The Oskaloosa herald., 1918-12-05
YANKS TORTURED
IN HUN PRISON
RELEASED AMERICANS RELATE
REVOLVING STORIES.
TELL OF THE MYSTERY CAMP
One United States Soldier Was Kick
ed Off a Preeipice TO Death in
Cavern 5low.-other Afro
y, 30. cities Reported.

London, Nov. 3O.-Eight Americans,
former prisoners of war, the first men
of this class to reach London arrived
here this morning They are: Corporal
Thomas Barry, Frank Butter and
Corporal John Bathgate all of New
Haven; William Lilley of Southing-
ton, Conn, Corporal Lech White
head, of jeffrey KY; William o'Sul-
Ivan. of Forestville, Conn; James
Epitochelle of North Providence, r.
J.. and Corporal Leroy Congleton, of
Philadelphia.
All the men are in good condition.
All of the men are members Of the
One Hundred Second Infantry. They
were captured in April.
Congleton was injured in the shout
der, Barry in the knee and Lilley in
the eye. All three men were placed in
various hospitals bat later Joined the
other prisoners who were taken first
to CONTAINS for a week, then to Darn
stad for five weeks, to Limburg for
three months and then to the opladen
work camp. They were attached to the
iFriedrichsfield camp until their re-
lease, Nov. Is. .DG ~. sGH sfw
Food Supply seanty:.f ~9I
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 Amer
lean 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
ito get an American Red Cross package
weekly, but they were lucky If the
Germans permitted this monthly. Even
the packages received, especially OF
soap, were looted according to the
prisoners. .p,F a.tsE
Their treatment was varied in the
different camps. In Darmstadt they
endured civilian insults. While
working on the roads they often WERE
spat upon. After the arm;stice wasf
signed guards and civiliarH "got down.
on their knees to u.s." they SAD. ~
Limburg was called the mystery
camp" owing to the numerous disap5
pearances of prisoners the fate OF
whom was never revealed.
Women at Heavy Work. -,
The Americans everywhere OBJ
served a scarcity of men for onerouS.
work, women doing the tasks in lum-s
Der yards and on the railroads with
picks and shovels and unloading coal.
Lilley said the women and men look
ed alike and as far as the girls were
concerned, you wouldn't know that
they were girls"
At Opladen the women workers
pushed freight cars at cents day,
said Lilley. He added that thirty
American prisoners were shipped to
coal mine. Here it was reported
that a corporal named Lucien, whose
regiment is unknown, refused to en-
! ter the pit. German guards pushed
him over the brink and he was killed
by the fall. He was buried the next
day.
Americans Become III.
The American prisoners experienced
considerable illness. 57i9' Sevspal sof
them suffered from influenza The.
men were permitted to write two let
tiers or four postal cards monthly, but
were allowed to receive only two.
Four days after the armistice. ten
men were taken to Friedrichsfeld and
then to Holland, whence they sailed
from Rotterdam on the thirteenth.
They arrived at Ripon, England, Nov
/ "a. Except for an average loss in
weight of ten pounds each, all the men
were in good health and spirits. They
will be sent to camp at Winchester.
| Epitochelle related grewsome in.
cident which occurred at the Limburg
camp. A human finger was found in
the soup. The American prisoners
were made i'll, but a German guard
declared it a great joke and hung up
the finger as a mess decoration"
Epitochelle said: THE food was all
but UNBEATABLE. Breakfast consisted
of miserable coffee and a tiny piece
of bread; lunch, soup containing bits
of turnips, gross and potatoes and al.
ways full of dirt and sand We used
to take out the potatoes and give the
rest to the poor Russian prisoners.
For weeks we had to labor on that
diet"
Red Cross Cared for Men
Bellegrade, France, Nov 3O.-The
first train load of Aemerican prisoners
released from Ullingen. Germany ar
rived here today. They included 700 of.
ficers and 200 orderlies The condition
of the men was excellent because Of
the food furnished them by the Ameri-
can Red Cross.
Crossings Cleaned.
Street Commissioner John Corcoran
mad gangs OF workers out yesterday