The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1918-10-03

just another German trick that no one
could explain.
One day a war correspondent named
TO the camp and went through all the
barracks. When he came to our bar
racks 1 told him / was an American
and asked for the news. Instead of
answering he began to ask all sorts
Of questions. Finally, after / had told
him | had been in the French service,
/ asked him if he could help me in any
way. He answered that l had only my
self to blame and that 1t served me
right If / had been in one of the allied
armies.
/ did not like his looks much and he
seemed unfriendly, but when he began
smoking a cigarette IL almost drove me
crazy and | could not help asking for
one. He refused me and said | should
have stayed in my own country, where
l could have had plenty of cigarettes.
After a while he threw away a ciga-
rette stub and not only l but three or
four others who were neal made a dive
for it. A man named Kelley got it
a crazy man who went around trying
TO eat wood and cloth and anything
he could find.
When my three weeks were up and
I had not heard from Mr.. Gerard 1 was
just about ready to go down to the
lake and pick out a vacant spot and
lay down in it. l really do not think
l could have lasted two weeks longer.
And just about that time, as / was
walking back to barracks one day, a
Frenehman showed me a German
newspaper, and there in large type on
the top of the first page it said that
Mr.. Gerard had left the country, or
was getting ready to leave. They had
to drag me the rest of the way to the
barracks and throw snow on me before
/ came to.
[Gunner Depew~s interview with Mr..
Gerard took place at the Dulmen prison
camp on or about February /. 1917. On
February 3, our state department demand
ed the release of sixty-two Americans
captured on British vessels and held as
prisoners in Germany. On the same day,
President Wilson severed diplomatic rela-
tons with Germany. Ambassador Gerard
left Germany exactly one week later. The
newspaper that Gunner Depew saw must
have been issued after February 10. 1t
was not until March 8, 1917, however, that
Gunner Depew was actually released from
Brandenburg.-Editor's Motel
/ do not know what happened during
the next few days.
But a week or so later the Spanish
ambassador and four German officers
and Swatts came TO our barracks and
the ambassador told me 1 would be
releasedl 1t was all 1 could do to
keep from fainting again. Then Swatts
asked me in English If l had anything
10 say about the treatment in the
camp, and 1 began to think maybe
it was a frame-up of some kind, so all
( said was, "When will I get out of
here?" and he said, "Why, you will be
released tomorrow"
l did not wait to hear any more, but
rushed into the barracks again, singing
and whistling and yelling as loud as |
could. The boys told me my lace was
very red and / guess what little blood
/ had in my body had rushed to my
head, because 1 could hardly walk for
a few minutes.
Then the men began to think l was
crazy, and none of them believed l
would really be released, but that l
was going to be sent to the mines, as
so many We're. But | believed it, and
| just sat there ON my bunk and be-
gan TO dream of the food | would get
and what / would eat first, aad so on.
! did not sleep that nlght-just
walked from barracks to barracks u
till they chased me away. and then
walked up and down in my own bar
racks the rest of the night. When l
got to the Russian barracks and told
the two doctors my news. they would
not believe me at all, although they
knew there had been some important
visitor at the camp.
(To Be Continued)