The Twin City star. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1910-19??, 1917-12-15
GERMAN PRISON CAMP AS seen BY AN AMERICAN


whenever the Moewe sighted another
vessel, has been told by others, and
Smiths narrative Of that need not be
repeated. He arrived with the rest
at Kiel, Germany. on March Fl, and
next day, with oil the Moewe's pris-
Oners, was sent to Duelmen, Westpha.
liza, town about ten miles from the
Holland border.
captors ION Leave"
I'VE were sent down there In third
class cars" Smith said. with one
guard to each ten men. The guards
were oil middle-aged Germans who
had been at the front and who were
home on furlough. They complained
bitterly because when they got leave
1t wasn't really a leave at all. They
had to do guard duty or work In a
factory or on farm. This trip last
ed all night. but we didn't get scrap
Of food till we had breakfast at Duel
men in the morning.
1.-The camp consisted Of q lot Of low,
wooden, implanted shacks, with plain
board floors. Around the walls ran
hunks, one above another. Each bunk
had bag Of straw for mattress, and
two medium weight blankets. There
were four Of these shacks in each in
closure at Duelmen. Each Enclosure
held about 1000 prisoners, and had a
12-foot barbed wire fence around it,
with the wire at the top bent inward
so you couldn't get over. How many
Of these Enclosures there were-each
with its four shacks-I don't know,
but I was told there were $4,000 pris-
Oners.
"Phen there was another barbed
wire fence, higher and thicker, on the
outside of roadway which ran around
the entire camp. Every 200 feet
around this barrier was a sentry box
and sentry. Inside of each smaller
Enclosure there were two armed
guards, marching back and forth.
.. Nationalities Separated.
"The nationalities were oil separat-
ed. The French prisoners were kept
by themselves. They seemed to get
the worst treatment. The. Russians
were by themselves and we Americans
were kept with the English. Nobody
got what you'd call good treatment.
"For breakfast every morning we got
a piece Of bread an inch and half
thick and about four inches square and
one lineup Of what they called coffee
but I'd call good water spoiled. I don't
know what they made it out of, but 1t
was rotten, bitter stuff and not even
very hot.
For dinner and supper we had the
same thing every day-turnip soup,
with mighty few turnips In it. We
never had anything else. No meat, no
potatoes, no bread, even, except at
You could take the turnip
soup or starve. 1t was just about
enough to keep you alive. Some Of the
fellows got SO weak they'd have to be
carried to the hospital. There they'd
get nourishing food for a few days,
but as soon as they were little
stronger they'd be chucked out Of the
hospital. There wasn't much of what
you'd call real suffering at Duelman-
and the guards were decent enough
but it wasn't much of q nfe."
Sent to Brandenburo.
On April 3 Smith and his fellow
captives of the Moewe were sent from
Duelman to the notorious camp at
Brandenburg, which Is on the Havel
river, between Berlin and Magdeburg.
Again they had an all-night trip with
out food and crowded into narrow
wooden benches In the worst sort of
cars.
'Here we had Prussians for guards,
and they were wicked DEVILS" Smith
went on. "The camp was the same
sort of place as Duelman, with
barbed wire inner Enclosures, and then
roadway circling the whole camp
and barred on the outside with wire.
"At Duelman they would turn us out
and count us only twice day, but at
Brandenburg they gave us the 'raus' q
dozen times. They'd keep us standing
barefoot In the snow for hours until
some major would come up and verify
the final count. BY this time our shoes
had worn out, and most Of us actually
were barefoot.
1.-THE Prussians hauled and showed
us around like cattle, although must
say I didn't see any one struck or
stabbed who didn't have it coming to
him. -
eat Brandenburg we got the same
old food-turnip soup, with never a
change. They made the strongest of
us work on farms outside the inclO-
sure, clearing the ground for the spring
planting; but we got no better food
than the rest.
ave nearly frOze to death at Bran
denburg. There were small stoves I'm
the huts. but they didn't begin to warm
them. The blankets-yOu could see
through them! We were all full of
insects and had to have our clothes
fumigated every two weeks, but in a
couple of days we'd be rs bad as ever
Gets Job on Docks.
81 was about ready to take des