Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-08-30
CHAPTER V.-continued.

smallest eater in the calnp-won 1t on
three successive days, but it was well
for him that his luck deserted him on
the fourth day, for he probably would
have been handled rather roughly by
the rest of the crowd, who were grow
Ing suspicious. But we handled the
drawing ourselves and knew there was
nothing crooked about it, so he was
spared.
We were allowed to buy pears, and
being small and very hard, they were
used as the stakes In many a game
But the interest in these little games
was as keen as If the stakes had been
piles Of money instead of two or three
half-starved pears. No man was ever
so reckless, however. in all the betting
as to wager his own rntions.
BY the most scheming and sacrific-
ing ever did IN my life l managed to
hoard two pieces of bread (grudgingly
spared at the time from my daily ra-
tions), but was preparing for the day
when should escape--if ever should
1t was not a sacrifice easily made
either. but instead of eating bread
ate pears until finally got one piece
of bread ahead; and when / could
force myself to stick to the pear diet
again. 1 saved the other piece from
that days allowance. and in days to
come had cause to credit myself fully
for the foresight.
Whenever n new prisoner came In
and his German hosts had satisfied
themselves us to his life history and
taken down all the details-that is all
he would give them-he was immedi.
ately surrounded by his fellow prison.
ers, who were eager for any bit OF
news or information he could possibly
give them. and as a rule he was glad
to tell us, because, II he had been in
the hands of the Huns for any length
Of time, he had seen very few English
officers.
The conditions of this prison were
bad enough when a man was In nor
rnally good health, but 1t was barbar.
Gus to subject a wounded soldier to
the hardships and dlscomforts of the
place. However, this was the fate OF
poor private we discovered there one
day In terrific pain. suffering from
shrnpnel in his stomach and back. All
of us officers asked to have him sent
TO a hospital, but the doctors curtly
refused. saying Il was against orders
So the poor creature went on suffering
from day to day and was still there
when / left--another victim Of Ger.
man cruelty.
At one time in this prison camp there
were French marine, a French flying
officer, two Belgian soldiers, and Of the
United Kingdom one from Canada, two
from England, three from Ireland, 8
couple from Scotland one from Wales
n man from South Africa, one from
Algeria, and a New Zealander, the
latter being from my own squadron, {
man whom / thought had been killed
and he was equally surprised wher
brought into the prison to find m,
there. In addition there were a Chi
naman and myself from the U. S. A.
II was quite cosmopolitan group
and as one typical Irishman said
"Sure, and we have every nation that
worth mentioning. including the darl
Germans with us whites" OF cours.
this was not translated to the Ger
mans, nor was 1t even spoken in thei
hearing, or we probably would no
lave had quite so cosmopolitan bunch
Each man in the prison was ready t
uphold his native country in any argu
ment that could possibly be started
and II goes without saying that / neve
took n back seat in any of them wit
my praise for America, with the Cana
dian and Chlnaman chlming In on m
side. But they were friendly argU
ments; we were all in the same boa
and that was no place for quarrellnI
Every other morning the weathe
allowing. we were taken to larg
swimming pool and were allowed t
have bath. There were two pool
one for the German officers and on
for the men. Although we were of
GERS, we had to use the pool occupie
sby the men. While we were in swim
ming a German guard with riff
across his knees sat at each corner {
The pool and watched us closely c
we dressed and undressed. Englis
interpreters accompanied us on all {
these trips. so at no time could "
talk without their knowing what VIZ
going on.
Whenever we were taken out of q
prison for any purpose they alwa,
paraued us through the most crowdt
strcets-evidently to give the pop
lace an idea that they were gettir
lots of prisoners. The German Sc
diers we passed on these occasion
mnde no effort to hide their smil
aud sneers.
The Belgian people were apparen
ly very curious TO see us, and tn,
used to turn out in large numbe
whenever the word was passed tn
we we're out. At times the Germ.
guards would strike the women an
children who crowded too close to l
One day l smiled and spoke TO
prettr girl, and when she replied,
German made a run for her. Lucki
She stepped into the house before
reached her. or / am afraid my sal
tatlon would have resulted serious
for her and l would have been pow,
less to have assisted her.
Whenever we passed a Belgi
home or other building which b
been wrecked by bombs by our arm
our guards made us stop nome
or two while they passed sneeri
remarks among themselves.
One of the most interesting sou,
Mrs 1 have of my Imprisonment
Courtrai is a photograph Of a gro
vt us taken In the prison courtya
'rhe picture was made by one of I
guards, who sold copies of 1t to tho
NJ us who were able to pay
pTice--ons mark apiece.