The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1915-06-21
BETTER 1REATMENTCIv-
EN- FRENCH and BELGIUM
Say that English and Russian Pris-
onerssSuffer Harder Tasks; Par
GELS are PiIfered by Officers;
Poor Medical Attention
BY WILBUR S. FORREST,

At y
! London, June 11.-f BY mail to New
! York. )-That the German autboritie
have hoodwinked the various neutra
commissions that have made general,
favorable reports on the treating ant
feeding Of prisoners Of war in German,
is charged by three Belgian non com
missioned officers. who recently escap
ed from the prison Of Bergenhus.
Questioned singly and then together
by the Belgian minister at Copenhagen
their stories, which have been for.
warded. to the Belgian legation in Lon.
don, coincided. All agreed that con
ditions in the larger prison camps,
such as Parchim, where they were
first confined, are considerably better
than those in the smaller camps. the
former being under the command of
superior officers. Though the rules
in the larger camps are severe, they
are applied with more or less equality
and there is not so much arbitrary in
Fiction or excessive toll or illtreat-
ment, such as prevail III the camps
like Bergenhus which are under the
command of sub-officers OF the re-
serves or territorials, who run them
according to their own whims and
without the necessity Of reporting
their own violations of the rules.
I'm these camps English and Rus
Sian prisoners are treated incompar-
ably worse than the French and Bel
gians,' said the escaped Belgians
They are given the most revolving
tasks to perform and are often bru-
tally assaulted Parcels for all pris-
oners are opened, delayed and pilfer-
ed, in spite Of the rule that they should
be opened in the presence OF the recip-
tents. The medical service is lament
ably insufficient. prisoners not even
being examined until after they have
been Ill for many days Even then no
rest from work is allowed except in
grave cases. The only reply to COM
plant is, You didn't come here to be
III or to rest. but to work. The pris
1ners have to pay for medicines them
selves, and the lot of those unable to
10 SO is frightful
Both the quantity and the quality
'f food have been lowered in the past
.hree months. AL Bergenhus the ra-
ions were: Morning, bowl OF brew
'alled coffee and morsel of black
'read three inches square and one and
! half thick. This bread little less
han 200 grammes, has to last all day.
Midday, soup, made of water, most
luite inedible, and some beetroot.
evening. beet rott only, Vegetables
preserves and especially meat are only
distributed in special circumstances
nd in ifinitestimal portions. Rarely,
ome bones from the meat used at the
able Of the guard are dipped in the
risoners' soup. The waste from the
ierman troops kitchen Is sold on con
ract to feed the pigs of the country
ide. The Belgians at Bergenhus one
ay complained of the soup, whereup-
n the commandant replied 4 know
his soup is not fit to give to pigs
ut you'll eat 1t all the same.
Commissions of the Red Cross ami
he neutral states have expressed
as being generally salts
led with the nourishment OF the pris-
ners because they have been com
letely hoodwinked. For instance.
hen the Swedish mission visited Gu.
row they were shown the Kitchens
here the meals were being prepared,
OF for the prisoners, as they believed,
ut for the Guards. AT the canteens
ie prices thalxed prisoners are far
eyond market prices. while the non
officers of the German
pay nothing
"Only a strong constitution can en-
BILE man TO emerge with his health
ON one of these camps. Some Bel
ans have already died of hunger"