Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-11-30
FREED CAPTTVES
CALL FOE CRUEL
SO Says Philadelphia Re-
leased With Seven
Other Men
CIV EN- LITTLE FOOD
Would Have Starved Save for
Red Cross Packages, They
Declare

Corporal Leroy S. Congleton, 56i2
with seven other Americans, former
pr.s 'nrrs of war. the FIRST to reach the
British capital. according to cable dis
patches received today.
All the men are members of the lO@d
Infantry. They were captured in April
at SeiCheprey. All told stories os being
placed at hard labor and insuttiCiently
fed. They would have starved. they
said. had ii not been for American Red
Cross packages. received at long inter
walls. English prisoners tried to aid
them they said. but were prevented by
the Germans.
CongletOn is the son Of Mr. and Mrs
George l.. Congleton. He mad been
prisoner for seven months. He enlisted
in 1916. in Connecticut. while travelling
in that State for a Chicago firm, and
saw service on the Mexican border. He
was sent TO France in September, WI
Three Comrades Wounded
Infee of COnRleton conlrdueS "e'e
wounded. They were placed in various
hospitals but later Joined the other pris-
oners wto were taken first to Contians
for a week. then to Darmstadt for five
weeks, to Limberg for three months and
then to the Opladen work camp. They
we're attached to the Friedrchsheld
camp until their release November u.
The men said they were supposed 10
get an American Red Cross package
weekly, but were lucky IL the Germans
permitted this monthly. The packages
we're looted. especially those containing
soap. according to the prisoners.
Their treatment was varied in the
different camps. In Darmstadt they en-
dured civilian insults. While working
on the roads they often were spat upon.
After the armstice was signed guards
and civilians got down on their knees
TO u.s." they said.
Limburg was called the mystery
camp" owing to the numerous disappear
ances of prisoners, the fate of whom
was never revealed.
The Americans everywhere observed a
scarcity of men for onerous work, wom-
Ell doing the tasks in lumber yards
and on the railroads with picks and
shovels and unloading coal. Lilly said
the women and men looked alike and.
as far as the girls were concerned. you
| would not know that they were girls.
At Opladen the women worked push
| ing freight cars at cents a day, said
one. He added that thirty American
prisoners were shipped to a coal mine.
Here IL was reported that a corporal
named Lucien, whose regiment Is un-
known. refused to enter the pit German
guards nushed him over the brink and
he was killed by the fall He was buried
the next day.
Illness Among Men
The American prisoners experienced
| considerable illness. Several of them
suffered from influenza. The men were
permitted to write two letters or four
postal cards monthly, but were allowed
to receive only two.
-Four days after the armistce the
men were taken to Friedrichsfeld and
then to Holland. whence they sailed from,
| Rotterdam on the 18th. They arrived
at Ripon, England. November "a EX-
cept for an average loss in weight of
ten pounds each all the men were in
good health and spirit. They will be
sent to camp at Winchester.
James Epitochelle. of North Provi-
dence, r. J., one of the group. related
a gruesome incident which occurred a,