The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-02-23

sian military prisoners, looked over
the motley array of men in Russian
uniforms and Austrian sNits of a semi
military cut who had lined up along
the wall of the detention barracks
which in the camp named houses Rus
sian prisoners who have made at
/ tennpts to escape or who have violated
camp rules.
Most of these men, said the COM
n1ander to The Associated Press cor
respondent, have been guilty of
breaches Of discipline. There are a
few, however, who have made at
ten1pts to get away. One OF them has
Etried 1t twice."
With that General Notes told one
Of his officers to bring over a certain
man. The prisoner, rather (hand-
some young. fellow Of about 25, stepped
before the commander, halted with a.
raised his hands to his cap, at atten-
ton.
They brought you back comment
! ed the grizzled general.
| The Russian said: "Da,'' with the
| faintest smile on his face.
General Notes, too, smiled. ~
| mo doubt, you found it cold out in
! the noun tains,'' he said. For the
/ next sixty days you can think it over
[ in here, and then you may be of a Diff
| ferent turn of mind. Russia is a long
way off from here at present, and
| wish to warn you that the next time
tyou get away from the camp in your
Russian uniform, you. may not fare so
well. hey may see you somewhere,
recognize you and do you harm. Our
peasants don't like Russians any too
well just now"
The fact that the Russian soldier
was what may best be translated as
lofhcer-aspirant, before he fell into the
hands OF the Austrians, gave him the
right to reply to the comment of the
camp commander.
| He said something in Russian.
= Very WE'LL said General Notes,
/ ssP1ease yourself! You say it is
your right and duty to escape, if you
time it is my duty to keep you here.
I will see to it that you are kept
| here
AS he walked on, General Notes
patted the Russian. on the cheek
Don't be foolish" he said. TITS
cold out there The Russian smiled
land faced about.
"P1ucky chap remarked General
Notes, land a good Russian. Knows
| German well, but never used it with
| the officers. The last time he man
LACED to get as far as the vicinity, of
Trfest. He hoped to get across the
Italians In his Russian uniform at
that Speaking of gr1J. his is an
exceptional case On his way to
| Triest he travelled at night, hid dur
ing the day, and must have helped
himself to food in a manner as yet
Unexplained
\ General Notes has been spending
many months at the Russian front
of his countrynen is thoroughly
good sport. The daring Of the man
| impressed him very much.
The Klein Muenchen prison camp
is a huge establishment. It covers an
area of about five square miles, and
its barracks are capable of housing
/ $4,000 men without crowding. So
Efar about $4,000 Russians and sew
era1 thousand Italians have been
quartered there, since the establish
n1ent Of the camp in january 1915.
At present there are in the camp 3O4
Russian officers and about 1900.
men, the remainder having been de-
tailed to do work on the Austrian
farms. @
The barracks are large wooden
| structures, covered on the outside
with thick tar paper, painted white.
Above the pine-board floor two
stories Of platforms, eight platforms
for each building, provided the space
upon which thu straw pallets of the
men are spread out at night. Sixty
men are SO accommodated. To the
rear of the barracks is the dining
room, in which the prisoners gather
for social purposes when ''fatigue''
/ or work isl over.
4 The barracks described are intend
ed for the ordinary Russian, the peas
1 ant; who, as a rule, is wholly Hitter
ate, and with whom the '.intelIigent''
does not want to associate. The ex-
perience has been that the two
classes do not mix well. and rather
than have constant strife between
| the prisoners, the Austrian govern
| ment decided to separate them
/ For the Intelligent Klasse,'i a diff
ferentfs sort of barracks has been
built 1t resembles. the common
! barracks but instead of having eight
/ sleeping platforms, it has two floors,
upon which a sort of wooden field
bed has been placed. This arrange
/ ment wastes great deal Of space.
| Only fifty t1nte1Iigen can be
| housed in a building of tho usual
size.
1--WE try to satisfy, SO far as we
can, the wishes of the prisoners said
| General Notes, ''In our, own army
we do not know such distinctions. We
| have officers and privates, and mo
other class. But with the Russians
it seems to be different The intel
Ii gents' are usually people of some
refinem ent to whom the constant as
ISOLATION with the untutered peasant
would undoubtedly be a great hard
ship. One hast bear in mind that
men in prison camps. must associate
with one another more closely than
anywhere else, 1t is not our bust
ness to either reform Russia's social
structure, nor to make the enforced
stay in our prison camps more irl1-
some than confinement naturally is
So we went to the additional trouble
and expense of building the barracks
for the fntel1igents.' +"
Excellent graVe1-cevered streets
run between the rows of buildings
and a small field railway connects
all points needing that means for
facilitating transport, The entire
camp is lighted electrically, has its
own water supply and sewer system,
an elaborate system for fire pFetec-
ton, ornamental and vegetable gar
dens, and resembles generally = So
ciaI settlement camp, aA Illusion
| 1uInirsfa is aI1ielSiv dispe1Ied. hoReRe4: