Gilpin observer., 1918-07-25

Once in a while Belgian Ladier
Relief society visited the prison and
brought us handkerchiefs. American
soap-which sells at about $1.50 Q
bar In Observation-Disclosures and
other little articles, all of which were
American made, but whether they
were supplied by the American re-
lief committee or not / don't know.
At any rate, these gifts were mighty
useful and were very much appre-
ciated.
One day I offered a button off my
uniform to one of these Belgian ladies'
as souvenir, but a German guard
saw me and was never allowed to
go near the visitors afterwards.
The sanitary conditions in this
prison camp were excellent as gen.
eral proposition. One night, however,
discovered that I had been cap
tured by "cooties."
and one that would have been very
willing to have missed, because in
the flying corps our airdromes are a
number of miles back of the lines and
we have good biliets and our acquaint-
ance with such things as 'cooties" and
other unwelcome visitors is very lin
| tied.
When I discovered my condition, I
made holler and reused the guard.
and right then got another example
| Of German efficiency.
This puard coomod IN ha ox,oy, vnora
perturbed about my complaint than I
myself, evidently fearing that he would
be blamed for my condition.
The commandant was summoned
! and could see that he was very an
cry. Someone undoubtedly got a Sc
we're reprimand for it.
was taken out of my cell by q
guard with rifle and conducted about
a. quarter Of a mile from the prison
to an old factory building which had
| been converted into an elaborate fumi-
eating plant. There was given a
pickle bath in some kind of solution,
and while was absorbing it my
clothes, bed clothes and whatever else
had been in my cell was being put
through another fumigating process.
While I was waiting for my things
to dry-it took perhaps half an hour
l had a chance to observe about one
hundred other victims of "cooties"-
German soldiers who had become in
rested In the trenches. We were all
nude, of course, but apparently 1t was
not difficult for them to recognize me
as a foreigner even without my uni
/ form fOr af
attempt to talk to me, although they
were very busy talking about me.
could not understand what they were
saying. but I knew I was the butt of
most of their jokes and they made no
effort to conceal the fact that was
the subject Of conversation.
When got back to my cell found
that 1t had been thoroughly fumigated,
and from that time on had no further
trouble with "cooties" or other yisi-
tors Of the same kind.
AS we were not allowed to write
anything but prison cards, writing was
out Of the question and as we had no
reading matter to speak of, reading
was nil. We had nothing to do to
pass away the time, SO consequently
cards became our only diversion, for
we did, fortunately, have some of
these.
There wasn't very much money as a
rule in circulation, and 1 think for once
In my life held most Of that, not due
to any particular ability on my part
in the game, but I happened to have
several hundred francs in my pockets
when shot down. But we held a lot.
| terry that was watched without quite
such intense interest as that. The
drawing was always held the day before
to learn who was the lucky man. There
was as much speculation as to who
would win the prize as If 1t had been
the finest treasure in the world. The
| great prize was One-third of loaf Of
bread. Through some arrangement,
which I never quite figured out, 1t
happened that among the eight or ten
officers who were there with me, there
was always One-third of a loaf Of
bread over. There was just one way
| of getting that bread, and that was to
draw lots. Consequently that was what
started the lottery. believe If q man
had ever been inclined to cheat he
would have been sorely tempted in this
| instance, but the game was played abb
solutely square, and If man had been
caught cheating the chances are that
he would have been Stunned by the
rest Of the officers as long as he was
in prison. was fortunate enough to
win the prize twice.