Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-05-23

= n =
Stockholm. Sweden, April 30.--eiao
in great coats OF West Point gray. the
first of the hopelessly wounded Ger
man and Austrian prisoners OF war 70
come out of Russia this year, passed
thru Sweden q few days ago in ex-
change for the helpless and hapless
Russians who had been sent home
from the German hospital camps. The
Austrians and Germans we're a more
cheenful lot than the stolid, silent Rus
slams and seemed to have a more deEi-
mite idea Of their future life.
1T is nothing" said one young AUS
trian with his right leg gone and two
fearful scars on his face, u am q
jeweler by trade and my hands are az
good as ever"
The exchange of wounded prisoners
undertaken by the Swedish Red Cross
is gigantic affair Effective May 10
three trains running weekly In each
direction from the Finnish frontier to
the southern reaches Of the Baltic can
handle but comparatively few OF the
men 50 hopeiessly used up that the
warning nations are glad to be rid OF
them. Some statistcion claiming to
have knowledge of the situation has
declared that with trains running daily
all the year round 1t would take ten
years to complete the transport of the
human wastrel of war now held in
Russia and Germany. ....
One Of the wounded Austrians on
the first train coming from Russia was
asked how many Of his comrades were
left in Russia, -.
oh" he replied, there must be
million of them -
This prisoner said he had been "all
over Russia" and that few war pris-
oners either wounded or whole OF skin
and limb. were permitted to remain in
one camp more than month or two.
He was wounded in August last and
said he must have been IN every hos
pital camp from Vladivost ok to Petro-
grad. =
There was one young soldier from
Prague. Bohemia. VINO had terrible
experience He was in the cavalry
and was riding in charge when a
shrapnel shell burst just beneath him.
The horse was killed and the rider
wounded twenty-one times. Seven
times he was placed on the operating
table. He emerged with one leg gone
and the other so broken. bent and
twisted that II but little resembied hu-
man form.
And yet the man had pleaded with
the doctors for that remnant OF q
limb. II
They wanted to cut itJdnsf, too, as
well as my right hand. hut ! heard
them talking and said. Please, good
Mr. Doctor. don't cut of my other leg
and my hand,s At last they let me
GO" he said.
The hand was = srarrad in many
places but seemed otherwise 10 be per
fectly useful. But in 1einpa Of yyvar am
putation Is suctTeah effective and ex-
pedltious treatment. - 80
Each man Of the 2l7 on board the
train from Russia had his own thrill
ing story to tell. Each one had tasted
the utmost bitterness OF war and some
seemed so badly MANNED and Inangled
that even death had refused to accept
them. :. s q!
There was one poor fellow moving
about the train with sheep skin pads
on his knees and both feet gone. H.
ME no coed any more.'s ne smiled
in broken English vixen he learned
that the Associated Press correspond
ent on board the hospital train was an
American. re- s.1..-2 III
And boom. boom. boom no good
either" he added. mimickipg the roar
Of battle. This man had lain wounded
for days with his feet in half frozen
stream When found he was more
dead than alive. Up to the time he
lost consciousness ne said he must
have been lying Out Ct, doors for six
or seven days. 2AA. this ktpieR he heard
the screech and roar Of shells passing
above his hear and occasionally ex-
ploding about him. Anyone OF them.
he said. would have been a welcome
end TO his agony. But NOW he was
smiling and cheerful on his way
home" He did not Know what he
could do when he got there for he had
been a horseshoer by trade and a
horse-shoer without feet is not Of
much account.
Some Of the, prisoners complained
bitterly of their treatment at the hands
Of the Russians, but the more intelli-
gent OF the wounded soldiers declared
that while their lots had been hard
they realized the Russians had done
all they possibly could under the cir
cuustances. There were the days OF
exposure on the battlefelds which
could not be helped. the poor field ac-
commodations for the wounded. who
had to be cared for in far greater
numbers than anyone had ever antic.-
pated, and the hours Of neglect due ia