El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-02-12

the WORKS the men were refusing 10
perform the tasks to which they had
been put. and the most brutal meth
DDS were adopted TO force them to
work.
At the Mercy Of Brutes.
It was the rule that forced laborers
should be employed, at the very least,
Is hours each day, or more IL the
foreman thought fit to decree it nee
essary. Imported laborers were al
ways held to be at the absolute dis
posal OF the foreman; they were his,
body and soul, to do with as he
pleased.
On one occasion a Belgian did sue
coed in getting complaint past the
foreman TO the manager of the de-
partment- The mans complaint was
inquired into, and 1t was found that
he was unable to do his work owing
to an injury which ne had received 70
his arm I must say this much for
the manager. he ordered the Belgian
to have proper medical treatment.
which necessitated his remaining
from work a few days But when the
man returned to the shop his lie
was made unbearable by the fore
man.
Unable to tolerate the brutality. the
Belgian dared TO retort, calling the
foreman a Hun. The German struck
/ him on the head with steel tool
| killing him instantly. There was no
| inquiry into the affair. A Belgian
had died" in the shop, and that was
all.
Another practice which was very
common in the shops was for the Ger
man workmen to bribe the foreman
/ to allow them time off, or TO credit
them with working longer hours than
they had actually put in. 1t was here
that the Belgian workmen came IN
useful, especially those who were
skilled. The German drillers were
paid one mark per hour, so II man
1 wanted time off, he made an arrange
ment with the foreman, and a Belgian
| slave was made to work several hours
extra to make up for the Germans
hours away.
Punished:
One Belgian refused to work for
/ his foreman
This only served to arouse still fur
Their the Germans passion. Speeches.
( with rage, he rushed at the Belgian,
/ who, to defend himself, planted ms
fist under the foreman's jaw, knock
! ing him down.
Then, seeing what he had done, the
) Belgian turned to fly in terror, realiz-
; ing the fate which would be meted
out to him. He had run few yards
/ when he was felled with a blow from
I
These men took delight in dragging
/ him towards the foreman, who Or
dered the Belgian to stand at atten-
ton before him.
Then, at a signal the guards hand
| cuffed the man with his hands be-
/ hind his back. and when he was thus
| securely fastened the foreman took
his revenge. Slowly and deliberately
he removed his coat, rolled up his
sleeves to the elbow, and commenced
| to pummel the Belgian. With the
/ first blow he knocked him down. In
stantly the guards pulled him to his
feet and propped him up. Again he
fell, and once again the performances
was repeated. So 1t went on till the
| Belgian could no longer stand. Blood
was streaming from his face, which
] the brutal German had pounded with
I his fists until the was tired Then he
ordered the guards to take him away
I for punishment
The Belgian never returned to the
workshop, for when they got him into
/ the punishment cell it was found that
the life had been beaten out of him.
! Copyright, 1918. by Theo- Van de Lin
den