Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1917-07-12

HE Prusslan deportation OF Eei-
giaHs will stand through the ages as a
cursed remembrance Of thrice-cufseu
German kultur. So infamous is it in
its conception and execution that
even its scoundrelly perpetrators
sought to hide it from the eyes Of the
world. But there were Americans
over there-ked-Cross workers
aud through them we get a peep be-
hind the curtain. Saysa correspond
ent, Win S. Irwin, of the Saturday
Evening Post:
The Germans, far as possible, plann-
ed the WORK OF deportation SO that our
men, sixty pairs Of slirewd, impartial
eyes, Wotlu notsee it. However, n
OF the Americans with whom | talked
this afternoon dropped unannounced
into a Belgian town near Antwerp. lie
saw several hundred men lined up on
the public square, surrounded by SOL
diers. Outside the line stood the
women, all crying. AS each man was
examined he was ordered to move to
right or left: those massed to the right
were going TO Germany. Every time
a man stepped to the right a wall
broke out from his woman in the
crowd. When finally the procession
started the wome made a rush to bid
their men good.by. The soldiers beat
them back; our American witness saw
three ONE knocked senseless by
gun butts,
Train after train passed through
Brussels, carrying the men deported
from Ghent. They we're in cattle
cars, packed so tightly that they had
to stand; they had not eaten for
twenty-four hours. But they threw
from the train slips Of paper on which
they had written On ne slgnera pas
1--WE will not sign.' This referred to
the contracts the Germans had thrust
would bind them to stay in Germany
and would make it appear that they
went voluntarily.
"They shall not pass!' was the
motto of free France at Ferdun. "We
will not sign!n was the motto of en-
shaved Belgium. Less than ten per
cent did sign. And presently the
wreckage began to come back.
One OF our agents had three of biz
employees taken away. When they
left they were stout, healthy Flomisf
men. When they returned he Went
to see them at the hospital. "Indian
famine victims were athletes beside
them" he said. II could span theil
biceps with my thumb and fingers.
could see every bone in their bodies
Their lips pulled back from theil
teeth as though they were already
dead" One of them had smugglec
out a little bowl of about the capacity
of u teacup. Their ration, all thu
time, had been that bowlful OF fish
head soup inc q day-nothing more.
at the detention camp, when they
refused to sign they were forced t.
stand at attention in the courtyard
for twelve hours running. 1t was il
the dead of a very cold winter. They
had no coats, and II they tried to pu'
their hands in their pockets the guards
pricked them with bayonets. rheil
hands were frostbitten; one of then
lost three fingers. Every day a Ger
man officer thrust q contract before
them, Offering them pay and goot
food II they would sign. "Je nj
signerai pas!" they replied simply.
Faster and faster the wrecks o
Kultur came back. They filed the
hospitals in Liege and its vicinity
Some of their comrades had died il
Germany; and some died In thes,
hospitals. They had been starved
and tortured-but tortured in such
way that marks would not remain al
: proofs. In the dead Of winter tn,
guards broke the ice over pools o
bitches and made them stand in TIN
water for hours. This wal the punish
ment for the "hopeless cases''-th'
''extra-stubborn," Of whom the Ger
mans had no further hope Natural,
their feet:were %frozen--but frozen fee
you see, may be ali accident, while
mntilation carries its own proof. The
were strung up by the thumbs. 70
o day ut q time their hands were tie
In beam a above their heads,