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Show Russian Refugees Arrive at ; Belgrade After Perilous Adventures ( By International News Service) BELGRADE, April GO. Serbia to- day is facing the gravest typhus ' menace encountered since the armis-( armis-( ticc. Group after group of typhus j infected Russian refugees from the I scattered armies of Deniklne has I reached Serbia in the past six weeks 1 and spread contasion through a scorfc j of towns and villages. The Serbian authorities, admitting their inability j to cope with tho situation, have ap-j ap-j pealed urgently to the American Red Cross Commission here, which, under tho direction of Lieutenant-Colonel E. E. Hume, M. C, U. S. A., is insti-I insti-I tutlng a vigorous campaign to obvi-j obvi-j ate the danger. One such party numbering 750 Rus-h Rus-h aan officers, accompanied by their J families, and counting ono full gen-' gen-' ernl, three Heutenant-goneral3,' flvo high prelates of tho Russian church, and scores of persons of titlo and distinction dis-tinction recently reached Belgrade. They came unannounced, travelling for days across Serbian territory and 'spreading typhus contagion a3 they went. , The story of their flight from the ,: routed ranks of Denlkln's defeated I army across South Russia to Odessa, thence through the Black Sea and the Dardanellc tp Salonica, where they J entrained for Bolgrado, bringing their wives and families, was told by Lleu- fenant-Gcncral Chcckmaroff the I spokesman and leader of the dlstln- : gulshed party. " Reaching -Odessa safely they ar-1 ranged to embark immediately on the ., first vessel leaving port. As the party of officers at that time numbered i more than a, thousand, accompanied by soveral hundred women and chll; mmmmmm dren of their families, hurried up the H , gangplank to ft ho waiting vessel, a H't contingent of local agitators took Bl possession of tho wharf and opened Hi ; fire with a battery of machine guns. H .: A wild scene of panic ensued. BJ ' The ship's captain immediately H '; weighed anchor and put out to sea 1 '' full steam ahead. Hundreds were left 1 : to their fate on the dock. Scores of H ' those who reached tho city in time H were wounded. General Chcckmaroff Hi: stated that many families wcro dl- H ' vidod, husbands being left on shore Hl whilo their terrified wives sailed away H 1 mothers and fathers being carried Hh oit vvlll,e t-hclr children remained flh in tho . panic-stricken crowd at - the, H( quay-side. General Checkrnnroff got Bk safely aboard with his wife and two B' daughters only to find that a third ni- -daughter had' been left behind. The old officer arrived at Belgrade, like many of his companions, half crazed with grief. , For a short time the refugee ship lay In tho harbor, out of tho range of tho raking fire from tho machine guns, whilo the stranded peoplo on the dock attempted to put out in small boats. Few of these boat's parties par-ties lived through tho machine-gun barrage directed on them the minute they left the shelter of the quay. Scores were killed in this way. Tho vessel finally headed out to sea and the despairing crowd on tho wharf dwindled from sight. At Varna tho shipload of refugees were refused permission to land. The voyage wa3 continued as far a3 Constantinople, where a number of typhus coses at tho point of death and a handful of seriously wounded wcro landed by the British. No one able to continuo was allowed to sot foot on shore. At Salonica the Greek authorities i refused the party entrance to the city, but placed a train at their disposal. They were glvon five days' ration by tho British and what assistance the Red Cross authorities could furnish. They then proceeded under guard to the Greek frontier. By this time other oth-er typhus cases had broken out and the sufferings of the stricken were unspeakable. The party arrived at Belgrade without the knowledge of the Serbian authorities and no measures meas-ures for their reception and isolation had been taken. |