Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-10-18

will get revenge for the slightest mis-
treatment, even II II means his death.
! have seen sentries turn aside from
the beat they were walking and get out
of the way when they saw Cossack
coming. There were very few Coss-
acks there. however. do not think
they let themselves get captured very
often.
We had roll call every morning. Of
course, and were always mustered In
front OF our barracks, the middle of
the line being right at the barracks
door. Sometimes when the cold got
too much for them. the men nearest
the door would duck into the bar
racks. As they left the ranks The
other men would close up and this
kept the line even, with the center still
opposite the barracks door. Finally
almost all Of the men would be I'm the
barracks and by the time the roll was
over not one remained outside. This
seemed to peeve the German officers
great DEAL but they did not punish
us for 1t until we had been doing II
for some time.
For several days I had noticed that
someone else answered for two men
who had tiisapPeG..eed;: n least. I had
not seen them for some time. ! did
not think much about it, or ask any
questions, and I did not hear anyone
else talk about 1t, but ! was pretty
sure the two men, a Russian and
Brltisher, had escaped. But they were
marked present at roll call and all
accounted for. Everything went along
very well until one day when the name
"Fontaine" got by without being an
swered Fontaine was French fire.
man from the Cambrian Range and
that was the first time he had not been
present. We saw what was coming
and we began to get pretty sore at
Fontaine for not telling us. so we could
answer for him and keep the escape
covered.
The minute they found our count
one short they blew the whistles and
squad Of sentries came up as an
extra guard. They counted us again,
but by sneaking back Of the line and
closing up again we made the count
all right except for one man-Fon-
taine. We would have tried to cover
up for him, except that they had al
ready discovered his absence. Now,
we thought, they will nab Fontaine
but will not discover the escape of the
others.
But evidently they suspected some
thing, for soon they brought over a
petty officer from ii. M. s. Nomad,
who had not been with us before. and
forced him to call the roll from tho
mastering papers, while they watched
the men as they answered. Then they
discovered that two more besides FOn-
tame were missing and began to search
Cor them.
The other two spoke German and
had been missing for ut least TIRES
days and, l think, had escaped by this
time. They were not returned while
! was at Brandenburg.
This was about a. m. They drilled
us down to the little lake, where the
cold was much greater, and kept us
there until p. m. without food OF
drink. At about eight that morning
they found Fontaine In a French bar
racks and kicked him all the way tC
the lake where we were.
All day long we stood there, falling
one by one and getting Kicked or beat
en- each time until we dragged our
selves up again. Two or three died.
l do not know the exact number. Bu
we had enough strength, when ordered
back to the barracks, to kick F0n
taine ahead of US all the way. W.
did not get anything to eat until sever
the next morning-twenty-four hours
without food and water, ten of which
were spent In the snow without an!
protection from the cold and wind
No wonder we kicked Fontalne 70
bringing this punishment on US and en-
dangering the two who had escaped
he had simply strolled over to tn
French barracks and forgot to return
Now, the food received was jus
about enough to keep us alive. l sup
pose, with true kultur. the Huns hat
figured out just how much Ii woult
take to keep man on this side o
the starvation line and gave us tina
much and no more. So We were Away
famished-always hungrier than yol
probably ever have been. But some
times when we We're ravenously hun
cry and could not hold out any longe
we would trade ratlons.
One man would trade his whole "a
ton for the next day for half ratio
today. That is, If you were so hungr
. that you thought you could not las
out the day on your regular share, 20
would tell someone else that If he CAV
YOU half his share today YOU woul
give him all of yours tomorrow. II h
; was gambler he would take you NJ
> That is, he would gamble on his helm
y alive tomorrow, not on your keepin
= your word. He knew you would com
tt across with your ration the next da.
and like ms not. II you tried Ia keep
g from him, he would Kill you, and m
: body would blame him.
q ITO BE CONTINUED)