A SHOCKING PICTURE

Evening Post, Volume C, Issue 88, 11 October 1920, Page 7

A SHOCKING PICTURE

TERRORS OF PETROGRAD

STARVATION AND DISEASE,

(BMTED Pr.833 ASSOCIATION.—COPIMaHT.I (AUSTRALIAN - NET? ZEALAN9 CABLE ASSOCIATION.) (Received October 11, 10 a.m.) LONDON', 9th October, Professor Zeidlir, late head of the Pefcrograd Red Cross, is in refuge in Finland, and has appealed to the American Ked! Cross to help the population. Petrograd, ha says, is rapidfy decaying. One of the nationalised woodya.rds is entirely occupied with manufacturing 3000 coffins a month, which is insufficient for the startling mortality, .due to starvation. There is an entire absence of fat, and this gives the faces of the peo pie a waxlike pallor, so that the town resembles a city of the dead. The people consnnie enormous quantities of substitute for tea and coffee, and plain water, in order to fill their stomachs and induce satiety. The city is indescribably filthy, and the principal mortal diseases are spotted fever, typhus, dysentery, and smallpox. The hospitals and clinics are ovarflowing. The Ministry of Health recently ordered the mobilisation of all doctors to combat disease, but the mass infoction of the troops with spotted and intermittent typhus complicated the situation. Three of the largest hospitals had to be devoted to the sole use of the troops. Improper feeding greatly increases the mortality in the hospitals, where black bread, frozen cabbage, and herrings are the chief food. People v;lio are very ill receive, "beef tea" made of horseflesh, and gruel. There are no eggs and no milk. Doctors declare that scientific life has been, destroyed. It is impossible to obtain chemicals, medicines, or medical instruments. The report concludes : "Petrograd is facing the worst winter in her tragic history. Death stalks on every side, waiting for his ally, King Winter, to' "help in the grim job of hewing down the hungry. The sick are dying by thousands in the streets, and the hduses are choked with filth."