New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-10-18
Rv lanes O'Donnell Bennett


STOCKHOLM. Oct 17.-Americans IN
The German prison camps declare they
corld not live without the weekly pack
ages Of provisions sent by the English
Red Cross. Lacking them. the best
they get is bread, imitation coffee and a
thin soup containing turnips and FIVE
kilos Of meat to 100 litres Of water
which means soup for 500 men.
often the prisoners are so hungry
that they root up the dandeions and
yellow dock in the lanes along which
hey are led TO work sometimes eating
hem raw and something's boiling them
over the gas Jets which they End m the
.avatories.
The American. English and Canadian
,lisonerS rcscmb,ed scarccrows after
our months % the Lubbock camp. but IN
august they began receiving the Eng
ish Red Cross packages. The bread m
hem always is mouldy. SO the hca
ross finally changed 20 biscuits.
The German guards frequently beg
me prisoners for these biscuits, ana
-he prisoners sometimes share them.
one OF them saying. Eve felt that the
guards were not much better OF than
we"
At the Brandcnburg camp the cold
DAYS are .vful. because many OF the
prisoner have uo blankets and some
nave only -hrcds OF shoes; hence they
nalf freeze br aire and az the roll
calls in the .v,. st Latock. where
thcre are -olty-.ve Americans. the
prisoners aro allowed one bucket Of
coal ever, t..rtv-foCr hours 20 heat
thc big dormuolr Blu. the sleeping
quarters otherwise are good and the
Iood q trfc better than at Brandon
burg
As a s-cc.a. treat the prisoners buy
am imitation Jam made from turnips.
Tor this they pay canteen scrip
mounting 20 / mark. which they re-
reive for their work. They can spend
, only 40 the canteen.
The universal testimony is that the
american, English, French and Russian
rrisoners are treated uniformly, but
ne guards seem 20 like French best
The prisoners assert there are fewer
guards now and that bridges that they
aw guarded six months ago are now
uDguarded.
MNHN OF NHfNt AdNNS MtAf given ~
the American escaped prisoner Nlllet
smith. Of Norwalk. Conn. who, with
his feet nearly healed from the burn
ny received in the cargo Of lime fer
tilizer i'm which he Law hidden six days,
and his self-rcspect restored by baths
and fresh clothes. told for the first
time to-day the details concerning his
capture at sea.
Raiders Plans Well Laid
Smith SAYS the German raiders, like
the Moewe, have got the system down
% fine that they can approach within
four boat lengths Of the victim before
discovery. Hence the armed mer-
chantmen consider putting up a fight
hopeless. Smiths ship. though carry
ing one gun and two British gunners.
Put up no fight. as the captain said 10
the gunners, when asked for orders 10
ire: "No, what's the use"
In the NOewe-Otackee battle, which
Smith went through. the Otackec, how
ever. put up q beautiful one-and-one-
half-hour fight, during which the
Moewe caught fire twice, fire burning
I'M its hold for two days.
The Moewe's captain, when ne went
into battle, locked the prisoners al
ready taken in the retrgerators behind
ron doors. When the MOeWe blew mp
captured vessel each German sailor
worked with precision and each had an
appointed task.
10 trarspires that Smiths adventure
was the result of a lark in Baltimore
ON one January night, when he and
Electrician Barney Boyle and William
Fitzgerald of New York; Oscar Berg
Of Virginia. and Harry and Walter Ma
son. of Baltimore. said: Now. let's 90
20 Europe" Boyle said: "All right, but
let's have another drink tirst'
They went to Newport News and
shipped as horsemen. All Of Smith S
companions still are prisoners IN Lu-
beck
How Smith Escaped
smith leaped from the deck Of the
German freighter Undine at Norr-
Soeping. Sweden, Sunday morning. He
mad suffered seven months of hard
labor in the German prisons at kiel,
Dulmen. Brandenburg and Lubbock
after his capture by the German raider
Noewe
Smith leaped into the arms Of a
swedish dock policeman, who, after
realizing that he had not caught a
ghost or a maniac, demanded who he