El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-11-02
Austria-Hungary Is Starring
But Arrogant And HeartLess To
Nationals Held In Near-SloUery
By MANUEL SERAPHIM EGLI
AS, Spanish Journalist, ysIcIau Traveller.


cold. There was not one man in the
whole car who was not sick with
some disease or other Their persons
were dirty beyond description. They
were so hungry that one Of The Off
GERS asked me as soon as I entered the
place if / had any food in my valise.
I had taken good supply Of food on
leaving the Swiss border. Fortunate
~ the brutal officers had not taken
my bag from me when they cast me
into that car. I had three large
loaves of bread and nearly two pounds
Of ham I had taken this. in antici-
patton Of famine in this land Of
starvation
But what could I do? Could I con-
ceal this food when men were starV-
ing? No, In adversely. seifishness
seems to disappear. I knew also that
as soon as we reached Innsbruck I
would be released had plenty of
money to purchase food then. I
opened my valise and started to di-
vide its contents between my fellow
men Then ensued considerable diff
hculty- The hungry men fell on me.
Like starving dogs. they almost tore
the food from my hands They had
not been given food since four days.
One of the Bohemian officers could
not hold back his emotion. He began
y
was cast in with them. I informed
him that I was a Spanish doctor and
that I was on my way to Vienna to
put myself at the disposal OF the
Red Cross I told
him the story Of my being dispos-
sessed Of my seat
That is a fair sample of these bar
barians. But why do you wish to
serve them2 They are not worth your
Ia Thor % he said
could not explain to him that my
offer of service to the Austro-Hun-
garian Red Cross was a pretense and
that my exact mission was to observe
war conditions throughout the dual
monarchy. Had he known the real
reason Of my apparently humanita-
rian travel he would have been happy.
Dead Thrown Out Head First.
had travelled in the prison car
about one hour. when one of the
prisoners, a Croatian lieutenant, died.
Ten or Is minutes afterwards a com
mon soldier. a Bohemian. followed
When we reached Silz, about 20 miles
from Innsbruck, I violently kicked the
door Of the car. A Magyar guard
opened the door about six inches and
demanded to know what we ''Iigs"
wanted. I told him that two men bad
just died and that unless these other
more would follow.
Drag the dead bodies TO the door"
he ordered. We did as he directed /
He pulled out the dead bodies by the
legs. dropping them head first on the
ground with a thud- He then closed
the door of the car with vile curse
and in another moment the train /
started
After another half hour we again I
more opened and a guard threw ten
loaves of bread into the car. This
was Austrian war bread The loaves
were black as the soil When you I
,ut them after the application of con-
siderable strength. you see 1000 gray 4
threads still holding together the
parted portions. I could not eat it
had not yet become accustomed to
L Later I did eat such bread, how
sver- As you chew it. it seems to
Erow larger and larger in your mouth
t smells and has sour taste When
rou attempt to swallow it, 1t clogs
-our throat. That is the bread, how
iver. that the starving soldier pris-
,ners ate with relishl
Is Released.
When we finally reached Innsbruck.
he door OF our car was opened and
he prisoners ordered outside. On
eaving the car I counted % other
Dox cars attached to our train, full of
prisoners. Three officers approached
,ur car and were greatly surprised TO
ind me in company with the Bohe-
nian and Crotian suspects I had a
multitude Of papers and letters ad-
lressed to various Austro- Hungarian
.ivil and military dignitaries. Those
officials who were assigned TO take
.harge of the occupants Of our train
set me free and made a
lretense of trying to find the men
Who had committed such an outrage.
told them, however, that they need
lot waste their labor. as it would
make very little difference to me
whether or not these men were pun
shed as had already found out that
hey simply represented the prevail
ng spirit in their country. I told them
# my unfavorable impression regard
ng the Austro-Hungarian treatment
# the unfortunate subject rationale
les.
Law Prisoners Revfled and Spat Upon.
walked TO the entrance Of the
IL