#29: The first exodus (1916)
The Third College Decade ended in 1916. On the tenth of May
all the principal government officers of the city visited
our premises and informed us that in view of the Russian
invasion by Erzroum and Trebizond, our section of Asia Minor
was reckoned to be within "the zone of war". All Americans,
therefore, being foreigners, must withdraw to Constantinople;
and all our grounds and buildings would be requisitioned
for the purposes of a military hospital.
I sent at once for Miss Willard, Dr. Marden, Mr. Getchell,
and Mr. Pye, that we might receive the communication and
consider it together. The officials had brought with them
armed gendarmes, had posted them at all our gates, at
several points outside, and had established patrols in
different parts of our premises. Mr. Getchell, in attempting
to cross the narrow street that separated our College and
Hospital premises to call Mr. Marden, was prevented by a
gendarme with the threat of using weapons.
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Our Board in Boston had fully authorized its representatives
to act in emergencies as their own best judgement determined,
and sustained us in such decisions as we were constrained to
make. After counsel at Constantinople among ourselves and
with others, Mr. and Mrs. Getchell, Miss Willard, Miss Gage,
and Miss Zbinden remained at the capital till they could
obtain permission, after several weeks of toilsome appealing,
to return and reside in Marsovan, hold the situation and
render all possible service, while the others of us went on
to America. Several of our American circle, for over-ruling
reasons, had left for America earlier in the war.
When the five who returned to Marsovan reached "home" again,
they were allowed to occupy some corners of the American
grounds and buildings, while all the main structures and
facilities were used by 2,000 sick soldiers, who later
increased to 4,000; one American residence was occupied
by typhus patients and another by those who had smallpox.
But besides holding the situation, in general our
associates were of immense aid and comfort to many until
the end of the military occupation, April 2, 1919. The
ladies soon gathered some of their pupils together and
re-opened the Girls' School. Indeed, the Girls' School
was never really or officially "closed". Many sick were
comforted and cared for; many Greeks from along the sea
coast latterly were helped to procure food and supplies,
when the exigencies of war drove them from their homes
as exiles.
In this great and supremely difficult service Miss Gage
succumbed, worn out, and reached the culmination of her
great, and at several points tragic, life-work, in the
place where her life-work really began. She died July
15th, 1917, and was buried near the Girls' School in
the Mission compound at Marsovan, Turkey, her grave
shaded by tall poplars and dark pines.
NEXT: Casualties of war (1919)
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