Just as Madame Vendervelde left the country, Madame Depage arrived to
take her place. She had had experience in the Balkan War, when she
accompanied her husband to Constantinople and acted as an auxiliary
nurse. She directed the equipment of the hospital and within a very
short time had turned the building into one of the best military
hospitals in Europe. During the present war she has aided in the
establishment of a large number of military hospitals, not only in
Brussels but also in other Belgian cities. When Brussels was taken the
Germans seized the hospitals and devoted them to their own uses. The
Governor-General of Belgium issued a decree breaking up the organization
of the Belgian Red Cross. All the funds were seized, and the archives
were handed over to a German officer, who was appointed to carry on the
work. It is said that forty thousand dollars' worth of Red Cross
supplies was taken over. As the National Belgian Headquarters of the Red
Cross were in Brussels, the heads of the organization were temporarily
cut off from the army.
Dr. Depage stayed with the King while his wife remained in the capital
until she received word from him that she was needed at the front. She
made her way to Holland, then to England, and then to Calais. Her
husband was at that time in charge of the Gendarme Ambulance. He gave
her some orderlies and told her to proceed to La Panne and select a site
for a military hospital. She found an empty hotel, and had things ready
with three hundred beds when the Doctor arrived from Calais to take
charge. Now there are a thousand beds, and he has a large corps of
assistants.
As Belgium was not receiving American Red Cross supplies, for the simple
reason that it seemed impossible to reach their headquarters, Madame
Depage came to this country to solve the difficulty. She was here only a
short time, but obtained a hundred thousand dollars by her lectures. Our
American Red Cross had previously contributed thirty thousand dollars
through the Belgian Relief Commission, and gave Madame Depage thirteen
thousand more, besides promising six surgeons and twenty-four nurses to
Belgium, furnishing two field hospitals and paying for their maintenance
for six months. The total gifts of the American Red Cross organization
have amounted to about $100,000. Fortunately the money that Madame
Depage raised was deposited here, for this brave, executive woman went
down on the _Lusitania_.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ALLEN, GRANT: Belgium: Its Cities
AMES, F. T.: Between the Lines in Belgium
BOULGER, D. C.: Belgium of the Belgians
-- Belgian Life in Town and Country
BUMPUS, T. F.: Cathedrals and Churches of Belgium
BITHELL, J.: Contemporaneous Belgian Poetry
BODE, W.: Great Masters
CLAFLIN, W. H.: Holland and Belgium
CONWAY, W. M.: Early Flemish Artists
CROWE AND CAVALCASELLE: Flemish Painters
DELEPIERRE, OCTAVE: History of Flemish Literature
DAVIS, R. H.: With the Allies
EDWARDS, G. W.: Old Flemish Towns
ENSOR, R. C. K.: Belgium
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