The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-03-08

! ~ plILtC ttiilCIc III NItilldilN VI 81
! English newspaper. ii was dirJy,
! greasy. worn and torn. and the print
/ was ve%y faint, but it certainly look
ed the finest thing in the world to
! me. Papers from England are not
! allowed in Germany-nOt at least
! for the British prisoners. though the
; other nationalities can receive the
| papers from their native countries.
! Any that we receive are smuggled in
/ by an underground method, of which
| | cannot say anything here, as it
| might deprive the boys OF one of
! their few pleasures.
How are you fellows fixed fer
| parcels?"
| We looked up from our all alb
! sOrbng occupation TO see another
1nglisnman-the sergeant major in
! charge OF the barrack.
/ Sorry. but we have nothing at
! all we replied.
III soon attend to that Come
| along with me-"
Taking US to his room he gave us
each a parcel Of food. This had
! been collected from the other fel-
lows. There was timed meat ,vege-
! tables, fruit, milk, tea, sugar, bis
cults, and some bread. lie also in
quired as to clothing, toilet requi-
sites, and issued US the things we
needed, from supply sent out by
the British Red Cross.
The boys in the camps are mag
nificent that way. a more unseifish
bunch of fellows L have yet to meet.
They Will share their last crust of
bread, and there have been times
when they have had to do it.
The boys alaWys form what is
known as a ''mucking-in gang" A
few fellows get together and put all
their parcels from the Red Cross in
to a common fund. One fellow is
elected to choose the meals and to
be responsible. Each gang gets d
Russian to do its work. The Rus
SLAMS, poor fellows, are always hun
CRY, and only too pleased to act in
this capacity.
We secured a little undersized
chap of the same name as myself,
Ivan He was always singing at his
work and repeating to himself Eng
lish words He was a splendid work
er. He made our beds, washed the
dishes and clothing, and did the
always let him draw our ra1ons of
food when Red Cross parcels came,
and we did not need them ourselves.
The food in the camps is almost
uneatable The Germans call us
Schweinhund, which means in their
language 'pigdog," and the food is
only fit for that brand of animal. For
breakfast we got burnt acorn broth
l.
of soup. Sometimes it was made OF
potato Feelings and water drawn
from a peat bog, which turned what
food was in it d dark color.
Again it was putrid cabbage or
turnips, carrots, beets, or onions.
Friday was a meatless day, and they
gave us fish-head soup. Then at
times we had preserved meat-very
poor stuff. Again we have had grass
soup. We mad to be extremely hun
cry to eat some of these messes. The
food was bad enough to look at and
the sIlfeIi was ever Y urse -------=-=s-s
Five and half ounces of black
prison bread was Issued at four
thirty. This bread was not the ordi-
nary bread such as is sold to the
people, but a special bread prepared
.lOF lHS ISOHSIS.
We had to rely entirely upon our
parcels. Without them we would
soon have starved to death, like the
Russians. These poor fellows have
no one looking after them, and have
to rely entirely upon the German IA
tions, which are not sufficient to keep
body and soul together.
These Russians are very patient. l
l, g. H., I, cto
it. They are simply wonderful. At
one time the Germans used to send
the English and Russians out togeth
er, but they have discontinued this
now All the Russians require is a
leader, and they get that in the Eng
lish. AS soon as the latter says,
"Nicht arbeiten,' the Russians say
the same, and down go their tools,
and they take the punishment and
never complain.
We all had TO work. The British
| authorities gave permission for us to
work in civil occupations. At the
start the Germans did everything
possible to force prisoners to work in
munition works. Some of our fell
lows have been shot and bayoneted,
while others have been imprisoned or
starved, but the Germans have not
succeeded in forcing them to work in
munition plants. They work on
farms CT in factories, and on rail-
roads, canals, and roads. They are
paid seven cents a day. At the same
time they destroy as much as they
possibly can.
Prisoners are allowed TO write
four post cards land two letters a
month. Everything is heavily cen
sored. 1t is not even safe to tell
about the weather, as it might be CIV
ing some information about the Yep
pelins. Incoming mail is very irreg-
ular and also badly censored. There
is little or no amusement i'll the
camps other than what the boys pro-
vide for themselves. Some OF the
camps have moving picture theatres,
but these are seldom operation,
usually because the mp is being
punished for some alleged offense.
The Germans are frequently very
brutal to their prisoners. sentry
uses his bayonet first and inquiries
afterward He will never be pun
ished for anything that he does to
prisoners.
For example, a party Of English
had been sent from Celle to work
in a salt mine This was all right,
but it was very hot down the mine
so hot that the boys removed their
shirts. The fine salt dropped from
the roof upon their bare backs, caus-
ing large open sores. AT last they
were sent into Celle for medical at
tention They Were kept there for
| four days The doctor couldn't or
wouldn't do anything for them, and
| they were sent back.
Upon arrival at the mine the boys
refused TO go down. So the German
sentries charged this defenseless
crowd with fixed bayonets. One Of
| their number was killed, and the
rest were forced to go down the mine
| again. These fellows l knew per
! sonal!y, and they came inlo Celle
while | was there.
Without the aid OF the Red Cross
we would never have been able to
stand it. They sent out one parcel