Evening star., 1923-09-04
CHILDREN CHIEF
VICTIMS AT CORFU
U. S. Red Cross Official Says
italians Killed Orphans
Bathing in Sea.
BY the Associated Press.

ATHENS. September 4.-Col. Stephen
e. Lowe of st. Louis, member of the
Red Cross and attached to the Near
East Relief at Corfu, reports that al
together there were twenty killed by
the Italian bombardment prior to the
occupation of the island. Among them
were sixteen children, most of them
killed by shrapnel which was fired
among crowd of Red Cross orphanage
children bathing in the sea-
The first direct news from Corfu
since the Italian occupation was re-
ceived with the arrival of the Greek
steamship ismini. which had aboard
Col. Lowe, Miss Emma Wood of Balti-
! more, chief nurse of the Corfu Near
| East Relief Hospital; DIR. Kennedy of
| Kingston, Ontario. director of the Brit
lsh Save-the-Children Fund, together
| and sixty Greek soldiers. Col. Lowe,
describing the bombardment, said:
Describes the B0mbardment.
''The number killed reached twenty.
Nine of these were killed outright and
eleven died in the hospital Thirty
TWO wounded are now in the hospital.
| ana there were perhaps fifty slightly
| "Of the twenty dead, sixteen were
| children. All the killed and wounded
were refugees or orphans from Ameri-
| can and British orphanages housed in
| the old fortress.
| 1.-The large number of children
among the casualties was due to the
fact that several shells landed in bsr.
racks. which were being used as
| orphanages, while shrapnel shells
fortress hsra IN the wa mater In front Of the
orphan boys were bathing at the time.
HaStens to Make Pnote.f
"1mm ediately after the firing be-
gan l made a bee-line for the ouay
70 protest to the first Italian officer
VINO might land, and, II possible, pre-
vent a continuation of the futile fir
ing. The firing had stopped, however.
by the time reached the landing
stage. Nevertheless 1 approached an
] Italian officer. who replied that the
only person in authority was his ad-
| miral"
! Col. loves persistent efforts to see
| the admiral in order to get the or
phans reinstated in the barracks fail
ed until the following morning, when
the admiral received him In a friendly
manner. inquiring his official position,
and appeared to find difficulty in
! understanding how such a position
could be entirely non-political, and to
his explanation that he had no official
connection with the government. the
admiral remarked: That is odd" and
| turning to his aide. remarked in
Italian: He is an American consul,
I suppose"
Admiral Finally Yields.
| Col. Lowe continued: Presently
| the admiral and l got to business.
| explained our work in Corfu. He
1 said he would give every support and
! encouragement. and agreed that the
refugees should return to their quar-
! terS in the fortress. In concluding he
! said: This is not war. but peaceful
! occupation. We desire that every
| thing go on as usual
| "I replied: If what i saw Friday
| afternoon is peace. L do not know
1 what you would call war
| Meanwhile the children were ac-
commodated in our hospital, and the
other persons for the most part in the
civil hospital. Our chief doctor, Ar
| Sian. made a full report showing that
! the deaths were principally by shrap-
mel and machine gun fire. In my re-
port to the State Department l stated
Bombardment Unnecessary.
| From personal observation it
| would appear that the bombardment
was entirely unnecessary, as one off,
| Ger with q handful of men could have
accomplished the occupation without
! firing a single gun, and nothing just
| flied their firing practically all their
shots at buildings they knew were
occupied only by defenseless and un-
|
| According to Col. loves account
the Italian gunnery was bad. Many
| of the shots at the so-called old fort
landed in the sea 100 feet below. scat
| tering she'll fragments among the
bathing children. The bombardment
of the other fort. on high bluff 100
feet above the British gendarmerie
| school. was carried out by station
airy warship only 500 yards away, but
| twelve of the thirteen shots hit the
| school.
Italians Take Possession.
| When the firing ceased Italian SOL
diers took possession of all the gov
ernment Offices. One of the first
| italian officers ashore went to the old
| fort, where the dead and wounded
refugees were being cared for by
nurses and Mrs. Osborn of the British
| save-the-children fund. The officer,
mopping perspiration from his brow,
asked: "Were any British killed or
wounded?'
Mrs. Osborn replied, None. SO far
as she knew" The Italian sighed with
relief and exclaimed, THANK God for
that!"