El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-05-13
SAY
RUSSIA BRUTAL
To PRISONERS
Beat and Starve Sick and
Helpless Austrian Pris-
Oners of War.
DIE ON THE WAY TO
M

Y JENNA, Austria, NAY I3.-The
" Austro-Hungarian government
has published n long report on
the treatment Of the German and Aus
tro-Hungarian war prisoners i'm Rus
STA. The report is based on state
ments Of neutral diplomats and the
members OF a Red Cross delegation
which visited many prison camps in
the eastern Russian provinces and I'm
Siberia.
Among the charges made n sub
statiated by many affidavits AMI Off
cial reports are the following:
The wounded German and Austro-
Hungarian soldiers are discharged
from the Russian hospitals and trans
ported to Siberia before they are re-
stored to health. They receive only
insufficient clothing and many die on
the way TO the prison camps.
Many OF tho prisoners are assaulted
by their guards, whipped ON the slight
est prOvOcatiOn-
Many Die From Starvation.
In the prison hospital Of Krasno-
yarsk. numerous sick and wounded SOL
diers died from starvation. The hos
pm %. NHA- ~EHa LAH- NH
district and sick prisoners have to be
brought there from other camps. In
winter. when the thermometer fell to
40 degrees centigrade below zero, the
Unfortunate men were loaded on print
tive wagons and sleiEhs, half clothed
and without blankets.
Dozens Of them froze 10 death and
those that fell off the vehicles were
never picked up. They persisted where
they dropped.
Many cases OF starvation OF sick
prisoners also occurred in the military
hospital OF Kansk. In the hospital Of
Tchita. the Austrian Red Cross dele
cation ascertained that patients SUI
ferings from typhoid fever were bru-
tally beaten by the nurses.
In the camp Of NiNolsk Ussurisk. 81
IBERIA. 30 per cent. OF the prisoners
died from scorbut and typhoid. In
RasdOluoge many Of the prisoners in
the camp had to dig bitches standing
in the water TO their hips in a tempera-
ture OF 20 degrees c~entigrade below
Many Become Blind.
The prisoners in Atchinsk live IN
subtcrranean barracks full Of vermin.
Even in winter they receive no mat
tresses or blanket and many have be
blind through the insufficient
lighting of the terrible hole in which
they are quartered-
I'm K-rasnoyarsk several thousand
civilians. men and Women, dragged
away from Eastern Prussia, ave to
on the bare ton floor Of their
barracks. Some Of these prisoners are
20 and so years old and others have
their cyesiEht. Most Of the chill /
dren who were carried Off, have died.
No Surgeons. Steward Uses Knife.
In Irkutsk the Austrian Red Cross Z
sisters found p prisoners locked up in
"a dirty cell measuring II by II feet.
In the camp all soldiers who were too
i'm to work were treated as criminals. !
From Irkutsk several thousand Of the
prisoners. after they had been kept in
close confinement for many months. :
sent to BalanRansk in the coolest I
periods Of the winter. They had to
through the deep snow and were !
driven on by Cossacks with the knout
when they dropped. Many Of them
froze their limbs which had to be am
putated by n Russian hospital steward
and a German druggist. because there
WAS no surgeon present.
In Beresowka $4,000 prisoners are
herded together in six miserable bar
racks without beds. blankets or SAM
precautions. The soldiers receive
half r%ations. their clothing is in
and they are often whipped by
order Of the commander Of the camp.