Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-09-22
RUSSIAN PRISONERS.
captives Confined Tn Buddhist
 Temples and Town Hall.
OFFICERS ARE ALLOWED SERVANTS

All the Prisoners Speak We'll Of Their. Treatment, and Regard Their
 Captors with Kindly Interest. Fight Them only Because Ordered to Do So by the Czar.
 At 9 o'clock we took special Lili putian train on the Iyo railway for Matsuyama,' says George Kennan in the Outlook, writing about Russian War prisoners In Japan \ A heavy rain was falling when we reached our destination, and as we were driven from place to place in closed 'rikishas we saw little of the town except the temples, halls and irnprovised bar racks in which the Russian prisoners were confined We found the first lot of them in an old and rather dark Buddhist temple filled with church properties and the figures that we are accustomed to call idols. They were all snoncommissioned officers or sol first serious fight of the war-the bat tie of the Yalu. They were greatly as tonished when greeted them with .Zdrastvuitia rebatta' Good morning, boys), but their. faces lighted up with interest and pleasure at the sound of their own language, and they respond cd in unison with cheery chorus of We wish you health, your high nobili- tyr
 How are you getting on herer I inquired. Are you comfortableT
 'Da nitchevo' Qt's not so bad), said a sergeant, who was probably the starosta and who stepped forward as spokesman. Of course it's a prison er's life, the place is rather close, and it's very tiresome, but what's to be done? Sudba' Qt's our luck).
 (" How do the Japanese treat your I inquired. They seem to me to be a very good sort of people, and I'm sorry you Russians are fighting them
 They trent us very we'll he said, and I've nothing to complain of at all. I didn't come to fight them because I bore them any i'll will, but I was a soldier, and when the gossudar (the czar) ordered me to fight I had to fight. As you say, they seem to be 3 very good people, and wish them all prosperity
 ''This sentiment seemed to have the approval of the rest of the men, who numbered seventy-fve or a hundred and the feeling thus expressed is prob ably that of majority of the common soldiers of the Russian army. They have some reason for hating the Turks, but they regard the Japanese either with indifference or with the kindly interest that the Russian peas. ant takes in all good people, They fight them not because they hate them but because the gossudar has so Cor, dered
 we went successively to three ol four temples, or public buildings, ir which common Russian soldiers were kept, but our stay in each place was 80 short that I had little time for in quiries. All the prisoners agreed that the Japanese treatment of them was good, but In one instance there was complaint that on the days when rice was substituted for bread the ration was insufficient. The hospital for the sick and wounded Rusktans was un- der the management of the Japanese Red Cross and was clean, well ventilat ed and apparently in excellent condi lion.
 Prom the hospital we were taken tc see the officers, twenty-three in mum Der, who were quartered In Matsuya ma town hall. Partitions had been put up in the spacious apartment so as tc give every two men a room to them aelyes. and their situation eemed tc