El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-08-11


~ some 81 his fellow prisoners
- n The steps leading TO the Of
hcers' mess five Russians were
resting. enjoying the noon
hour Of a beautiful summer day. An
old colonel with a long gray beard.
his gray field cloak wound tightly
about him. was talking to the four
younger men.
Two Of them had lost their right
arms A third carried his left in a
sling. while a young lieutenant in
his early twentiss. blue eyed and white
faced. had only one leg. The stump
Of the other he rested on the step on
which the sun shOne warmly All
five we're typical Of the manned men
With which the camp was filled
Whatever their sufferiugs may have
been in the past. they smiled cheerily
when they saw me approach
How do you do gentlem en-
greeted them
Happy ITO Leave That HE'LL
We are happy. said the old
colonel Ito have left that hell. The
Lord grant that we may never return
70 DO again. And he crossed himself
devoutlv thrice. Then they told me
the story Of their sufferiugs while
prisoners of var in Germany.
Always the German officers
turned their backs upon US in con-
tempt, as If they considered them
selves super men. and deemed 10 be-
meath their dignity TO associate with
u.s.
They told me OF the scanty rauons
they had received. one Of them took
black bread 7 measured IT, II was
exactly two and half inches long and
one inch wide
Complete Officers RatiOns-"
ave received two pieces Of this size
daily as complete Officers. rauons,
he told me- The privates got only
one piece. and sometimes nothing at
ALL For days together. they would
have nothing but wafer SOUP This F.
piece Of bread shall accompany me F.
back 10 Russia There 7 shall put II .
800 d museum. So that future genera +
@ ions viii not forget how the Huns /
feed their prisoner
Hideous stories were told me OF .
-the devil" the nickname OF the Of .
ficer in command Of their prison .
camp. RE had spent his leisure, ap-
usrently. in devising new schemes for F.
rorturinE and humiliaunE those
under his charge. Many committed .
suicide rather than endure the treat
meuL he melted out
Packages From Home RifIed.
Weren't you permitted 10 receive /
packages with food from home j ]
yes. but half the contents had .
been stolen before they reached US .
THE tin boxes OF conserves. for in
stance. were always opened and +
auufled into dirty vessel, because
The Germans We're ordered 10 seize .
a-I metal and send 1- 10 -he munitions
factories They we're NOT sal-sLle-
with the tius alone. but Co1tlscated al .
least half of the contents AT that, :
we were more lucky than some for .
half the ua.Ea EeS never reached .
those for whom they W ere intended .
Their only chance Of getting 70 US 4
was ly being sent through the Red +.
Cross. and even then they were never /
received intact
German Civilians StHrve-
sI have seen civilians dropping .
down on the streets OF Germany, uy-
ing from starvation declared the .
colonel. when 7 asked him if he had /.
had any opportunity Of observing the I
condition of the German people But z
T- is not only hunger from which they /.
suffer They have been driven into T.
a hopeless poverty and misery, i'm
possible TO describe We russians I
have no reason TO think kindly Of the 4
German people, but we could not help I
feeling pity for the Wrerched Great
urez. who are treated Ike dogs by .
the authorities On the long trip .
TlN77 the prison camp TO AAAE r Af"f-AANEI-H
we saw hundreds Of bent weak forms,
staggering along dispiritedly. too
weak 10 work
Non-Combatants Starving
Conditions in Germany are now
such that it IS no longer a question
~ keeping the non-comba tsnts alive.
They are practically starved that food
nav be sent to the front
These statements only corroDorated 4
ny own Observations The general /.
opinion among the prisoners is tndl
he final collapse Of the German army
q due very soon. All the complaints
u lack OF food during the past
have been met with the
prophecy Of a bumper crop anu
soothing word pictures or the aound-
snce OF food which that VIII mean
German Prisoners Prom Russia.
The only condition upon which the
German government allow ed invalid
Russian prisoners OF war 20 oe sent
10 Denmark was that similar mum
Der OF German prisoners from Euasla
should be accomodated- The DaIlls 81
government. therefore, prepared 20
receive 400 OF the latter at a camp IN
Iutland
The national German Characteristic
NJ boa STIFFNESS makes Itself apparent
In anv conversation with them
significant fact is the far from CORD
iaI relations existing between Jhe /.
many Germans and the few Austrlans
IN the camp They laughed and F.
meered in an overbesring. arrogant T.
Those Russians. they are helpless i
fools" they declared
A supercf1iOus little clerk from Bet-
lin. with q face covered with plmpleS, I
decided that ir was his place 20 act ]
a. spokesman. In passing through I
Sweden from Russia, he had somehow /
succeeded in acquiring a linen collar /
that had once been white and, by vir- q
rue OF this. seemed TO consider himself ]
possessed Of a higher grade Of "kul- I
tur" than his companions
PimpIy Faced Prussian Clerk
TITS a shame, its a scandal ne /
cried. in = shriu voice. that people or /
our civilization should have to fight I
with a bunch Of barbarians like those /
Russians. To is under our dignity. as I
a Eulturstat To fight the English I
and the French is not SO bad, but the /
Russians-
what an agreeable contrast the /
Austrians formed TO the offensive.
Prussian braEgarts,
There was Stefan, for instance, The I
Germans in the camp refuse 10 speak .
70 him. For one thing, he is an Aus
f-fau- but still worse he bears on his /
breast the highest military decora-
lion his country can bestow, the gold I
medal for hravery stefan is inn
mensely and justly proud Of his I
honor. and still more Of the fact that
10 was presented to him by the late
emperor. Franz Josef, in person. ]
handled IL curiOusly-
Yes IL is solid gold" its owner
assured me proudly.
gecretive About His Medal.
stefan is no yOungster- He is S.
years old. but carries himself as
straight as any boy OF 90 But. al
though he takes frank and childish