Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-10-01
aZes Of I treatment
Of War Pnsoners
CwdZe the Blood

they revealed after each victory around
me stake OF torture. where they al
lowed their prisoners to he slowly wor-
ried to death by their women md chill
drcn. Even the great Napoleon him
self soiled his fame by tho shooting or
the Turkish captives at Jaffa. and en-
dcavorcd In vain to clear his honor by
the plea that the Turks had made
themselves guilty before by the mas
acre OF tho French garrison. And the
Emperor William. In 1900, provided
the expeditionary corps with this or
der for the campaign against the Chin
csc Boxers: Grant no quartcrs."
1t Is not an old conquest Of civili-
zation that the lives of prisoners OF
war arc spared. Compassion and re-
tincmcnt OF moral consciousness hard
~ played any part in this mitigation
Of manners. When men ceased to
slaughter their vanquishcd advcrsarics
In order to eat them, they soon found
out that the short. though intense. en-
j"ymcnt OF torturing and killing with
their own hands the captive was not
worth the advantage he might procure
'hcm alive. and they preferred turn
ing him into slave and co,upclljng
nm 10 work for them his life long.
unless they could cXtort from him "a
ransom.
In the Barharcsuuc states tho slay-
cry OF tho Christian prisoners Of war
was still public institution at The
beginning of the nineteenth century.
In the sixteenth, Ccrvantcs for wears
did slave work In the bondage Of ;,
turkish owner in Alsicrs. until he
was redeemed. and in our own time
Slatin l'asha has known in Khartu,I.
at the hands of the Mahdi the lot Of
n slave. under the whip of a driver
OLD CUSTOMS REVIVED
IN PRESENT CONFLICT
II is dreadful fact that in the pres
cnt worlds war the custom has revived
OF akinS the prisoners slaves and of
treating them worse than were the i:u
ropcans in North Africa before the de
Struction of the power Of the Dcy OF
Algeria and OF the Bay Of Tunis Tho
reports Of this subject already laid he
fore the world are simply blood curdling
and make the hair stand on end.
To be sure, in war time the aIlega-
lions of witnesses against tho enemy
must he siftcd with douhly and trinity
severe criticism. they may be con
SciouS, deliberate lies, or at least cX-
aGEcraiionS. aS vulgar natures consider
the libclinG of an adversary a lcgiti-
mate form Of warfare but they ara
not $" necessarily. Passion is a bad
condition for observing and tcstifving
and hatred, rcscnting wrath and thirst
for revenge, render strong feeling men
incapable OF effectively graspiur tho
reality. When, however, hundreds If
persons Of widely different nationaii-
ties. stations of life and degrees OF
culture tell the same tale. mentioning
minute particulars which evidently can
not he invented, i: won't do to refuse
them crcdcncc.
The literature Of prisoners Of war
that have recovered liberty and have
been able To describe unimpcdcdly their
experience is already considerable and
SwcllS from day To day. | quote only
The Horrors Of Wittcnborg, Official
Report to the British Governments"
"'ro Ruhlcbcn and lack, Il Great Adj
venture in Three Phases, by Godfrey
rykc." The Story of Il Prisoner OF
War, Ivy Arthur Green" Chez eux,
par l.. Blanchn." Aus Mains de
n'Allemagne. par Charles Hennebois