Newspapers / The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) / Jan. 19, 1923, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
4 I A 999P 4444444444644444. The Nev3-jRecord 44444444444444444444 .... ........ ? J, Madison County Record ! AN i MAHK HtHt ? uwiiutj juo ts, not r , French Broad News KtUblUhod Utj t. 190T consolidated nov. , nit Means that your sub 1 scription has expired. IPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP. pppppppppppppppppppp ill I THE ONLY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN MADISON COUNTY VOL XXI MARSHALL, MADISON COUNTY, N. C FRIDAY, JANUARY 19th 1923. No 3 A Letter From Constantinople TURKEY. . Constantinople, Turkey, ,. . ; ' U.S.S. No. 235 ; :-, Dec. 12, 1922. A J Editor kews-Record, ;; Marshall, N.C., , ' ; . Since leaving Marshall, seve- - '. i years ago I have been in several - V foreign countries and it may be of interest to you or some of your readers to learn mai i am f. .. now in the near east with the Navy. I am serving as Radio Operator aboard an American v Destroyer which is' at present v engaged in diplomatic and re lief work in Turkish, Greek and " Russian waters. ; . . , , .- Our ship, starting from Con : stantinople, has visited all ports of prominence in the refugee districts to the South and North; . ; visitiritf first Smvrna. which was 1 i A V.jT inflames and where many dead 'bodies were still lying uncared , for in the fields and on the hill side which rises above the city " toward the mountain ranges, . most, of the outskirts sections of the city were destroyed, though the central Dortion and much of the residential section on the hillside and on the peninsula in ,the- harbor, is intact except for the effects of a few scattered 1 ; Inhabitants were remaming, - most of them hed fled to mity lene, piraeus, of other greek- - joverned cities offering refuge la the vicinity vand Smyrna was under the military government of the Turkisk Nationalists. "... We next visited Mitylene, on the island of the same name, some sixty miles to the North and slightly west of .Smyrna, where, we engaged in, aiding Diplomatic relations between theAmerican Consul and the Turkish and Greek authorities; - in this connection trips were , - made to Dekili, on the mainland of asia minor and just' a few miles across the channel from ; Mitylene. Mitylene was a city ' of refugees, it being conserva ' tively estimated - that there were nearly a half million in the city homeless, destitute.and knowing not where to turn ex- . m , 4 " ' 1 if I " 1 1 J I cept tor toe aia 01 ine naraiy adequate relief facilities, of . which the American relief Ad ministration is the most impor tant, having departments, each under the supervision of an ex pert, for child-feeding, transpor " .tation, medical aid, communica ' tion and numerous other facili ties. - We then left Mitylene and V ; .engaged in visiting :the many ': small towns along the as;a mi . nor coast and transporting the fefugees ollepted " Jhere from . the different Greek towns where pro tection was available. , On - this detail - we : visited, amon? ' 1 others, the town of . Chics, Bud : rum, Ephusus (where . we saw . the Temple of Diana, one of the ' seven wonders of . the world.) Chesme? Sighajik. etc, wfe were bound for Adalia and Beirut, and ' had gone some hundred . j miles southeast of the island of Rhodes before receiving, v by radio, new orders to return to Constantinople. ; This we id, - ttrpping enroute at Smyrna and cferrins with officers, station r-.-nt in Constantinople, fueling zri receiving supplies, after which we were ordered to Odes sa, Russia, in the Ukraine. Arriving at Odessa, after a very stormy voyage on the black sea we found the climate bitter ly cold, in sharp contract to the temperate weather to the south. Here, at first impression and be fore actually entering the city, was a prosperous-looking, "im presrive city; but after closer inspection it was seen that in stead of its seeming prosperity the streets were teeming with humanity actually upon the verge of starvation. .. Most of the larger and once notable buildings were in ruins. Peo ple of all ages were on the streets, half-clothed, less than half-fed, and many bare foot in the bitting cold, while others, fortunate, had been so lucky as to find a few rags in which to wrap their feet in lieu of the al most - obsolete shoes. There were also, of course many , of the more prosperous class, with fur overcoats and enormous f uf- lined boots, whd were looked upon with envy by the mass; but the number of these were not at all to be compared with the destitute. It was also learn ed here, that the relief work , of k ! a; M 1 America is pracucaiiy uieir oiuy hope and consolation, as tJiey are doing excellent work espe cially in the maintenance of children, giving preference to orphans. The American in practically any of these towns in the war stricken East, is a marked per son; the American sailor, espe cially, upon entering the town is ; imediately ' surrounded by great crowds, all eagerly pray ing for a few cents; in this re spect bashfullness'i and dignity are thrown to , the winds. The few cents which they, entreat, at first hearing, sounds impres sive, since the rate of exchange at present in Odessa js eighteen at present in uaessa.is eigmeen reda uaVe all , of million rubies to. the dollar. .TheTai,i nA nnrhimw iv hv most toaching plea and aso the one most often met, is that of the pinched-faced mother hold ing a starving little cmid and signiffcantly indicating an emp ty milk-bottle; though they have not the words at their command to make their mere articulations understood, their plea is nevertheless very coher ent the only pity is that it is so often and the facilities for re lieving it so scanty that it is hopeleess to relieve to any ex tent, the conditions here one finds the American sailpr ready; he finds joy in giving and every reay to forego some anticipated purchase in order to do his share Gone, to these people, xare the luxuries and even the utmost necessities to most of them, where a small loaf of unpala table black bread costs two mil lion rubles and twice that amount for a small bottle of al-most-transparent millk. The Bolshevik! are in complete con troV'have laid : waste to the; country and have seized every thing rf value; they now patrol the cities aud rigidly prevent anyoue's escape from their re gime f terror They have no compunction as to their meth ods; the writer saw a sickly half-starved nttie cm or pro- bably fourteen shot in cold blood for the sake of a" small article of little value which she was hopimg.to sell to the newly arrived sailors for a trifle, noth-. ins of course could be done re- gardmg tne matter, as our rew 'men. were strictly .under mili- tary rule and were allowed, a shore only on condition that should any interference with their rule occur, the neutrality existing would - immediately disappear; it was further dis concerting to hear the red, as he put away his pistol and pocket ed the article for which he had taken a life, easily remark, with a smile tc; the onlookers, "it was nothing; we should have been here last winter." Throughout the city, which is of a size comparing favorably with Atlanta. We found the destitute class with one desire, food; and the class with means also with one desire, to leave the terror stricken country. We were told confidentially by several of the latter class that it meant instant death to attempt flight, that all paths were guard ed, that-the reds were so com pletely in command of the si tuation that they could think of no. single, instance, ' for the past year, in which anyone had been successful in escaping or had retained all his posessionsH and income for any length of time. They added that the chief reason for this strict retention of the inhabitants was tov Pre vent.any news of actual condi tions from spreading. Since the writer is in the position, as well as mood, to ignore such censor ship it is possible to tell this, but beyond the power of words to convey the full horror of the situation,- even after the short season? lexpenence 'wTflfthe ravages of the Turks. The out standing feature of it all is the comparative comfort, of the Bolsheviki troops who are oc cupying the, territory so rigidly under their thumb. Though the entire region does not . afford many such facilities as are com mon property in the United States and accepted as a matter of course by their inhabitants, force, often with unnessary bloodshed, all which they desire wherever they find it We were glad when orders called us away after a week, and our new dut- les took us to Varna, or Bapha, the principal port of Bulgaria. Here we found conditions mueh better; in fact the city was peaceful and apparently almost normal, taking into consideration the different definition attached to this word due to the periods of unrest through which it has passed; neither the Turkish nor Russian reigns of terror has set its mark here. Our duties here were concerned almost entirely with communication facilities between the Black sea ports and the American Relief Headquar ters in Constantinople. Condi tions were endurable among the population and food not wholly or even unduly incessable. , Our next port was Trebizond, in Anatolia and directly across the Black