The citizen., 1918-08-01

mans would have in:crncd her as n
FrenchwOman, and with II. she was
sneered at and insuited time and
again before she finally managed 10
get over the border. She died about
two months after she reached st. Ma
zaire.
Moreover, / heard the fate of my
older brother, who had made his home
In France with my grandmother. He
had gone TO the front at the outbreak
Of the war with the infantry from st.
NazaIre and had been killed two or
three weeks afterwards. This made
II n sort Of personal matter.
But what put the finishing touches
TO me were the stories wounded
Canadian lieutenant told me some
months later in New York. lie had
been there and he knew. You could
not help believing him; you can al
ways tell II when a man has been
there and knows.
There was not much racket around
New York, so I made up my mind all
Of sudden TO go over and get some
for myself. Believe me, I got enough
racket before I was through. Most
Of the really important things / have
done have happened like that: l did
them on the jump. you might say.
Many other Americans wanted look.
too; there were five thousand Amer
leans In the Canadian army at one
time they say.
would not claim that / went over
there TO save democracy. or anything
like that. / never did like Germans,
not kind to me, and what / heard
about the way the Huns treated the
Belgians made me sick. ! used to get
out of bed to go to an all-nlght picture
show, ! thought about 1t so much.
But there was not much excitement
about New York, aud / figured the
y. S. would not get into It for a while.
anyway, so ! just wanted to go over
and see what IL was like. That Is
why lots Of us went, think.
There were five OF us who went to
Boston TO ship for the other side:
Sam Murray, Ed Brown, Tim Flynn,
Mitchell and myself. Murray was an ex-
garby-two bitches (enlistments) gun
pointer rating, and about thirty-flve
years old. Brown was a Pennsylvania
man about twenty-six years old, who
had served two enlistments In the U.
S. army and had quit with the rank
OF sergeant. Flynn and Mitchell were
both ex-navy men. Mitchell was
noted boxer. OF the five OF us, l am
the only one who went in, got
through and came out. Flynn and
Mitchell did not go in; Murray and
Brown never came back.
The five Of us shipped on the steam
ship Virginian of the American-Ha-
walian line, under American flag and
registry, but chartered by the French
government. signed on as water
tender-an engine room JOb-but the
others were on deck-that is, seamen.
We left Boston for st. Nazaire with
cargo of ammunition, bully beef,
etc. and made the first trip without
anything OF interest happening.
As we were tying TO the dock at st.
Nazaire, / saw a German prisoner sit
ting on a pile OF lumber. / thought
probably he would be hungry, so /
went down into the oilers mess and
piece of beefsteak between them and
handed II to Fritz. He would not take
IT. At first ! thought he was afraid
TO, but by using several languages and
signs he managed TO make me under
stand that he was not hungry-had
too much to eat, in fact.
l used TO think of this fellow occa-
slonally when l was In a German pris-
on camp, and piece of moldy bread
the size Of a safety-match box was
the generous portion of food they
forced on me, with true German hos
pltallty. once every forty-elght hours.
would not exactly have refused
beefsteak sandwich, am afraid. But
then l was not heaven-bOrn German.
was only common American garby.
He was full of kultur and grub;
was not full Of anything.
There was large prison camp at
ST. Nazaire. and at one time or an
other l saw all of It. Before the war
IL had been used as a barracks by the
French army and consisted of we'll
made. comfortable two-story stone
buildings, floOred with concrete, with
barracks OF logs. The Ger
man prisoners occupied the stone
buildings, while the French guards
were quartered In the log houses. In
side, the houses were divided into long
rooms with whitewashed walls. There
was a gymnasium for the prisoners, a |
where they might buy most !
Of the things you could buy anywhere |
else in the country, and "A studio for |
the painters among the prisoners. Of |
licers were separated from privates-
which was good thing for the pri- |
were kept in houses sur
by stockades. officers and |
privates received the same treatment, |
however, and all We're given exactly |
The same rations and equipment as the |
regular French army before II went TO
The front. Their food consisted of |
bread. soup, and vino. as wine is called |
almost everywhere In the world. In
he morning they received half u loaf
" Vienna bread and coffee. At noon
fh.axa anla haA 10 IA IL. - N.Ir