Norwich bulletin., 1916-05-23

not give them even the ordinary com forts which fever patients ought to have. Diet means much in typhus and the best could give my patients after receiving certain concessions in re- sponse to reiterated requests was three small cups of milk daily and oc- caSionally some watery soup for each patient. The highest death rate was among the devoted men. who volun teered to nurse their comrades. At the beginning of the epidemic there were only three men of the medical corps in the prison and their places were son taken by inexperienced pris- oners, who volunteered for the terri ble task with the same cheerfulness and bravery they would have shown in undertaking any purely military duty.
 "The physical misery and discom- fort of the camp would have made it a place of horror without any epi- dernic Many of the huts went with out coal for as long as a week at a time in the midst of freezing weather as the coal contractors, knowing there was no authority within the camp to sec that proper deliveries were made, frequently failed to bring any fuel The lighting was always insufficient and this added to the depression al- ways felt in even the best managed prison camps. The room for recrea- tion was decidedly limited and foot balls sent from England to the men were withheld from them, and 1t was not until March that the men were able to get even the elementary exer- else of kicking a ball about. The first we got were three sent to me by Ambassador Gerard. He promised to send these when he visited the camp and when they failed to arrive on time wrote to him asking why and very shortly afterwards they arrived l am sure that the delay was due to their being held up by the prison au- thoriTies. When I threw these foot balls to a group of men gathered about my hut a mad rush was made for them, and the prisoners for the first time in over 8 year had a chance to indulge in a game of any sort. Later the footballs sent from England were released, so the men now get some ex- ercise as well as relief from the dead ] ly monotony of a crowded camp.
 There is but little that I can add to the official report already published of the epidemic, which was ended by | sunshine and soap. When the wealth
 CT got warmer the men crept out into
 the sunshine taking infected clothing and mattresses with them and when a
 was finally released to our use by the | prison authorities the end was in sight.
 | Great improvements, for which the l inmates nave MT. Gerard 10 unanH
 have been made since in the camp the
 most important being a well con- | structed fuInigator erected by thS | Germans which reduces the chance oi
 another outbreak to the minimum. Int | general in command of the camp wa:
 removed after Gerard's visit, but the
 cowardly doctor in charge of the med. ical arrangements still remains, ana l still wears his Iron Cross.
 "A little care at first with the segre gation expected in places where pris oners arrive from different nations ana fronts might have checked the cpl demic in its incipiency, but nothing was done, with the terrible results ti
 which the great trench in which mel are buried four deep bears mute tes
 timony.
 "One expects disciplinary rules in
 prison, but none quite as severe al those which obtained while the cpl
 demic ragged. Death seemed the onl.
 penalty for any infraction of the rule
 while the guards maintained orde from their safe refuges outside tn barbedwire limits of the camp. 1 number of attempts to escape, some o
 which evidently proved successful were made, for no live prisoner wa ] ever brought back. Several, who at l tempted to get away were brough
 back dead, and those who planned t escape knew that the guards woul shoot to kill. One of the most flag rant eases was that of an insan