The Lamar register., 1918-06-26

that days allowance. ana IN unys IL
come had cause to credit myself fully
for the foresight.
Whenever u new prisoner came In
and his German hosts had satisfied
themselves az to his life history and
taken down all the details-that is all
he would give them-he was immedi-
ately surrounded by his fellow prison
ers, who were eager for any bit of
news or Information he could possibly
give them, and as u rule he was glad
to tell US. because. If he had been in
the hands of the Huns for any length
of time, he had seen very few English
officers.
The conditions of this prison were
bad enough when man was in nor
mally good health, but 1t was barbar-
Gus to subject a wounded soldier to
the hardships and, discomforts of the
place. However, this was the fate of
a poor private we discovered there one
day in terrific pain, suffering from
shrapnel in his stomach and back. All
Of US officers asked to have him sent
to hospital. but the doctors curtly
refused, saying 1t was against orders.
So the poor creature went on suffering
from day to day and was still there
when 1 left-another victim of Ger
man cruelty.
At one time in this prison camp there
were French marine. French flying
officer. two Belgian soldiers. and of the
United Kingdom one from Canada, two
from England, three from Ireland, a
,oupIa Sror,, Scotland nna from WaIas
a man from South Africa, one from
Algeria, and New Zealander, the
latter being from my own squadron,
man whom / thought had been killed.
and he was equally surprised when
brought into the prison to find me
there In addition there We're Chi
naman and myself from the U. s. A.
1t was quite "a cosmopolitan group,
ana as one typical Irishman said,
Sure, and we have every nation that's
worth mentioning. including the darn
Germans with us whites" or course
this was not translated to the Ger
mans. nor was 1t even spoken In their
hearing. or We probably would not
have had quite so cosmopolitan bunch.
Each man In the prison was ready to
uphold his native country in any argu-
ment that could possibly be started.
and 1t goes without saying that never
took back seat in any of them with
my praise for America. with the Cana
dian and Chinaman Ginning In on my
side. But they were friendly argu-
nents; we were all in the same boat
and that WAS no place for quarreling.
Every other morning, the weather
allowing. we We're taken to large
swimming pool and were allowed to
have II bath. There were two pools,
one for the German officers and one
for the men. Although we were Off
GERS, We had to use the pool occupied
ming German guard with rifle
across his knees sat at each corner OF
the pool and watched us closely as
we dressed and undressed. English
interpreters accompanied us on all OF
these trips. so ut no time could We
talk without their knowing what was
going on.
Whenever we were taken out OF the
prison for any purpose they always
paraded us through the most crowded
streets-evidently to give the popu-
lace an idea that they were getting
lots OF prisoners. The German sol
diers We passed on these occasions
made no effort to hide their smiles
and sneers.
The Belgian people were apparent
ly very curious to see US. and they
used to turn out In large numbers
whenever the word was passed that
we were out. At times the German
guards would strike the women and
children who crowded too close to US.
One day l smiled and spoke to a
pretty girl. and when she replied. a
German made u run for her. Luckily
she stepped into the house before he
reached her. or / am afraid my salu-
tation would have resulted seriously
for her and / would have been power
less to have assisted her.
CONTINUED next week.