The Jasper news., 1918-11-21

reailzlnB tnnt tney were uSeu 10 Ue-
ing under-dogs, Fritz picked on them
and bullied them In a way that the
rest of us would not have stood. We
would have rushed them and gone
west with bayonets first.
The barracks were made of spruce,
and were about ninety feet long and
twenty-five feet wide, and you can
take 1t from me that as carpenters,
whoever made them were fine farm
ers. There were cracks in them that
you could drive an automobile through.
When we were there, each barracks
had stove in the center, good stove
and big one, but at first 1t was Of
no use to us, because the Germans
would not give us coal or wood for 1t.
But after shivering for a while, we be-
gan ripping the boards out of the bar
racks and taking the dividing boards
from the benches that we used for
beds.
Later, they gave each of us mat
tress filled with wood shavings, and
blanket that was about as warm as a
pane Of glass. The mattresses were
placed on the ground in the barracks,
which were very damp, and after three
or four days, the shavings would be-
gin to rot and the mattresses to smell.
In order to keep warm we slept as
close together as we could, which
caused our various diseases to spread
rapidly.
When we were receiving our rations,
the sentries would offer us an extra
ration If we would take lash from
their belts. We were so hungry that
many and many man would go up
and take swat in any part Of his
body from the heavy leather belts
with brass tongue and buckle, just to
get little more shadow" soup or
barley coffee or mud bread.
One morning the sentrles picked out
ten men from our barracks, of which
l was one, and drilled us over field
near the kuche. There was large
tank in the field and we had to pump
water into 1t. 1t was very cold, and
we were weak and sick, so we would
fall one after another, not caring
whether we ever got up or not. Fritz
would smash those who fell with his
rifle butt. We asked for gloves, be-
cause our hands were freezing, but all
we got was "Nichts."
After we had been there for about
an hour and half, one of our men
became very sick, so that thought
he was going to die, and when he fell
over, l reported 1t to sentry. The
sentry came over, saw him lying In
the snow, yelled, "Schweln NIGHT
krank |" grabbed him by the shoulder,
and pulled him all the way across the
field to the Office of the camp COM
mander. Then he was placed in the
guard house, where he remained for
two days. The next thing we knew,
the Russians had been ordered to
make box, and were being marched
to the guard house to put him in 1t
and bury him.
Another thing at Neustreitz. that
, was pretty hard to stand, was the pref
ty habit the Huns had of coming up
, to the barbed wire and teasing us as
though we were wild animals In a
/ cage. Sometimes there would be
! crowds of people lined along the wire
, throwing things at US, and splitting
, and having great time generally. Ii
. was harder than ever when a family
| party would arrive. with water and
:. mutter, and maybe grosvater and
I grosmutter, and all the little Boche
e kinder because, as you probably
! know, the Germans take food viii
e them whenever they go on party
r no matter what kind, and they woulc
= stand there and stare at us like che
e boobs they were, eating all the tins
Y and we so hungry that we couit
! have eaten ourselves, almost. Aftel
g they had stared while, they would
t begin to feel more at home, AMI ther
!, would start the throwing and splitting
and the "schweinhund" sangerfest, ant
t they would have great time general
e ly. Probably, when they got home
t they would strike Off medal TO
themselves in honor Of the visit.
Then, too, there were always HUI
soldiers on leave or off duty, WIN mad,
It point to pay US visit, and though
/ do not think they were as bad as tn,
q civvies, especially the women, the,
+. were bad enough.
y We had one bucket In each barracks
{ and as these buckets were used 70
{ both washing and drinking, they wer
+ always dirty. We boiled the waite
8 when we washed the clothes, to ge
d rid of the coolies, and that left
n settling In It that looked just like re-
s lead. We had to get the water fror
g hydrant outside of the barracks, an
d for while we drank 1t. But afte
n several of the boys had gone ives