Ser from Varna, in reaching it two days and nights of storms altogether different from the usual open-ocean storm 'had to be endured. During the second night, in a wild sea, a human voice in -distress was plainly heard by all hands on the ship; it was repeated several times but due to the storm its direction or distance could not be accertaine'd, the ' ship . was stopped, searchlights manned, and for an hour in all directions but the source of the cries could not be located even though they were heard after , stopping the ship , Tyo hours were spent in vainly searching for what must have in all probability been a boatload of indiscreet refugees or a fishing-smack far from its track, but the incident still re mains a mystery. Trebizond was found in a state of turmoil, due to the large numbers of re fugees from the enterior of Anatolia who were seeking transportation to Constantinople and Athens, and the friction in cident to their presence and needs. Here was , seen the immense precipice' from the brink of which over a hundred Christians, some three years ago were driven to their death with out compunction as to age or sex, by the Turks. This was known as the Trebizond Massacre.'- , ) LeavinG Trebizond, we next spent over a week at Samsoun, also in. Anatolia, here the num ber of refugees awaiting relief was enormous; bands of several hundred arrived dally, over the famous road to Begdad, from Sivas and other cities in the in terior. The mountainous coun try as well as all roads were deeply covered with snow and most of the refugees in sadly delapidated state-ships of Turk ish, French, Greek and British flag were engaged in carrying them to Constantinople prepara tory to further evacuation into Greek and Armenian territory, while the American Relief Ad ministration furnished camps and subsistancevhile 1 awaiting transportation and handling the routine of evacuation very effi ciently. There were few per manent residents In the city and those chiefly Turks; here it was that some two dozen mem bers of the crew of this ship out witted the Turks at the game of foreign Exchange? All funds on the persons of the crew were in the form of one ponnd. and ten shilling (half-pound) English bank notes. At a professional money-changer's office, they were reluctantly exchanging one pound notes for six and one-half liras,'at this time the officials rate was nine liras to the pound but no other method could be of obtaining Turkish money, which is all that is ac cepted in the shops. However, the Turkish clerk made the big mistake of thinking a ten-shilling note was one of ten" pounds, giving sixty-five liras in ex change; he did not notice his mistake until he had lost the equivalent of perhaps two thou sand dollars. The writer would like very much to be able to commend these men upon their honesty in redeeming the mis take but facts do not .allow of We ara returning to Constant nople today, just one month aft er leaving for the Black Sea, and find conditions not greatly chang ed. The christian population are in expectation of being forced to evacuate , on short notice;' in fact, some have already been forced.' The great majority of the inhabitants are Komalista, and every day sees the streets filled with their parades, with oc cassional street sights and religi ous murders, generally of Arme nians or Greeks. , Through it all the American is respected alike by both elements and is treated with ennrtesy Here we had the opportunity of seeing such sights as the Mosque of St Sop hie, another of the original seven wonders; the ex-Sultan's palace and the summer home; the many ancient buildings and towers of Starnboul and Pera and theforti fications of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus. I wish I , were able to divulge some of "the in formation which has passed through me in my capacity as Radio Operator but this is mani festly prohibited. Let me close with the assur ance that I will willinglyNsupply any information within my capa city, and with my best regards to all my former, but not forgot ten friends in Marshall, and elsewhere. ' ; JOHN ROBERSON. U. S. S.' KANE (European Naval Dntachment) jr P. M. New York City. Hell- Is There Really Such A Place? If I Thought There Wasn't I Would Be In For Making One For Some FolkB That I Know. ' ' ' - " At the Baptist Church on Sun day morning we will consider, front a Commonsennc Historical and Biblical standpoint a question that was asked of me some time ago by a dear friend. He was earnest and sincere about it, and we will be the same in our reply on Sunday morn ing. The question was that which beads this article, that is "Hell Is There Really Such A Place?" We will do our best to make it as interesting and profitable as possi ble, and we cordially invite you to brSSeniif "yotr clh''i-r? Sunday night we will go down to the Methodist Church for the regular monthly Union Service. It is our turn to preach and we will take as our subject "The Greatest thing in all the World." Glad to see a number of those who have been real sick out to our ' service last Sunday.