Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-05-20
HE HAS NO REASON
TO LOVE GERMANS
Belgian Workman Tells of His
Experience While Held
Prisoner.
RECEIVES MANY THRAsHINGs
Kept in Close Confinement on
Bread and Water for
Five Months.

LONDON. May 19.--Jcan Anton Dan
iels. a Belgian workman who recently
escaped and has just arrived here. to-
day related his experiences as follows:
Il spent more than two years in Ger
many In war time. and have no reason
TO love the Germans
III first fell into tho hands of the
Germans when they captured LicEe
For scmc months was allowed to stay
a; homo and work. but I had TO be in
the house every night at IL o'clock
One night in December. 1914. was
seven minutes late reaching the house
I paid dearly for those seven minutes
"3Iy troubles began when l was or
dcred to spend the night in Il cellar
The next morning / was taken to the
kommandatur and was there sentenced
To be deportcd to Germany. II took
day or two TO Nil up the necessary
papers, and then, with eighty or ninety
other Bclgians who had been guilty
OF equally trivial ofenses. / was
marched down TO the railway station.
We werc put into goods train and
scnt off TO Wcstphalia.
This Is the great German iron and
steel works center. and We were
taken TO a camp for civil prisoners at
Hagen. fairly large town about
forty miles from Cologne, where there
are several important smelling works
and where the Germans have built n
number OF munitions factories since
the war began.
FOR FIVE MONTHS
IN CLOSE CONFINEMENT
Tho civil prisoners camp out
side tho town at Haspe, and when VIC
got there we were all told that we
should have TO work for the Germans
] refused, and so for five months they
kept mo in close confinement, with
nothing but bread and water. / became
wreck. l was just living skeleton
and II was clear that II ! ever wanted
to escape from Germany. as / fully in
tended to do. should have TO give in
and agree TO work In order to obtain
food 10 regain my strength. So at last
I gave In. and as ! was a skilled
worker they put mo at once into the
smelling works OF the Siemens Martin
nrm.
There were no strikes. The Ger
mans who were working with US would
have dropped dead from hunger or from
overwork rather than lose the war-l
will say that for them. AS for the
wretchcd prisoners. there was no ques-
ton OF striking among them Even
men who were too i'll 10 work were
forced TO 60 on.
II have seen tho head jaicr-for
that is what he was-standins over a
man who was quite unable to keep on
his legs thrashinE him with thick
stick.
81 had experience OF more than one
thrashinE, but the worst was when /
was caught trying to escape the first
time l got away from Hagen all
right and reached the Dutch frontier
but there ! was caught. and the police
sent me back to Hagen by train
There / was taken to the police station
and was fined $3.50. II seemed a very
small punishment. and 1 could not be-
lieve that It was all they were going
TO do to me. 1t was not.
!. Suddenly one OF the warders seized
hold OF me and began belaborinG me
with thick club. On my back. on
my neck. my legs. all over. he
thrashed me till thought he was try
ing to kill me. When I recovered 7
was marched back TO the huts in the
works. and l had TO work the next
day. just the same as il nothing had
happened"