Madison County Democrat. (London, Ohio) 19??-1958, 1952-07-08

est of the winter. This was the
woman whom the authorities had
finally decided to release, thirteen
months after she had first asked
for an exit permit! She had en-
dured poverty, starvation, loneli-
ness, loss of hope, and physical
pain too horrible to imagine. But
at the end those men of steel did
not choose to watch her die
As her two friends waited be-
side Gertrude Cones stretcher for
the ambulance that was to take
her to a clean bed where she would
be tenderly cared for, they won
dered "if she would live to get
in the ambulance; then if h e
would live till we got to Kowloon;
then if she would to cross the
Ferry; then would she live to get
into the hospital? :. +. But she
did,"
While they waited, Mrs. Ward
said (again in her own words) :
Now, Gertrude, you are
free, you are out" She said
at first only one word, Free
dom" Then long pause, then,
/ didn't dare let myself
think of freedom, that / would
ever be out. But when ! was
in the hospital in those last
days, / dreamed that perhaps
/ would get out. / thought, if
I ever get to Myrtle's, / can
have food to eat. / dreamed
about it those last days
said, Eyes my dear, and
now you are among friends
who love you" Gertrude: Yes,
but / was among friends who
loved me there. And they
found ways of letting me
know" We shall never know
-. what these ways" were.
They did not include the Civ
ing of funds or food, that we
do know.
Gertrude asked almost the first
thing whether Bishop Carleton
Lacy had got out safely, and the
two women were forced to tell her
that there had been no release for
him except one of the spirit
Finally the ambulance came and
Gertrude was given a sip of water
and sip of coffee offered by a
Catholic priest who went every
day to the border to minister to
any Catholics who might be coming
out. During the ambulance ride
they gave her half teaspoon ol
hot water at a time
Food At Last
But when we asked her
about food she asked us what
we had. We said ham sand
wiches, apples and oranges -.
We held up one (of the sand
wiches) for Gertrude to see,
and she said, Ham. Oh, if it
kills me, / want a bite" So
Myrtle broke off tiny bit of
that sandwich and we gave it
to her How long it took
her to eat that piece not much
bigger than a square inch,, 1
don't know, but she bit off
only a crumb or two at time
chewed and chewed each bite.
Then / held up the apple to
her and she said, "Let me just
hold it first" She reached
over for it cher hands could
move, even If her body did
mott, took the apple and smell
ed it three or four times. Then
cut off three tiny fragments.
This likewise took her long
time to eat, but both the ham
and the apple seemed so "out
of this world" that she linger-
ed over their fragrance, as
Well as taste. To see starved
person eat, to look at that
emaciated, haggard old face
that was SO changed she hard
ly looked like the Gertrude
we had known. that was an
experience that broke our
hearts. During the entire
afternoon / was ready to cry
out in agony over her appear
ance and her evident physical
suffering; she looked like those
pictures we saw of the corpses
in Buchenwald.
At one point in the ambul-
ance ride, Gertrude looked
right at me and seemed to
want me to pay special at
tention to this remark II
made up my mind that no
mater what they did to me, l
would never be flustered. /
think / never was, under any
circumstance, right up to the
border. At the border, thank
ed the four who came with
me, for their kindness to me.
/ think they were embarrass-
ed with her to the border
from Nanchang had come one
doctor. one nurse, one person
from either the Police or For
eign Affairs Bureau, and one
person from "the Church.")
Gertrude gave another bit
of information. saving, "They