HORROR IN SERBIA.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 562, 27 November 1915, Page 9

HORROR IN SERBIA.

FROM NISH TO MONASTER. AMERICAN CORRESPONDENT'S GRAPHIC NARRATIVE. By Cable. —Press^Assocmtion.—Copyright. (Received November 27, 10.20 a.m.) NEW YORK, November 26. Mr W. G. Shepherd, correspondent of the American United Press, sends graphic pictures from Monastir of the miseries of Serbian refugees. He describes the road from Nish to Monastir as worse than the Klondyke trail, in its evidences of privation, exhaustion, and death. A Government party had a terrible journey of 20 days on horseback, the party including the American wife of a Serbian official, who said that there are 3,000,000 pf starving people in Serbia. Horses are starving in thousands, and the dogs which have been left behind without food are scouring the hills in famished packs, in pursuit of game. The scene on the roadside from Nish to Monastir is one of continuous horror, the dead horses being interspersed with the corpses of starved and exhausted fugitives, including women and children. Our horses were starving, and some fell, owing to exhaustion, and died where they fell. Our parff was the best equipped of all on that trail of death, yet all we had to eat was half a loaf of bread each daily. Most of the refugees were without food for days. Many of them struggled on to the valleys, hopefully expecting bread, but found nothing, and just laid down and died, unable to prolong the cruel struggle. One night I heard the screams of a man being murdered by hunger-maddened men for his half loaf of bread. What is happening in Serbia is the blackest page in history. "When M. Michotte, the.Belgian Minister, offered the Serbians • money, they burst into tears, appealing for bread. Mr Shepherd appeals to Americans to aid the refugees, and adds: — Batches are hourly arriving at Monastir, delirious. They will pay, but even there food is terribly scarce, and the fuel has been exhausted.