Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1918-07-26


Bayonets-"The Tree" a Form Of
Torture Worse Than Anything
Known to lnquisition.
Horrible as are many of the tales
which have been published of German
brutality to prisoners Of war, there
are many others still more harrow
ing If they could only be printed. And
the worst tales of all could be told Of
the Hun treatment of naval prisoners.
Fortunately these prisoners are COM
paratively few In number, but the
BOche hatred of their enemies vents
itself, for reasons which probably
seem good to them, In greatest meas
ure against the British navy.
have been permitted to read some
letters from English seamen which
somehow have escaped the eyes of
the German censOrs. Some of the
stories one would not dare to quote.
They are horrible beyond description,
says a writer in the New York Her
aid.
The filthiest Of stables or vermin in
tested COW sheds are good enough for
the English swine" from the sea.
Guards Laugh as Men Die.
Were it not for the parcels of food
sent from England by the Prisoners
Aid society they could pot possibly
often never reaches them. To COM
plain is to risk punishment for in
subordination. Sentries and guards
are encouraged by their officers to
punish summarily, without any
charge or sending them up for court
martial, which is always farce any
way. And those sentries, who would
seem to be men selected for their lack
of feeling, are never slow In taking adj
vantage of opportunities that present
themselves of inflicting the most in
human tortures on their prisoners.
Picture cell catching fire. Picture
the prisoners beating on the bars for
release. And picture the sentry, with
sardOnic laugh, sticking" them
through the bars with his bayOnet.
That is what actually happened to two
men. And their deaths were officially
recorded as having been due to as
phyxiation.
1t recalls a story I recently heard
in the American Y. NJ. G. A. Eagle hut,
which q wounded Canadian soldier
told of q brutal Hun who killed a
helpless wounded English soldier by
sticking his bayonet again and again
into his body, laughing and glOating
over the blood as 1t dripped from the
blade.
The naval prisoners of war are
forced to work in coal mines, labor for
which they are totally untitled. Dis
located wrists and broken limbs are
not infrequently the result. But what
do the German slave drivers care The
class of work, however, to which they
delight In putting the naval prisoners
Is the making of munitions. Naturally
they rebel. But 1t is no use for re-
fusal means for them one of the most
terrible of punishments, or tortures-
"the tree"-a method of crucifixlon
which recalls the days of the inqulsi-
ton.
Torture Of "the Tree"
Here Is how the punishment Of "the
tree" is described in plain and simple
language In q prisoners letter home !:
"a big party of Uhlans rode into the
camp and surrounded the men (whO
had refused to work on munition max
ing) and started pushing and showing
them about, and digging them with
their rifles. The officer in charge, who
could speak English, told the men that
they were only prisoners of war, that
they would have to put up with what
they could get and do as they were
ordered. He gave them five minutes
to get to work or he would order them
to be shot.
1.-THE men were literally starving, SO
that nearly all gave in. They were
marched back to work, which they had
to do with nothing to eat until eight
o'clock at night.
"But "a men remained on the parade
ground, refusing TO make shells to kill
their own people. They were not shot,
pub lui hOlSC. lht Sthl thCih
into the wood and ordered them to be
tied to trees. Some were tied up, cru
cifix fashion; some were hung by one
leg or one arm; some were made to
stand on stools while their hands were
tied to trees above their heads. Then
the stools were kicked away from I'M
der them and they were left hanging
at the mercy of the mosquitoes, and
the sentries who came around prod
ding them with their bayonets.
after a time the German captain
came round to view his glorious work.
Finding one of our fellows in a faint,
he raised his head and punched him
In the face. Then he ordered him to
be cut down, and he fell I'm heap on
the ground. Left lying there till he
came to, they tied him up again.
after two hours of this treatment
the prisoners were marched back to
camp and put in barn without either
food or blankets. For three days this
treatment of the tree was contin-
ued. The E1en were slowly dying of
aQonv until we saw there was no uee