In a certain hospital at Jaffa--this I know personally to be true--the
French nuns there, who had with unceasing care and attention devoted
themselves to sick and needy Arabs and Turks, were now rewarded for
their past unselfish labors by the grossest ill-treatment, being driven
out without any thought as to what was to become of them. One incident
in particular well depicts the atrocious treatment meted out to these
devoted women by the Turks. An old man who had been at this hospital
for twenty years told me that when German and Turkish commandants
visited the place they asked the French orderly why the sick Turkish
troops had no food to eat, to which he replied that there was no money
with which to obtain it. Thereupon these heartless officials ordered
the Frenchman to be seized and soundly flogged.
From now onward the position for subjects of the Allies became worse
and worse. Directly hostilities began, gendarmes came to our house and
took me away in the presence of my mother and sister. It was a terrible
parting, as may be easily imagined. The distress of the two women was
most pitiful, and I dreaded to think what their fate might be when
left unprotected. Because of the natural outburst of anger and sorrow
on their part, they were the recipients of further mental punishment
at the hands of my captors, one of whom threatened my mother with his
rifle in order to increase her terror, while another roughly pushed her
aside whilst I was hustled from the scene. In my anguish I struck one
of them, but they soon overpowered me and dragged me off.
This was the beginning of my sufferings. When I arrived at the
Government buildings with my escort I was told that I was a prisoner
of war and was about to be sent away. I was, however, allowed to bid
good-bye to my mother and sister, who had followed me there. Afterwards
I was carefully searched, permission being refused me to take away any
luggage whatever. From early in the morning until ten o'clock at night
I was guarded in these buildings; then, a number of other prisoners of
war having arrived, we were all taken outside and placed upon donkeys.
An escort surrounded us, and we set off inland. We marched away along
a route which, fortunately, was already well known to me, for as a
tourist in the happy days of peace I had traversed it many times
previously.
At three o'clock the next morning we arrived at an Arab village, where
we rested until nine o'clock, when breakfast was served. This consisted
of Arab bread--prepared in a couple of minutes from water, flour, and
salt--and a small piece of cheese. The inhabitants of this village
pelted us with stones and subjected us to most insulting and abusive
language.