El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-09-11
NEWS WRITERS
ARE SET FREE
Guards Were Doubled After
Americans Gave Word OF
Honor Not to Escape.

Honor Not to Escape.
Rotterdam. Holland. Sept. 1.-The
American correspondents VINO aS-J--
panied the German army Tor nelLls
two weeks across Belgium anu -
France, found themselves safe on LuLeLl
sof today, after being held ptlsoIls5Ls
by the Germans for four days unuI-
unusual circumstances The Assocl1leu
Press correspondent reached holleI us-lli
late Wednesday night
For the past week the new spapS-
men had been under surFelllance AT
AK La Chapelle. whittier they nad oeen
4 brought on a train with prisoners from
Beaumont Belgium a..
Associated Press; Irwin = CooD' me
aSturday Evening Post ana Lhe Z MI
adelphia Public Ledger lanes y IN
nell Bennett and John 7 McCulc5 4,-
the Chicago Tribune. and Harry nan
sen, the Chicago Daily News.
With them on the trip 10 AK La
! Chapelle were three other correspond
ents, Maurice Gerbauld, a bel5Lau So-
respondent: Lawrence Stein stevens, an
American artist formerly Of Detroit
/ and Victoria Hennebeard' KING AlDeI'9
special photographer -.
The PARTY of five Americans leIt
! Brussels on August % win speclaI M
itary. passes and were the only cores
pondents who were successful IN LoA-
lowing the German army
Arrested at Beaumont
The party succeeded IN marching
! with the army, sometime IN slsht OF
! the fighting. until Beaumont was
reached. Here the Germans had es-
/ tabLshed temporary headquarJ ers- a.
Beaumont the correspondent We're helu
up by commander MltlehuoILeL' W 80
suspicious against all newspaper men
had been aroused by a party OF three
| correspondents picked up the previous
day who represented themselves as
Americans, although two OF mem We're
Belgians. The trio were taken 10 q
Beaumont Jail The party included
Gerbauld, Stevens and HenneDaro1
and the negro chauffeur. All We're ar
rested for phOtographing and travelling
in an automobile which unlaWIulIg
carried a Red Cross flag.
Soldiers Dance After March.
The American party was allowed 70
spend the night on the stone llooE %
a Belgian school house, which had
been converted into barracks Tor lne
German troops The corresponding
were courteously treated by the sol
diers. who after the DAY 80 H-lLo
march, sang, danced and olnerWlse ~
tertained them royalty until mlcnisnL
The next day the Americans were kept
waiting in the public square In tne cen
ter Of group which lncluueu
prince August Wilhelm, the third son
Of the emperor, and other nlsn mil
tarv authorities
Sentenced to Be shot.
After being repeatedly told they
were not prisoners, the Amer cans
were locked up with the olhsr IN =
correspondents arrested the day De-
fore stevens had already been SEN
fenced to be shot as an English spy
The Jail was filthy and one side was
stacked with tons Of German nlsh eA-
pIosfves-a rather uncomfortable SIT
nation in view Of the fact that other
prisoners were constantly lighting
I cigarets under cover Of their straw
bedding.
After = short incarceration, the
Americans, through the kindness or
German Lieutenant, were removed 10
small cafe adjoining the prison 20
which later they were followed BY the
! other three suspects VINO were lH9
/ cause Of their detention
Not Prisoners, But
] For two nights they slept on ne
floor under q heavy guard ana sun
! they were told that they were not prs
| oners. but warned that they would oe
/ shot II they moved one step out OF inc
| house After they had given tnelr Wo- Voc.
/ Of honor that they would not aLte.-g-
/ to escape. their guard was 1iooI is.
No food was supplied the prisoners.
/ their only sustenance being bottle OF
wine.
/ Americans received an alarming Nlsll
/ from an intoxicated German oII-cel'
/ who called them English spies and IN
/ sisted on giving convincing demon
/ STATIONS of the sharpness OF MS s"0Lu
/ when he heard English spoken Flnally'
! one night the Americans were taken
/ with 100 French and 100 English prls-
] oners TO a prison train, the desllld-
/ ton of which was unknown Ihey
! were asked politely enough by German
I Officers to walk alongside the prison
| ers and act as guards At the same
] time the officer said in an aside 10 the
/ German guard
keen your eyes open on those
/ Americans. If they move or step from
I the ranks. shoot them"
} The train carrying, besides the prls-
D oners. several cars Of wounded German
! soldiers. arrived at AK La Chapell.e
I after a two avs slow journey An
/ ef-bt Of the correspondents were
! hacked into a single second class apart
Z menr. without food or drink, and al
/ fbe mercy Of Belgian snipers, VINO ire
I ouentlv fired from houses as the tram
D Dassed The party arrived al AK "a
/ C,baDeUe carefully guarded, and was
| forbidden To leave the city
! The surveillance Of the military
/ guard and the police relaxed when the
I authorities discovered that the Amerl-
( an CORRESPONDENTS had in their pos
| session accounts favorable TO the Ger
I man army. The party finally crossed
the Dutch border without permission
] of the authorities.