The Carlisle independent., 1918-12-26
AlberfNDepeM

racks I told him I was an American
 and asked for the news. Instead o1
 answering he began to ask all sorts
 of questions. Finally, after I had told
 him 1 had been in the French service
 l asked him if he could help me fin any
 way. He answered that had only my.
 self to blame and that it served me
 right if had been in one of the allied
 armies.
 l did not like his looks much and he
 seemed unfriendly, but when he began
 smoking cigarette it almost drove me
 crazy and l could not help asking for one. He refused me and said should
 have stayed in my own country, where l could have had plenty of cigarettes.
 After q while he threw away a ciga-
 rette stub and not only I but three or ! four others who were near made dive 1 for it. A man named Kelley got it. crazy man who went around trying to eat wood and cloth and anything he could find
 1 When my three weeks were up and l had not heard from MT. Gerard I was l just about ready to go down to the lake and pick out vacant spot and | lay down in it. I really do not think l could have lasted two weeks longer. And just about that time, as I was walking back to barracks one day. a 1 Frenchman showed me a German newspaper, and there in large type on 1 the top of the first page it said that Mir. Gerard had left the country, or was getting ready to leave. They had ! to drag me the rest of the way to the i barracks and throw snow on me before I came to.
 1 tGunner Depews interview with Mfr. | Gerard took place at the Dulmen prison camp on or about February l. 1917 On l February 3, our state department demand I ed the release of sixty-tWo Americans 1 captured on British vessels and held as prisoners in Germany. On the same day I President Wilson severed diplomatic rela- I t1ons with Germany. Ambassador Gerard l left Germany exactly one week later. The l newspaper that Gunner Depew saw must. have been issued after February 10 It was not until March g. 1917. however, that Gunner Depew was actually released from Brandenburg.-Editor's Motel
 do not know what happened during the next few days
 But week or so later the Spanish ambassador and four German officers and Swatts came to our barracks and the ambassador told me I would be released! It was all I could do to keep from fainting again. Then Swatts asked me in English if had anything to say about the treatment in the camp. and I began to think maybe 1t was frame-up of some kind, so all said was, "When will I get out of heref" and he said. 'sWhy, you will be released tomorrow"
 did not wait to hear any more, but rushed into the barracks again, singing and whistling and yelling as loud as I could. The boys told me my face was very red and I guess what little blood had in my body had rushed to my head, because I could hardly walk for few minutes.
 Then the men began to think I was crazy, and none of them believed I would really be released, but that I was going to be sent to the mines. IS so many were. But I believed it. and l just sat there on my bunk and be- gan to dream of the food I would get and what l would eat first, and so on.
 1 did not sleep that night-just walked from barracks to barracks un- ill they chased me away, and then walked up and down in my own bar racks the rest of the night. When I got to the Russian barracks and told the two doctors my news, they would not believe me at all, although they knew there had been some important visitor at the camp
 But when 1 walked out of their door l said. "Dobra yetshav," which means "Good nightl Then they must have believed me, for they called me back, and all the men gave me addresses of people to write to in case should get away.
 They were all talking at once. and one of the doctors got very excited and got down on his knees with his hands Tn the air. Albert" he said, If you nave the God-given luck to get out of Germany-not for my sake. but for the sake of us who are here in this nell-hole, promise me you will tell all the people wherever you go what they are doing to us here. Tell them not to send money. for we can't eat money, and not meat-just bread. bread, bread"
 And when I looked around all the men were sitting on their beds crying and tearing their hair and saying, bread, bread, bread" over and over again. Then each tried to give me something, as if to say that even l. they did not get out, perhaps their but ton or belt or skull cap would get back 70 civilization.
 When 1 left their barracks I begai
 cry, because it did not seem pos
 ible that 1 was going away and al