CITY OF HORROR

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10718, 12 October 1920, Page 5

CITY OF HORROR

TRACEOY OF PETROGRAt STARVATION & DISEASE CAUSE STARTLING MORTALITY. By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright Australian and - N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, October 9. Professor Zeidler, late head of the Petrograd Red Cross, is in refuge in Finland, and has appealed to the American Red Cross to help the population. Petrograd, ho says, is rapidly decaying. One of the nationalised woodyards 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 people a waxlike pallor, so that the town resembles a city of the dead The people consume enormous quantities of substitutes _ 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, tvnhus, dysentery, and smallpox. The "hospitals and clinics are overflowing. The Ministry _of Health recently ordered the mobilisation of all doctors to combat disease, but the jiass infection of the troops with spotted and intermittent typhus complicated the situation. Three ot the largest hospitals had to be devoted to the sole use of the troops. Improper feeding greatly increases the mortality in Hie hospitals, where black bread, frozen cabbage, and herrings are the chief food. People who 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. Tha report concludes: "Petrograd is facing the worst winter in her tragic history. Death stalks on every side, waiting for his ally. Km S Wmter, to help in the grim job of hewmjr down the hungry. The sick are dying by thousands in the "streets, and the •houses are choked with filth.