Cleveland County herald., 1918-12-05
CHAPTER XXI.
A Visit From Mir. Gerard.


 men, Westphalia. We were rousted out of the carriages, mustered on the platform, counted, then drilled through the streets. In spite of the lateness, the streets were pretty well filled with people. and they zig-zagged us through all the streets they could, so that all the people would have chance to see the crazy men, as they called us. Most of the people were women, and as soon as they saw us coming, they began singing the "Watch on the Rhine" or some other German song, and it was funny to see windows opening and fat fraus. with night-caps on, sticking their heads out of the windows. They would give us a quick once-over, and pipe up like boatswain: "Schwein- aterland-Wacht am Rhein'' all kinds of things and all mixed up. So we gave them "Tipperary" and ~Pack Up Your Troubles" and showed them how to sing. Our guards had no ear for music and tried to stop us. but though they knocked several men down, we did not stop until we had finished the song. Then, after we had admitted to each other that we were not downhearted, we shut up.
 We would have done so, anyway, be- cause by this time we were on the out skirts of the town, and we needed all the breath we had. The road we were on was just one long sheet of ice, and we could hardly walk more than four steps without slipping and falling. My shoes had wooden SoleS, and it was just one bang after another, with the ice and myself trying to see which could hit the hardest. Every time we fell--smashl came a rifle over the back
 \ was getting pretty tired, so l said to some of the fellows that I was go ing to sit down and rest, and they said they would also. So we dropped out and waited until the guards behind had juS about caught up with us. and then we would go on. We did this several times until they got on to us and we could not do it any more.
 Up the road a piece 1 fell again, and Shis time I did not care what hap pened, so I just sat there in the middle of the road until Fritz came up. Instead of giving me the bayonet he made me take off my shoes-that is, be took them off of me with knife through the strings-and 1 had to walk the rest of the way in my bare feet. 1t was about four miles altogether from the station to the camp.
 When we got near the camp, all the bows came out of the barracks and 3ined LID along the barbed wire, and yelled us a welcome. We asked them if they were downhearted, and they said no. and we said we were not eith- CT. We could hardly see them, but they began yelling again when we got nearer, and asked us, "Is there anyone there from Queenstown?" and then Hull, and Portsmouth, and Dover, and Toronto and a lot of other places.
 I did not pay much attention until I heard, Any Americans there?" and I yelled back, "Yes where are you?'
 Barracks 6-B, Gruppe B."
 "Where from?" yelled.
 'rBoston. Where're you from?"
 "The U. S. A. and Atlantic ports See you later"
 So, the next morning, I went over to his barracks and asked for the Yank They pointed him out to me, where he was lying on the floor. l went over and laid down with him, and we had quite talk. will not give his name here for certain reasons.
 He had received several wounds ai the time he was taken prisoner. He Gov Fov two years. We used to talk about New York and Boston and the differ ent places we knew in both towns ant we also talked a lot about the rotter treatment we were receiving. and triet to cook up some plan of escape. Bu every one we could think of had beer used by some one else, and either haC failed, or the Huns had fixed it so tht plan could not be tried again. w doped out some pretty wild schemes a that. Altogether we became grea pals, and were together as much a. possible at Dulmen. The day lief the camp, he gave me ring mad' from a shell, and told me to get 1t safel, back to the States, but some one stol' it at Brandenburg.
 One day while was in his barrack an Englishman stepped out of the doc for some reason or other, and thougl he did not say word to Fritz, in tW' minutes he was dead, in cold blood We never knew why they killed him.
 At Swinemunde and Neustrelitz, must admit that the Germans had u pretty badly buffaloed, but at DulmeI the prisoners were entirely different Dulmen was the receiving camp fol the whole western front, and the pris Oners there got to be pretty tougl eggs, as far as Fritz was concerned hefore they had been in camp many