Evening star., 1918-11-30
YANKEE PRISONERS
TELL OF HARDSH|PS
Germans spat Upon Them.
Human Finger Found in
the Soup.

LONDON, November 29.-Eight
American former prisoners of war,
the first men of this clas1 to reach
London. arrived here this morning.
They are Corp. Thomas Barry, Frank
Butler and Corp. John, Bathgate, all
of New Haven; William Lilly Of
ISouthington, Conn; Corp. Lech White
head of Jeffrey, KY; William OSul1i-
van of Forestville, Conn; James Epi-
tochelle of North Providence, R. l.,
and Corp. LIE Roy Congleton Of Phil
adelphia. All the men are i'll good con-
dition.
All the men are members of the 1920
Infantry. They were captured in
April at Seicheprey. Congleton was
injured in the shoulder, Marry in the
knee and Lilly in the eye. All three
men were placed in various hospitals,
but later Joined the other prisoners.
who were taken first to Confians for
a. week, then to Darmstadt for five
weeks, to Limburg for three months
They were attached to the Friedrichet
field camp until their release Novem-
ber Is. ~-
Hard Work; scanty Food.
All the men said they had been
forced to work hard and were given
insufficient food. They would have
starved had it not been for the Ameri-
can Red Cross packages which were
received at long intervals.
English prisoners tried to aid them,
but the Germans prevented this.
The men said they were supposed to
get an American Red Cross package
weekly, but they were lucky if the
Germans permitted this % monthly.
pecial1y of soap, were looted, accord
ing to the prisoners.
Worked Roads; spat Upon.
Their treatment was varied in the
different camps. In Darmstadt they
endured civilian insults. While work
ing on the roads they often were spat
upon After the armistice was signed
guards and civilians got down on
Limburg was called the mystery
camp" owing to the numerous dis.
appearances of prisoners, the fate of
whom was never revealed.
The Americans everywhere observed
scarcity of men for onerous work,
yards and on the railroads with picks
and shovels and unloading coal. Lilly
said the women and men looked alike,
and as far as the girls were con-
cerned. you would not know that
they were girls"
Women Push Freight Cars.
At opladen the women pushed
freight cars at 6 cents q day, said
prisoners were shipped to a coal
mine. Here it was reported that a
corporal named Lucien, whose regi-
ment is unknown, refused to enter
the pit. German guards pushed him
over the brink and he was killed by
day.
The American prisoners experienced
considerable illness. Several of them
suffered from influenza. The men
were permitted to write two letters
or four postal cards monthly, but
were allowed to receive only two.
-Four days after the armistice the
men were taken to Friedrichfeld and
then to Holland, whence they sailed
from Rotterdam on the 18th. They
arrived at Ripon. England. Novem-
her "a. Except for an average loss
men were in good health and spirits.
They will be sent to camp at Win
chester.
Human Finger In Soup.
Epitochelle related a gruesome in
cident which occurred at the Limb burg
camp A human finger was found in
the soup. The American prisoners
were made ill, but German guard
declared it a great joke, and hung up
the finger as a mess decoration" !"
Epitochelle said: "The food was all
but uneatable. Breakfast consisted
of miserable coffee and tiny piece
of bread; lunch, soup containing bits