Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-05-14
RUSSIANS
KN0UT PRISONERS
Numerous Cruelties Alleged in
Long Report Published by
Austrian Government.
TRANSPORTED TO SIBERIA
Men Forced to Dig bitches,
Standing in Water at TEN
perature Below Zero.

Especial "a BILE to The Times Dispatch
VIENNA. May l3.-Thc Austro- Hun
Garian government has published n
German and Austro- Hungarian var
prisoners in Russia. Tho report is
based on statements cf neutral diplo-
mats and tho members Of Red Cross
delegation which visited many prison
camps in tho Eastern Russian prov
inces and in siberia. Among the
charges made and substantiatcd by
many afnda Wits and official reports arc
tho following:
Tn" wounded German and Austro-
Hungarian soldiers arc discharged from
tn" Russian hospitals and transported
20 siberia before they arc restored to
health. They receive only insufficient
clothing, and many die on the way to
prison camps.
MANI OF the prisoners are assaulted
by their guards, whipped on the slight
est provocation. In the camps Of
EasdOlnogc and wcrnshc- Udinsk two
German and six .\ustro- Hungarian SOL
dicrs were knouted to death by Cos
sacks
In the prison hospital OF Erasnoyarsk
numerous sick and wounded soldiers
died from starvation. The hospital is
tho only one in an enormous district
aud sick prisoners have 10 he brought
there from other camps In winter,
when tho thermometer fell TO 40 de-
srees ccntigradc below zero tho un-
fortunate men were loaded on primitive
wagons and slelghs. half-clothcd and
without blankets, Dozens of them
froze 10 death. and those that fell of
the vehicles never were picked up.
They persisted where they droppd
Many cases or starvation OF sick
prisoners also occurred in tho military
hospital Of kansk. In the hospital Of
Tchita the Austrian Red Cross delcCa-
ton asc"riained tina, patients offering
from typhoid fever were hrutalIy
beaten by the nurses
In the camp OF Nikolsk Ussurisk. ST.
hcria. 40 per cent Of the prisoners died
from scorbut and typhoid In Rasdol-
noge many OF the proncrs in tho camp
had 10 dig bitches standing in the water
to their hips in temperature or 30
degrees ccntisradc below zero.
The prisoners In Atchinsk live in sub
terranean barracks full of vcr,nin.
trcsscs or blankets. aud many have be
come blind through the insufficient
lighting Of the tcirih" hol- in which
they arc chartered
SLEEP ON HARE NroNI:
FLOOR Or THEIR u.HUACI>S
In krasuoyarsk several thousand
civilians. men ana women. drag: cd
away from Eastern Prussia have 10
sleep on the bare stone floor OF their
barracks. Some OF these prisoners are
seventy and eighty years old. and
others have lost their eycsicht Most
OF the children who were carried on
have died.
In the camp Of Nishni- Udinsk the
prisoners are 50 poorly nouriShed that
the Russian commander did not dare
10 show their entire misery to the Red
cross delegation. and emf large num-
Der OF them 10 a nearby forest. where
they were found accidentally by two
Of the Austrian Sisters
sShrdluca OF Observation-Disclosures sh
In lrkutsk the Austrian Red Cross
sisters found twenty-scvcn prisoners
locked up in II dirty cell measuring
eleven hy twelve feet. In the camb
all soldiers who were too Ill 10 work
wcr" treated as criminals. From
lrkutsk several thousand Of the pris-
oners. after they had been kent in
close confinement for. many months.
were sent 10 Balansansk III the coolest
periods OF the winter They had to
march through the deep snow and were
driven or by Cossacks with the knout
when they dropped. Many OF them
froze their limbs. which had to I've am
!Ntatcd Ivy Russian hospital steward
aud German druggist. because there
was no surgeon present.
In Bcrcsowka $4,000 prisoners are
hcrded together in six miserable bar
racks without beds. blankets and sani-
tary precautions. The soldiers receive
only half ratious. their clothing is in
rags and they often arc whipped by
order Of the commander OF the camp
In Wcrnshne Udinsk twenty prison
crS who refused to work without nav
wore locked up in a small dark cell
for eight days.
In the camp OF Pycstchanka a ncu-
trial diplomat found the prisoners did
not have a single mattress. blanket or
ovcrcoat and their boots and shoes had
been taken from them The same dip
lomat reports that in Tchita 500 pris-
oners practically were naked when he
visited the camp.
In Rasdolnoge the whipping of pris-
oners who were too weak to work from
starvation was an everyday occurrence
Ely order of the commander the Cos
sacks even broke into the barracks OF
the Austrian officers and whipped them.
In Skotowo 200 Turks suffering from
typhoid fever were thrown into tho
barracks with the other prisoners. with
the result that 12 per cent OF the latter
dird.