The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1918-01-04
Detained Officers and Seamen Of Ger
man Merchant Ships Often Have
Meat Twice Day-No Alien Has to
Work Unless He PIeases, and Then
He 10 Paid-Find Variety Of Ways Of
Entertaining Themselves.

faGrstory hotel, where the captains,
mates and engineers OF the big liners
arr Quartered. No sound comes from
these TsutOnic cantOnments-they giYe
no more sign OF life than Belgian VII
lagos left in the wake Of German
armieA
On the tracks barely outside the bar
ricade trains begin to pass with silencr.
shattscing coars, great trains Of 60 anu
70 cars drawn by giant mOguls with
flaming furnace doOrs-the aristocrutI
OF freights for whom all signal light.
show clear as they speed eastward to
the Chesapeake ports'with csrgoes 0!
grain, horses. lumber and machinery
Those within the wire know what that
rushing eastward portends.
Sure Germany Is Winning.
But no other message do they be.
leve, or, il they do. they conceal belief.
They read American newspapers, but
tell the guards Germany is winning the
war and that it will be over in four
months. They say the Americans have
never repaired the ship engines their
now interned crews disabled because il
cannot be done in this country. OFF,
GERS Of the great ship Vaterland say
she has never left Hoboken docks.
Differences between officers and men
have sprung up and fears Of forcibls
encounters made it necessary to estab-
Hsh separate camps. The men when
they realized that they were fressl
from enforced obedience to their off,
GERS began to show increasing evidence
Of resentment for past strict disci-
plins. The oneers were enraged at
this incubation with American ideas.
Some Of their men even showed friend
illness for the Americansi
But talk does not lessen the vigi-
lance Of the ffty-tWo American guards
working in three shifts. They are
Germans" said hatchet-faced guard
with his hand on his holster. He look
ed up at the nearby forested cliffs
where the French Broad river energies
with crashing waters into the broad
ened camp valley. And some day
the casualty lists will show of the boys
from this state killed in France. And
then"
coneeaIments on Those Cliffs.
"Fhen whstP" he was asked. Yes"
said he, "WhatY' and looked again at
the eoncealments Of the cliffs overlook
ing the camp.
The officers have the advantage az
TIA men In the matter Of quarters
though the food is practically the
szme. The four-story hotel was leased
By the government with its equipment
u private baths, steam heat and fine
furniture and surroundings Of tennis
courts croQnet grounds and big pool
Of naturally hot water. The men are
housed In eight onestory wooden bar
neks built for their use. each barrack
20 By t6S feet in size, with double
tieekeh hunks, heated by stoves and
served by . detached shower bath
house II By 50 feet, in the rear Of EACH
hrrsck.
German srtiAnR did all the work Of
eBns1ucfi0s being paid by the United
States at The rate Of 80 a month. Ne
&11en @9e has b work unless he wish.
- and Il be does be is paid. Ono day
Il q than quit work because they
resented The publication in . local
Dewspapar that they were slow work
szs and had to be told how to do ey-
Gythins.
The Germans ind a variety Of ways
Of entertaining themselves. Some play
tennis, others eroQuet, some bowl, some
90 through q ssmimilitary drill, and
eash emp has its team for playing
what the guards call football. The
ball is like q football, but It Is not
kicked. It Is batted with the hand.
For the men, the International Y. Al.
c. A. has established a clubhouse
equipped with tables, reading matter.
games ana a moving picture outfit. Al
American secretary Is in charge.
Work fer Idle Hands.
The officers have nearly completed
a miniature German village by the riv.
erside. The s'houses" are tiny affairs
scarcely large enough to let a couple
Of their burly builders squeeze in. and
much ingenuity and artistic design is
shown in their rustic fashioning. Tree
limbs, BROKEN brick, stones, old carpet.
nattened tin cans. all picked up in the
hotel grounds, are the material used.
The Cnited States furnished nothing.
Commodore Ruser. chief Of the Water.
land, built one Of these tiny houses and
IL very proud Of the little brick stove
which heats il. When working on
their houses the officers seem to have
shed their Oficialdon and appear a.
kindly. single men The common sea-
uten are buildiAE 1 simIlar viIlsge.