- We hope and pray that all will be well soon. -Good-by for the present, E. R EVANS. A Pounding That Made Us Feel Good. A few nights ago while wife and I-were seated by the fire, each working at our tasks, we heard a door call, and when we answered the call,, we found a number of friends, waiting at . the door with flour, meal, coffee, sugar and many other Jthings for the pantry, as these retired others, came, with their gifts, untill ' the dining tabic was laden with good- things." The Methodist people of , Marshall are not strong in', numbers, but iheyl are like Gidion s soldiers, they are the choice kind. They stand 'by their church and preacher. While I say this niqe thing about the Me thodist," I feel bound to. say that the Baptist and Presbyterians of Marshall are a high, class church people, as well as the Methodist. . Our town is made-up, mainly, of a high clasd class 'of citizens, but do not understand me to make this a sweeping statement, like all other towns, we have a few .that might not pass a real searching examina tion, but as for such;, as any town in N.-C of the -same number in population. , . C. M. C. . . ' Notide! Notice is hereby given that the undersigned has sold all his interest in the N. B. NcDevitt Company, t6 -the - N. B. McDe- vitt Company; Who will assume all the indebtness. This, November ?0, i)22. . ; , - V 1 E. N. illolcombe Federal Officers Are Out On Raiding Trip. A raiding force numbering about 20 men and headed by Chief It. B. Sams, of this federal division, left here at midnight for what was. ex-, pected to be one vof the biggest raids on whiskey blockaders ever staged in North Carolina. The destination of the force was not definitely given, though it is known to be in one of the .counties nortli of Winston Salem. Information revealed was that the officers ex pected to begin activities about daybreak this morning and that their work was expected to cor tinue throughout the day. R. B. Sams, divisional chief of prohibition agents and force of 13 men returned to the city last night from one of the most-successful raids ever pulled off in North Carc Iina. The party spent all Wednes day night and today in country northwest of Winston Salem ai d during this time destroyed eight stills, one of 300 gallon icapacit.i , poured out 30.000 gallons' of-beer and 165 gallons of corn 'whiskey, and destroyed numerous vats and other equ pment. One arrest was made and there will be six prosecu tions. American Forces Are PrepaJrino; To Return. Coblenz, Jan. 11. The order for tjie with-drawal of the American forces in Germany reached Major General Henry T. Allen at his headquarters only this morning but preparations to move has been ten tative'y planned overnight on the basis of yesterday's new3 dispatches so the headquarters staff are ready immediately to begin the prelimi naries.. - - .- v ' - The troops will depart from Ant-, werp on January 21, aboard tho transport St. - Mihiel, which sails from New York tomorrow.- Gencral Allen will remain after that date to supervise the 'general cleaning up of affairs. . . The more of less secret marriages to German girls of about 200 Amer ican soldiers of the 1,080 remain ing here are giving the army autho rities concern. Dear.Editor. Please allow space in your paper for a few.items from this part of Madison. Farmers of this part a're begin ing to prepare for their next crop. , The Sunday School at this place is getting along fine this inter. ' Mr. W. C. Silver made a busi ness trip to . Asheville Monday of this week: Misses Fay and Ada Silver re turned to the Asheville .Normal Monday of this week after" a short vacation. , , ' .,. ,'. Prompt Work Saves . Woman from Burning I,;, ... i ii, ,. .- , ; . Mrs. Gaddy, an aged woman rc siding at 308 Southside avenue; had a narroW escape froni burning when , her ' clothing caught fire, . Tussday. i E. O. Chandley,' wl.o chanced to be passing ' the . place, noticed fire through a window. Hi? first supposed it to be a newspaper burning but perceiving ' that tbo woman's clress was afire, rushed i:i and extinguished the flames. Mr-. Gaddy.was 'only slightly burned.
The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 19, 1923, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75