In a previous letter Mr. Griscom, whose splendid work has done so much to render Red Cross contributions of use, says in conclusion:
“I may say personally, I have had the most valuable and interesting experience of my lifetime; and when I return to the United States I will become one of the most loyal supporters in the Red Cross work in America.”
ITALIAN RELIEF NOTES
MISS DAVIS AT SYRACUSE.
All reports and private letters received by the American Red Cross from the scene of disaster speak in the very highest terms of the work done at Syracuse by Miss Katherine B. Davis, who happened to be in Sicily at the time of the earthquake. Speaking of her work in private letters, Miss Davis says:
“Of course, you know what the papers have told of the terrible disaster to the towns along the Straits of Messina. I was at Girgenti the morning of the shock. It was strong enough to wake me, but it was not till thirty hours later that I, with the English ladies with whom I was traveling, heard of the disaster. A priest with the Red Cross badge got into a compartment on the train and told us.
“Yesterday and today a Russian and an English warship have brought here six hundred of the wounded and more are expected tomorrow. It is like what it must be after a battle. Many of them are horribly mutilated. There are no hospital accommodations, and you cannot buy a ready-made garment in the town. There is only one trained nurse in town—an English girl, who escaped in her night dress from Messina. She is a heroine and is working day and night assisting with the amputations. I am afraid she will break down. I was with an English woman last night who had to have both legs amputated at one o’clock this morning. Her husband, two children, a brother and a sister were killed. But I cannot stop to write you tonight of the many pathetic cases I have seen. We have four thousand refugees, one thousand of whom are seriously wounded. The German Red Cross, of Berlin, and the Italian, from Brescia, got here on Monday of this week, the 11th. They have taken over the barracks hospital, the worst of all, and such a transformation! They are doing fine work, with splendid fellows in charge. It was unspeakably horrible until they came. After the first few days in the hospitals I found I could do better work in helping the refugees to help themselves, and soon started the women from Messina to making clothing.
“Fortunately, there is a sewing machine agency here, and the Mayor of the town is of the right sort. He placed a room in the Municipio at my disposal, and an alderman—or whatever corresponds to alderman—who speaks some English, selected the women for me, and I pay them a franc and a half a day. We now have sixty-eight employed, in three different places. No ready-made garments could be purchased in the town, and the need for clothing was extreme. I soon used up my own money and what I could collect from people at the hotel, but, fortunately, Bayard Cutting, Jr., came on Wednesday, and liked the work so much that he gave me $600 from the relief funds to pay wages, and has had me appointed the Red Cross representative here.
“I have persuaded the Mayor to start relief work for the men, road building or what not, he to furnish the tools and oversight, and we (the American Red Cross) will pay the wages. We begin tomorrow. In short, I am organizing all I can on the good Charity Organization Society plan of making the able-bodied needy work for what they get.
“My personal impression of the situation is that the worst is yet to come, when the temporary relief ceases.