roadway. Bodie, filled Assures along the way. Some Ol tHc were live 1eeI Wluc and ten feet deep.
 T finally reached the seashore and beckoned to a fisherman who placed me in his boat and rowed four hours, eventually putting me down at a small village which was destitute of humans. except the dead. There was no sign of life except for prowling dogs. I spent the night in a small matched hut and drank water from a well, with fear and trembling.
 When resumed my Journey l saw Japanese country folk groping In the ruins of their homes and carrying their wounded in their arms, as though they could love th em back to strength and health. I found roads torn up and railroads bent and twisted.
 Place Of Desolation,
 T reached Yokohama late Mon- day, having travelled since Satur- day noon before. The whole place was desolate and in ruins. l scrambled over the debris and the bodies of the dead I was sickened by the moans of the injured whom I was unable to help. At last reached the water, front and was taken in fainting condition aboard a sampan which conveyed me to the steamer Empress of Australia where