The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-01-26

uucueuC Ill LILLY anu peSll1euLldl prlS-
ons.
Seizure of Americans as British SUBJ
jects, on the plea of nativity in the
dominions of Great Britain.
Detention of marines as prisoners Of
war, who were in England when the
war was declared.
Compulsory service of impressed
American seamen on board British
ships of war.
Violation of flags of truce.
Ransom of American prisoners from
Indians in the British service
Pillage and destruction of private
property on the Chesapeake bay and
in the neighboring country.
Massacre and burning of American
prisoners surrendered to officers of
Great Britain by Indians in the British
service.
Abandonment of the remains of
Americans killed in battle or murdered
after surrender to the British.
The pillage or shooting Of American
citizens and the burning of their houses
after surrender to British under guar
antee of protection.
Dastardly outrages on women at
Hampton, Va.
The treatment of prisoners by the
British government was in many in
stances departure from the customary
rules of war. The rigor Of the regula-
! tfons We're unworthy of a civilized peo-
pie, and the men in charge of the
prisons were inhuman as we'll as neg
lectful. Salt herring, salt Goldfish, beef
bone and black bread constituted the
bill of fare in most cases. The prison
ships were horribly filthy, and the pris-
oners in them were kept below decks
(in some cases so closely confined that
not all of them could lie down at once)
sixteen hours of the twenty-four. Pris-
oners sickened a very short time after
entering these filthy holes, and the
death rate was from eight to ten per
day.
Here is a sample paragraph Of the
evidence submitted to the committee
under this head:
It is the policy of the British govern
ment to select the sickly to be first ex-
changed, and keep the hale and hearty
seamen until they become sickly, thus
rendering the whole of those gallant
sons of Neptune who escape death,
when they return to their home, per-
fectly useless to themselves, and quite
so to their country, from their debili-
tated state; and, in fact, the probabil-
ity is that many of them would carry
to their graves the indelible stamp upon
their constitutions which they received
on board the British prison ships.
Repeated instances are given of the
British firing upon men who had sur
rendered, and Of individual cases of
sabering, bayoneting and shooting of
American prisoners, both on shipboard
and on land.
The most Infamous instance of the
violation of flags of truce was at the
river Raisin. Samuel McKeehan, a sur
geon Of the Ohio militia, started out
with flag of truce under orders from
General Harrison, having solely for his
object the relief of the wounded and
suffering prisoners who were taken at
the river Raisin on Jan. %, 1918.
Indians in the employ of the British
attacked the relief expedition, killed
DR.. McKeehan's companion, scalped
him, stripped the doctor himself of
most of his clothes, and compelled
him to walk in thin undergarments
twenty miles in the bitter cold of the
January night to post where he was
turned over to British officer.
He was kept prisoner two months
and then sent to Montreal, where he
was confined in an underground dun
gcon for thirty-three days, having nei-
ther bed nor bedding, chair, bench or
stool; denied pen, ink and paper, or
|
tilation Of his dungeon was through
the vault of an outhouse.
The most inhuman treatment of DR..
McKeehan was not by the Indian al
lies Of Great Britain, but by the Off
GERS of her army.
1T can only be nationally accounted
for" says Mr.. Nathaniel Macon, in his
report, "by the supposition that it was
considered good policy to deter Ameri-
can surgeons from going to the relief
Of their countrymen, as the Indian sur.
geons had more speedy and effectual
mode of relieving their suffering"
\ Along the shores of the Chesapeake