El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-01-05


hat happened during that time, lead
10 IreIand.l
ONDoN, Eng, Jan. 5.-One hour
I'm the hands OF Germans is suf-
II ficient TO prove TO me that what
I had heard OF German brutality was
perfectly true.
The journey from the battlefield TO
Wittenberg camp was sufficient to
open my eyes. Our lads were bayou
eted and butted by the guards. shame
fully treated by a gang Of Red Cross
nurses. and stoned by the German
civilian population. The camp we at
first regarded as a haven Of refuge
Two hours later We we're disillus-
toned
We had been in the camp about two
hours when soup was handed round,
and though We were on the verge Of
starvation we could not take the
stuff, which was made from cabbage
boiled in vinegar, and we gave Il 20
the Russians.
Soup, The Sinking stuff.
We got one loaf Of bread at o'clock
in the morning, which had TO be d.
last US all day At first we could
hardly get the sinking stuff down
our Threats, but soon hunger forced
as TO eat II, and later IL went down
like piece Of cake
There was one German under Of
ficer who was a fiend. He was very
rat, and We christened him "PigSeal-'
On one occasion ne told US to so
for some sacking which was 10 be
stuffed with straw and quite innO-
Gently we carried out the order. In
the room in which It was stored there
were six wolf hounds, and when We
were making preparations 10 take the
straw away. the German officer. with
a. deVllish grin on his face, released
the hounds, and set them upon US
We defended ourselves in the best
manner we could. and were lucky to
flee from the building without receiT-
ing injuries Later the setting Of the
wolf hounds upon the British became
2 popular sport with our guards.
The Horrors OF Typhus.
There was no such thing as a piece
# soap in the camp, and as time went
IN We became filthy When we asked
Tor soap we were laughed at and told
that there was None for swines-'
We had been in our prison camp
about a fortnight when typhus broke
out. As soon rs the Germans became
aware Of this they called all their
do the best we could 10 fight the
scOurge. During the whole Of the nine
months the terrible disease ragged
not q German doctor put in an ap
pearance- We were left TO die Our
own gallant doctors attended TO our
men, as well as they possibly could
under the circumstances.
on account Of being starved, our
lads had not the strength TO fight the
disease Men who we're free from il
ing, and in the majority Of cases they
also contracted typhus.
Those who were able TO work were
called upon 10 carry the patients down
20 the hospital I myself hel0ed 10
carry 20 or 80 suffering men, the ma
iority Of whom never got better We
had some British doctors. who came
10 us towards the end of March. and
four of these gallant BriUshers in at
tending 10 the sufferers caught the
disease themselves and died. The re-
naming two doctors. Can't. Priestley
and Capt Modal, were then left to
carry on and right truly did they
prove themselves TO be true ChristiOn
men Il was entirely due to them tina
that the terrible disease was stamped
cut
Used Same Collins.
Like every other man in this camp,
I never expected 10 see Ireland again.
The conditions during the typhus
epidemic were horrible. In the morn
ing, on waking IL was quite a COM
mon thing to find dead men lying IN
bed.
As soon as one man died he was
taken 10 the mOrtUary, and when his
bed was vacant IL was Immediately
taken By another man, who very often
also fell a victim TO the epidemic
The Germans used to bring the Cof-
fins to the barbed wire and our order
lies brought them 10 the mortuary,
where the poor fellows were put in,
often two or three bodies going fin one
box Then we had To dig a grave,
and these men who had died because