Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-11-02
Ssssan Prisoner With Logical Mind Investigates
Stories of Alleged Injustice Told by Fello1v In
terms in United States Camps and Finds Them
Untrue in EUery Respect
BY ERICH BRANDEIS
Prisoner ol War No, o5l

Copyright. 1918 by the Public Ledger Compai
man cause or because of mystcriou.
duels and other affaires d'honneur.
DO not believe 1t. Americans. They
came simply because ther, was not
enough money to feed all the hungry
mouths of the family, because they
were black sheep or because they had
the wanderlust. T. myself, simply ran
away from home and did not return.
And ! am glad of it in spite OF the
internment camp.
There is fellow here who styles
himself Count b Won b, OF Berlin.
He tells wondrous tales OF his life.
His father, says he, was j The diplo-
matte service in China, where he
spent the days OF his youth Then ho
was sent to Paris to be educated.
There he lived for about i've wears,
Finally he went TO Vienna to stay
with his sister. who hac married a
member OF the high Austrian nobility.
And n few years ago he came to
America TO study.
It happens that there are many men
here who know the German nobility
pretty well. A family Of counts such
as b Won b claims to be mem-
ber OF does not exist at all. There are
also men here who speak Chinese flu-
emily and have lived in China. They
asked the Count" all sorts Of ques.
tons about China and spoke to him
IN several dialects, but he fell down
pitifully. Some one addressed him in
French and he was mute: another
spoke to him about Berlin and he was
deaf. In fact. the Count e Won
b" is a Czech by BIRTH almost IL.
lterate and has Travelled throughout
the United States in many Jobs and
under four different aliases.
1t is one of the peculiarities of the
prison camp that many Of those who
claim to be such loyal Germans have
almost forgotten the German Ian
guage, which shows how much they
really cared for their native land.
Yesterday I overheard the follow.
ing conversation between an intern
who has pet cat, and his roompate: I:
Fritz. wo is mine cat? Amt seen
him today"
"Of I seen das cat just a little
While ago. She is ueber den fence
gejumped."
Surely this should be classed among
the German atrocities.
Every day I am approached:
'Geben Sic mir Elm match. please"
or "Haben Sic little tabak?"
4NellHeT american uOT NreTIlldn COulu
understand such conglomeration.
What do you think of this man?
He came from Germany fifteen
years ago. After "krocking" about
the country some few years he went
to Seattle and opened a secondhand
store. One day the proprietor of a
cheap clothing shop went into bank
ruptcy. Our friend, let us call him
Mondschein. bought his stock. 1t con-
sisted mostly of very inferior under
wear and shoddy suits. One of the
chief items was a large consignment
Of paper bibs and cuffs, such as wait
ers wear.
Mondschein wanted to make a quick
turnover" After looking at his pur-
chase for while, he visited few cut
rate undertakers and said to them by
the way, Mondschein walks with a
Charlie Chaplin walk and lisps horri-
bly,. so you can imagine how his prop
osition sounded:
You fellows have to buy shrouds
for the people you bury Now this is
how you can make a nice piece of
money. Why put whole shirts or. the