The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1918-01-24
GERMAN PRISON CAMP AS SEEN By AN AMERICAN

low, with no chance for their lives
Whenever the MOewe sighted anothe
vessel, has been told by others, an
Smiths narrative Of that need not b
repeatcd. He arrived with the res
at kiel, Germany, on March 81, an,
n'Xt day, with all the MOewe's pris
oners, was sent to Duelmen, Westpha
liza, town about ten miles from tn,
Holland border.
Captors ION Leave"
we were sent down there In thirt
class cars" Smith said, "wIth on,
guard TO zach ten men. The guard.
were all middle-aged Germans who
had been Mt the front and who wer,
home on furlough They complained
bitterly because when they got leave
II wasn't really leave at all. The,
had TO do guard duty or work In q
factory or on farm. This trip last
ed all night, but we didn't get scraJ
of food till we had breakfast at Duel
men In the morning.
THE camp consisted of lot of low
wooden, implanted shacks, with plp.r
board floors. Around the wallG rar
hunks, one above another. Each bunk
had bag Of straw for mattress, an[
two medium weight blankets. There
were four of these shacks In each In
closure at Huelrren. Each lnclosurC
held about 1000 prisoners, and had q
l2-toot barbed wire fence around It.
WIZ tie wire AZ the top bent inward
SO sou couldn't get over. How many
of these Enclosures there were-each
with It's four shacks-I don't know
but ! was told there were $4,000 pris-
Oners.
Then there was another barbed
wire fence, higher and thicker, on the
outside Of roadway which ran around
the entire camp. Every 200 feet
around this barrier was sentry box
and II sentry. Inside of each smaller
lnclosure there were two armed
guards, marching back and forth.
Nationalities Separated.
The natlonalitles were all separnt-
ef The French prisoners were kept
by themselves. They seemed to get
the worst treatment The Russians
were by themselves and we Americans
were kept with the English. Nobody
got what you'd call good treatment.
For breakfast every morning we got
a piece of bread an inch and half
thick and about four inches square and
one lineup Of what they called coffee
but I'd call good water spoiled. don't
know what they made II out of, but Il
was rotten, bitter stun and not even
very hot.
For dinner and supper we had the
same thing every day--turnip soup,
with mighty few turnlps In 1t. We
never had anything else. No meat, no
potatoes, no bread, even, except at
breakfast. You could take the turnip
soup or stnrve. II was Just about
enough TO keep you alive. Some of the
fellows got so weak they'd have to be
carried to the hospital. There they'd
get nOurishing food for few days,
but as soon as they were a little
stronger they'd be chucked out of the
hospital. There wasn't much OF what
you'd call real suffering at Duelman-
and the guards were decent enough
but II wasn't much of life"
Sent to Brandenburg.
On April 8 Smith and his fellow
captives of the Moewe were sent from
Duelman to the notorious camp ut
Brandenburg, which Is on the Havel
river, between Berlin and Magdeburg.
Again they had an all-night trip with
out food and crowded into narrow
wooden benches In the worst sort of
cars.
Here we had Prusslans for guards,
and they were wicked devils" Smith
went on. "The camp was the same
sort of place as Duelman, with
barbed wire inner Enclosures, and then
roadway clrcling the whole camp
and barred on the outside with wire.
AT Duelman they would turn US out
and 'ount us only twice a day, but at
Brandenburs they gave us the 'raus' a
dozen times. They'd keep us standing
barefoot in the snow for hours until
some major would come up and verify
the final count. BY this time our shoes
had worn out, and most Of us actually
were barefoot.
1.-THE Prusslans hauled and showed |
us around like cattle, although must |
say l didn't see any one struck or
stabbed who didn't have 1t coming to |
him.
AT Brandenburg we got the same |
old fOOd-turnlp soup, with never u
change, They made the strongest of |
us work on farms outside the inclo-
sure, clearing the ground for the spring
but we got no better food
than the rest.
"We nearly froze to death at Bran
lenburg. There were small stoves in
the huts, but they didn't begin to warm
them. The blankets-you could see
through theml We were all full of
Insects and had to have our clothes
'umigated every two weeks, but In n
couple of days we'd be as bad us ever.
Gets Job on Docks.
81 was about ready to take a des-
Je-ate chance for escape when on May
Hthey asked for 300 volunteers to go
o work on the docks at Lubbock. |
They said they'd give us boots, better
'lothes and a mark a day for wages.
thought anything was better than
so volunteered and was
aiken.
"The clothes they gave us were black
with yellow stripe down the