OCR Text |
Show OPPOSE SMYRNA AS PARLEY CITY SANITARY CONDITIONS TERMED UNSPEAKABLE; SWARMS OF FLIES KILL INHABITANTS American Steamship Captain Saves the Lives of Seventy Greeks by Some Very Clever Strategy Athens. Turkey's suggestion that the near east peace conference be held at Smyrna should be rejected once for all by the powers if they have any consideration for the health of their delegates, in the opinion of American relief workers, some of whom have arrived at Athens from Smyrna with strange skin maladies requiring medical treatment. They report re-port that sanitary conditions in Smyrna Smyr-na are unspeakable; the bodies of horses and other animals and some of the Smyrna residents who were killed in the disaster are still found in the streets. Harry Ellsworth Boyde of Pittsburg, Pitts-burg, Pa., auditor, of the international committee of the Y. M. C. A. in Turkey, Tur-key, arrived here Sunday after escorting es-corting 700 refugees to Mitylene aboard the United States shipping board steamer Casey. He is a member of the committee organized by Rear Admiral Mark L. Bristol and has been working in close cooperation with A. K. Jennings of the Y. M. C. A. in his relief efforts. Mr. Boyde said to the Associated Press correspondent:' "The 700 refugees just taken from Mitylene were the last to be taken out of Smyrna. Their condition was terrifying. These people were actually actual-ly being devoured alive by flies. It is so throughout Smyrna, for flies, thriving on the decomposed matter lying ly-ing about, have multiplied by millions. mil-lions. "No girls between the ages of 15 and 25 were found in our band of refugees ; they had been taken by the Turks. "Captain Glover of the Casey, by strategy, saved the lives of seventy young Greeks, former army officers. He was sauntering through the streets of Smyrna when he found the Greeks under arrest and began to berate them for having abandoned his ship, threatening threa-tening to beat them unless they returned re-turned instantly. The Turks were much amused, and, forseeing dire punishment pun-ishment for the Greeks at the hands of the American allowed them to reach the steamer. Captain Glover hid them in the hold until the vessel reached Mitylene." Mr. Boyde told how an aged woman refugee, mad with hunger, seized his wrist as he was waiting on the quay, imploring him to rescue her. In her frenzy she accidently lacerated his arm, and, he believed, infected him. A violent eruption was caused, whicn spread to his forehead. This skin eruption is appearing in Athens among foreigners who come In contact with refugees. It also is developing de-veloping among those who meet refugee refu-gee workers. The indications are that immediately effective organization Is necessary if serious pestilence is to be avoided in Greece. Adrianople. The Greek military authorities au-thorities have announced that the evacuation of the Greek army !n Thrace will take place in three stages, stag-es, first, in the Adrianople district; second, around Rodosto, and third,, at the Maritza river. Five days will'be allowed each section to evacuate. The allies' officers have been directed di-rected to refuse inflexibly any extension exten-sion of th five-day pefriod |