By H.W. Bodkinson of The London Standard.
WARSAW, Oct. 15.--Thousands of fugitives crowd the city. They come from
all parts of Poland, but principally from the frontier towns and
villages which the Germans have been ravaging for over six weeks.
It rends one's heart to hear of the sufferings of these poor refugees,
who are mostly Jews, but with a considerable sprinkling of Poles and
Lithuanians. Every available hall and every empty warehouse is filled
with them. They must have shelter and food, and Warsaw has risen
heroically to the task of providing them with these necessities. Yet how
they suffer and what a struggle is theirs for bare existence!
My first visit was to the largest hall in Warsaw, called the Swiss
Valley, where the large Philharmonic concerts are usually held and which
in ordinary times is the gathering place of society. It is now converted
into a refuge for 600 or 700 homeless fugitives, who have left their all
behind them and fled in terror, frequently on foot, for many miles, and
carrying their possessions on their backs. The majority are old men,
women, and children. In the babel of voices are frequently heard pitiful
cries of poorly fed children, shrieks of more lusty ones, and groans and
wailings of mothers who still seem stunned and stupefied by their
frightful experiences.
Dinner was being served when I arrived. At several tables sat women,
many with babies in arms, and children, while men were being served in
one of the large corridors. Standing in endless rows, they took their
turn at the steaming pots. In the main hall many fugitives were
crouching on the floor, some on mattresses, and piled about them were
little mounds of household effects that they had succeeded in saving
from their wrecked and ruined homes. It was truly a picture of direst
misery, and in the faces of young and old one could read calamity.
Kalisch is probably a heap of ruins, these recent arrivals tell me, and
of the usual population of 65,000 barely 2,000 are left. German soldiers
have abandoned the city, but are quartered three or four miles away, in
the village of Oputook. Kalisch is only a fortified camp, visited daily,
however, by German cavalry, who use it as a reconnoitring base. All
gardens have been destroyed and trees cut up for barricades, and even
crosses from the cemetery have been displaced and used in fortification
work.
Refugees tell dreadful stories of what they saw on their flight through
this unfortunate part of Poland. Everywhere are burned and pillaged
villages, towns destroyed, and gardens that are heaps of ashes and
ruins.
One old man, formerly a country school teacher, saw three peasants
hanging from a tree, with all the signs of having been frightfully
tortured, as their arms and legs were broken in several places. They
evidently had been accused of espionage and summarily executed. While
telling me of this sight the old man fairly shook with the terror of
reminiscence, and when he finished he was sobbing aloud.
How Warsaw is going to take care of these poor unfortunates is still an
unsolved problem. Already a wave of unemployment is spreading in the
city, and it will be impossible to find work for this enormous increase
in the town's population. Some are being sent to the southern coal mines
and others are being employed on fortification works at Novo
Georgieoak, but they are the pick of the lot. It is the old and infirm,
the women and children, who must be provided for, and though
contributions come in steadily, yet there is not half enough relief for
all, and appeals are being made both to Petrograd and Moscow, cities
which still are practically free from the horrors of war, for speedy
help.