The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1914-11-03
END OF THE WAR
CORRESPONDENT
To Prison Is as Far as They
Gan 60 With Armies.
GEN. j0FFRE MOST SEVERE.

French Officers Most Polite When Very
Angry-Writer Tells OF Being Arrest
cd, His Automobile Requisitioned and
Two Nights Spent In q Barn With
Prisoners and French Dessrters.
Paris.-Burglars I'm a miser's money
box are welcome parties compared to
correspondents on the firing line. Wal
corresponding has come to be a prison
ofense In France. General Jofre sim
ply won't have 1t. Describing his ex-
~periences one OF the correspondents In
France says:
Il have just passed two days under
guard at the front, one day under
guard In Paris-part Of the time In the
famous military prison OF the Cherche-
Midland eight days of parole, all be-
cause General Joffre refuses to have
correspondents giving his war opera
lions the once over at close range.
"And / was not the only member Of
this seeing the war party. There
were sever OF us In all--three of us
and a chauffeur In our W party. We
had by rare good luck witnessed an
action around the French left wing
and were bound toward the center, at
Rheims. when 1t happened. 1t was a
merry captain who pinched us.
"'Hey,' he called out gayiy, where
are you folks goingT
".To Rheims we chorused. How
far is itY'
"'Let's go ask the general he said
and laughed.
Slowly we were oozed into what
the Joke was. 1t was on us. The
general said Rheims was seven miles
away and quite too far to walk.
"'Oh, we have a carr we chirped,
not comprehending the generals grim
humor.
"'Oh, I've requisitioned thatv he
said. Captain, will you escort the
| gentlemen out?'
"The captain would and did escort
us out; also In. Imagine a country vii
lage where there isn't even a railway
| depot, where a postoffice, government
| tabac, three farmhouses and several
cow lots are punched together, and
you will have the scene of our arrest
Imagine again a stone farmhouse bull
In u formation with a stone fence
across the top Of the u and the ground
| plan Of our prison will be clear. II
| you add to the center of the COW lot 0
tableland of hay and other stable rak
ings. the whole thing wet and very
smelly under the cold drizzle, the pic
ture will be fairly complete.
Through a gate In the stone wal
we were conducted by our smiling cap
tain. On the right was a door leading
into the colonel's quarters-the rooms
Of the farmhouse. At the back were
two more doors through one OF which
I spied two of the biggest cows I evel
saw.
I'VE were ushered into this. The
room was identical with the cows bed
chamber. German prisoners, French
deserters, spies, suspects and pillagers
stood or lay about on the hay which
covered the floor.
1--WE were put on parole not to try tc
get away. They took our word for II
that we would not run, but to make
sure, they kept a sentry at the gate
with instructions to shoot X we show
ed any inclination to fee. They were
very, very nice about 1t, insisting al
the time that we were positively not
considered prisoners - as prisoner
were entitled to soldiers rations and
we were not.
"a kick about quarters among thu
prisoners-since we We're not prisoner
and would be shot only II we ran-go'
for us an empty hay loft and the prop
er use Of money got us hay to sleep on
ION the morning Of the second da,
our own car vas given to us, and W,
were taken to Partisan armed gen
darme going with us. Arriving latt
In the evening, we had dinner In thu
corridor Of the Cherche-Midi military
prison. We were shifted between mid
night and l a. m. to the Invalides
where In the shadow of Napoleon.
tomb we slept In officers beds. Their
we were released.
"The war correspondents game 4
gone-that Is, the game as 1t used II
be. No more will the correspondent
tell generals how to fight their battles
and also, perhaps, no more will tn,
generals have fine battle cries put int
their mouths and become famous To-
having uttered them. The prison door
yawn for war writer's and the Tx