The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1917-12-08
der Writes of the Barbary of the Germans Treatment of Prisoners

dars' rest. The fatigue duty" was
grooming sick and wounded horses. and
out OF this duty arises Il little story os
how We procured i,;cnty or sugar for OUR
! coffee.
The horses were fed cn chopped hay
and brown sugar mixed We made Il
sieve out Of q BASIN perforating It with
! scores of holes. We poured in the mix
turr Of hay and sugar. and shook the
= basin as a farmer Kidding grass seed or
corn down. The sugar dropped Into our
handkerchicfs, and was carefully slowed
away for swcetening our coffee, which
was served without either milk or
sugar.
we had six months Of this and every
day of the period the snaw!ng pangs OF
hunger we're with us. / do not know
IL any reader OF this story knows how
, II feels to he hungry for even one day.
Add hundreds Of days Of n similar feel
ing, and they have slight idea OF our
torture.
From the afternoon nj capture we had
never heard a single item OF news as
. to how the war was going. Now and
, then In n parcel from home there might
be some little glimpse Of how matters
were progressing: but the Germans got
"fly" for this. and cake. or anything
likely to conta n news was cut open.
Even the sardine tins and timed meats
were cut open. We protested against
the cutting open 81 the latter, as the
contents went bad when the air WAS adj
mittcd. and they mad" new regulation.
They retained all the contents OF the
parcels, and labelled Them with the
receivers name Each day at noon they
opened the storernom and we we're hand
al ha nrtfrlo ranItirpI pnN0p6 nFinF IA,
being given over.
But for these parcels which. were so
kindly sent by the Irish Prisoners Aid
Society, our plight would have been des-
peratc. But for them a poor fellow
would Nc lying with q few hundred
weight Of German soil on top Of him.
. The! kept us alive.
They told us one time Of news-the
: fall of Warsaw. and there was a great
rejoicing Mt the time. The camp was
! decorated with bunting. and the same
/ thing happened when Bulgaria Joined In
! with the Central powers.
There was one humorous attempt to
escape made ny a chap during our stay
at s;ennic Lager. The German guard
Immediately recognized him and handed
! him over to couple Of gendarmes In
. the street The chap slept that night
in punishment cell. Hard luck. He
hnT fourteen days bread and water.
which was the regulation punishment
for attempting 70 escape.
| saw him q few days later. He look
. I'D like the principal clown in a circus.
; One coat sleeve and One leg in his
pants showed all the colours Of the rain
! bow and large letter e. was printed
on the hack OF his coat
At the camp there was to b OBJ
cnrved a moor E'rnnrhrnan hobhlF0N ahoIt
practically doubled up.
Poor chap! He had been sent to work
In the mine. and fall Of earth had 90
! Cured. badly injuring his spine. He
was not sent home even when bad cases
were exchanged. suppose the usual
cute Hun was afraid to send him home,
where he would tell the story and per
!; haps bring reprisals on German pris-
oners in France. We felt such was
the explanation, as the poor fellow was
malmeI for life. and useless.
Al length there came a day when we
!.were told to pack UP, and there were
some glad hearts when II was found
we were bidding adieu to senne Lager
It WIS two days prior to Christmas. and
n acknowledgements Christmas time
1t proved for all Of us. Practically q
two days journey to The new camp at
Shi'SaI' AHelo was tiHcc-HouES uc-
lay at N junction while waiting a num-
Dor Of prisoners from Fredericksfield
camp. also bound for our destination.
Ore chap came across to me and re-
marked: II think I,know you. Ono Of
the Rifles. oren't you? replied In
tho affirmative. and he said his name
WIS Appleton and hailed from York
Street district IN Belfast. It was n
happy meeting under curious circunl-
stances. He introduced his pal. who
WAS also OF the Rifles. and was named
Ryan. hailIng from New Ross (Wex-
ford.)
CONTINUED Next Tuesday,