The Cordova daily times. [volume] (Cordova, Alaska) 1914-1947, 1918-08-07

The cOmmandant was summoned
and ! could see that he was very an
CRY. Someone undoubtedly got a Sc
we're reprimand for it.
i was taken out OF my cell By
guard with rifle and conducted about
a quarter Of mile from the prison
to an old factory building which had
been converted into an elaborate fumi-
eating plant. There / was given
pickle bath in some kind of solution,
and while i was absorbing 1t my
clothes, bed clothes and whatever else
had been In my cell was being put
through another fumignting process.
While | was waiting for my things
TO dfy-it took perhaps half an hour
/ mad chance to observe about one
hundred other victims of "cooties'-
German soldiers who had become in
tested In the trenches. We were all
nude, of course, but apparently it was
not difficult for them to recognize me
as foreigner even without my uni
form on, for none of them made any
attempt to talk to me, although they
were very busy talking about me. /
could not understand what they were
saying, but l knew | was the butt of
most of their jokes and they made no
effort to conceal the fact that l was
the subject of conversation.
When l got back to my cell found
that 1t had been thoroughly fumignted.
and from that time on l had no further
trouble with "cooties" or other visl-
tors Of the same kind.
AS we were not allowed to write
anything but prison cards, writing was
out Of the question; and as we had no
reading matter to speak of, reading
| was nil. We had nothing to do to
pass away the time, SO consequently
cards became our only diversion, for
we did. fortunately, have some of
these
There wasn't very much money as Il
rule In circulation. and think for once
| in my life held most of that. not due
TO any particular ability on my part
In the game, but | happened to have
several hundred francs in my pockets
when shot down. But we held lot
terry that was watched without quite
such intense interest as that. The
drawing was always held the day before
to learn who was the lucky man. There
| was as much speculation as to who
/ would win the prize as If it hLi been
! the finest treasure in the world The
/ great prize was one-third of Il loaf of
bread. Through some arrangement
| which | never quite figured out, il
happened that among the eight or ten
| officers who were there with me, there
was always one-thrd of loaf of
bread over. There was just one way
or getting that bread. and that was to
/ draw lots. Consequently that was what
started the lottery. | believe If a man
had ever been inclined to cheat he
would have been Sorcly tempted in this
instance, but the game was played ab-
solutely square, and If man had been
caught cheating the chances are that
he would have been Stunned by the
rest of the officers as long as he was
in prison. l was fortunate enough TO
win the prize twice.
One mainland | think he was the
smallest eater in the camp-won it on
three successive days, but 1t was well
for him that his luck deserted him on
the fourth day, for he probably would
have been handled rather roughly by
the rest of the crowd, who were grow
ing suspicious. But we handled the
drawing ourselves and knew there was
nothing crooked about it,, so he was
spared.
We were allowed to buy pears, and
being small and very hard, they We're
used as the stakes in many game
But the interest in these little games
was as keen as If the stakes had been
piles of money instead of two or three
half-starved pears. No man was ever
so reckless, however in all the betting
as to wager his own rations.
BY the most Schcming and sacritic-
ing | ever did In my life | managed to
hoard two pieces OF bread (grudgingly
spared at the time from my daily ra-
tions). but | was preparing for the day
when | should escape-if | ever should.
, 1t was not sacrifice easily made
either, but instead of eating bread |
ate pears until finally got one piece
of bread ahead; and when | could
force myself 10 stick to the pear diet
again. | saved the other piece from
that days allowance, and In days to
come had cause TO credit myself fully
for the foresight.
Whenever II new prisoner came in
and his German hosts had satisfied
themselves as to his life history and
taken down all the details-that is all
he would give them-he was immedi-
ately surrounded by his fellow prison
ers, who We're eager for any bit of
news or information he could possibly
give them, and as a rule he was glad
to tell us. because. If he had been IN
the hands of the Huns for any length
Of time, he had seen very few English
officers.
The conditions of this prison were
bad enough when Il man was in nor
mally good health, but 1t was barbar-
Gus to subject wounded soldier to
fha ho Ri hlnS and IiSn,mfnrfS of fha