The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-10-16
SPENDS 4 WEEKS AS
CAPTIVE OF GERM MANS
English Railway Official Suf.
fers Few Hardships in De-
49, tention Camp.
CONVERSATION FORBIDDEN

Interesting interview with John A. F.
Aspinwall. general manager Of the Lam
cashire and Yorkshire Railway. who. with
Egerton Stewart Brown. a bsrrister, spent
four weeks az a prisoner In Germany. the
two having been arrested In Homburg
when the war broke out. He says:
"On August - we were sent with about
thirty-fve prisoners with orders that we
were to be taken TO. Sennelager. but on
the way these orders were changed and
we were finally sent TO Muensterlsger. We
travelled in a freight car. guarded by an
officer and four soldiers who carried
loaded rifles. We were not given any
food till we got to Bremen at midnight,
August 25 At Bremen some coffee and
pieces Of sausage were handed to us.
"On our arrival at the station we were
met by a large guard of soldiers and
marched to the camp. This camp covers
a very large area and Is divided into rec
tangular spaces by stone paved roads. be-
tween which are the buildings which are
usually used, we were told, during the
summer manpuvres by the German troops.
We were placed there with about eighteen
other Englishmen and some French and
Belgian civilians.
The food which was served is the same
as that given 20 the troops. We were
called out AT and at had a bowl
OF black coffee. At about IL 80 we had
bowl OF soup consisting mainly OF
potatoes, though sometimes there was
some Fat bacon in 1t. Sometimes the soup
consisted OF peas or beans. Al about c
r NJ we had bowl of coffee and some
times a bowl of cocoa.
Bread was served in the loaf every
second day. and when we first reached the
camp the bread allowance was half loaf
man each two days. This afterward
/ was reduced to third Of loaf per man
| per two days. which worked out at abou!
| forty four cubic inches of bread day
man The former allowance had been
slxty-six cubic inches man a day, 70
that the reduction was considerable.
Kept waiting for Food.
IN order to obtain their food the pris-
oners in each building were lined up In
| fours and made to march down TO tbs
kitchen under an armed guard They
were admitted into the kitchen in twos
made to take their hats of. and served
With soup from a boiler; a soldier ladled
the soup direct into the bowls They ther
passed on, and were formed into ranks o.
four deep and had to wait until all haC
received their portion. The return Z
barracks was then made and food con
sumed. Sometimes the waits were verl
from one TO one and a half hours. bu
this was a matter OF organization an'
became better as the camp filled mp will
prisoners.
"The organization after this was onl.
upset when very large new arrivals o
prisoners took place. Sometimes we dl
not get any coffee at night. but only
little piece OF cheese or sausage and ha
to go to bed rather hungry. The waite
supply of the camp was plentiful, but
could not drink the water.
There were about $4,000 prisoners 4
the camp. or these $4,000 about 400
were civilians. The military authoritie
were extremely careful 10 separate IN
soldiers from the civilians and TO proven
soldiers OF different nationalities fror
speaking to one another The inhahitant
, OF each barracks were practically for
hidden to exchange a word. Not onl
were the nationallties kept separate by
) even prisoners taken at various time
, and at various places. Thus the Belgian
taken at Liege were kept apart from thoS
taken at Namur. The British soldier
2 were forbidden TO talk TO the French an
= to the civilians
\ "One day a number OF people who wei
r said to have come from Louvain wei
brought into the camp. Against these u
! Germans seemed TO have considerab
0 III feeling. and stated that civilians ha
g fred upon the troops, This latter grol
( Included a number OF people from Il
7 jals in Belgium, and during the nlRl
some trouble arose with them and the
was a great deal of rifle nrng within
few yards OF our barracks The firir
took place again next day and numb
Of the prisoners were killed. II WI
p difficult to know how many, hut ono
the German soldiers placed the number
twenty-six. One prisoner hanged hin
= self
"One Of the troubles OF the camp W;
that the soil was OF very light characte
frightfully dusty and made everythii
; very dirty. Prisoners had TO take the
: basins to the pump and wash their ov
y linen.
= Forbidden 10 Send Letters.
: THE most serious want was that "
= had no news OF any sort or kind as the
;, was nothing To occupy the mind, mar
- OF the days passed very YEARLY At q
u beginning we had been allowed to SCI
some letters. but this privilege WI
stopped. Our barracks lay between u
. others, one of which was inhabited
y French and the other by English soldier
" The English were drawn from many res
;, ments the largest number from Il
- Cheshire regiment.
Tommy Atkins Is by no means
provident a man as the French sodi,
The latter carefully divides his ratio