The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-12-12
PRISONERS
TELL Of CRUEL
TORTURE
sy CAPT. r. P. P. ROWE. of the
British Army.
written for the United Press.)

Germans. apart from the crimes which
they have committed In Belgium and
on the high seas. in the late war spe-
'ciaiized in . particularly revolving
form Of cruelty. The proofs OF their
purposeful torture OF prisoners. partly
to get the utmost work possible out
ct them and partly. II would seem,
simply to destroy life or physique in
IN enemy. provide record that would
have been Incredible before 1914.
Thousands Of English. French Italian
and Russian prisoners of war have
been deliberately done to death by q
combination OF overwork and starva-
ton. Under the ere of their fellow
countrymen's guns. they have been
driven In gangs like slaves TO labor on
their enemy's defeuses. When hardly
able to move through weakness, they
have been beaten or stabbed with bay
onets to force them to further effort
One of the German methods with
Russian prisoners has been to hang,
them by their wrists to 4 stake with
their feet on the ground. OF this
literal form OF crucihxion there Ii
Overwhelming evidence II Is. In fact.
common practice to suspend prison
ers thus for hours at . time Event
uaity. fnEensibie with their wrists ter
ribly lacerated. they are cut down
Even when rope Is used to bind them
Il would seem the extremity OF tor
ture but according to the latest &C
counts wire Is often used Rus
sian prisoner. who recently escaped
from Germany. after being worked for
nearly three years behind the German
lines in France. gave evidence OF this
development In his official examina-
tfou. The whole OF his evidence is
Interesting. but much Of II may not be
reproduced His powers OF observa-
ton and clearness Of Judgment were
such that he had military Information
TO give Of more than ordinary value.
From this II may be deduced that his
perfectly stralrhforward and unimpas-
stoned statements concerning his own
treatment and that OF other prisoners
may also be accepted without reserva'
tion. There Is little in the evidences
that has not been reported again and
again except the substitution OF wire
for rope In ''crucihxion."
When this prisoners party arrived
ct the Western front in 1915 IL was
one OF the first patches to be put TO
work under fire At first the men re-
fused. As a measure OF coercion they
were beaten with rife butts. pricked
with bayonets and deprived OF food.
A small number of them. who stili re
raained obdura,e.. were at last sent
back TO a distance OF Is kilometers TO
weave revetments. bagions. etc. AZ
later stage they were marched for
ward again. and when they refused to
work were once more attacked with
ride butts and bayonets. Finally they
we're surrounded by detachment OF
cavalry who pricked them with isnces.
struck them with butt ends. and rode
over them with their horses. Al last
they had to yield.
Such treatment as this was only
snail part OF their suifsrines. In spite
OF the excessive work to which they
we're driven like cattle. they were
given icss than the modicum OF food
reasonable for subsistence. Their
total diet consisted of 400 grams OF
bread per day. turnip and water for
dinner and coffee for breakfast and
supper They were never given meat
and never even potatoes. Overwork
combined with semi-starvaticn re
duced them to walking skeletons. But
toll was never remitted.
In the case OF prisoners refusing to
work on the enemyr defenses. bar
barous punishments were frequently
infiictcd Holes meter deep were
dug and filed iwth water and men
were made TO stand In them for hours.
But the worst dcviltry was .crucifix-
ion.r Tho Russian prisoner whose
report IL here chroniclcd give de-
tailed description of this practice as
applied. to himself. He had attempted
to escape and was caught. As n pun
tshment he was tied to trec for three
hours. His wrists were twisted high
behind his back and bound with thin
wire to the tree. Thin wire was then
drawn tightly below his knees. the
loose root on which he stood was
kicked away. and he WAS left hanging
by his wrists After three hours he
lost consciousness. was lowered to the
ground and was caned ON the feet un-
IN he came TO life again. Forthwith
he vas dragged to tho guard house
where he remained in . dark cell for1
70 days on bread and water. only
once. on the twelfth day. wa he ali
lowed to ascend temporarily to the
iirht. On the expiration q bis SEN
tenco be wns put 70 WORK with otheys.
= 4 3-i