The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1918-08-01
Once in a while . Belgian Laa,ss

Relief society visited the prison and
brought us handkerchiefs, American
soap-which sells at about S1.50 q
bar In observation-disclosures and
other little articles, all of which were
American made, but whether they
were supplied by the American re-
lief committee or not 1 don't know.
At any rate, these gifts were mighty
useful and were very much appre-
ciated.
| One day I offered button off my
uniform to one of these Belgian ladies'
as a souvenir, but a German guard
saw me and was never allowed to
go near the visitors afterwards.
The sanitary conditions In this
prison camp were excellent as a gen.
eral proposition. One night. however,
1 discovered that I had been cap
tured by Coolies"
This was a novel experience to me
and one that would have been very
willing to have missed, because In
the flying corps our airdromes are q
number of miles back of the lines and
we have good billets and our acquaint-
ance with such things as "cooties" and
other unwelcome visitors is very linn
tied.
When / discovered my condition,
made a holler and reused the guard,
and right then I got another example
of German efficiency.
This guard seemed to be even more
perturbed about my complaint than
myself, evidently fearing that he would
be blamed for my condition.
The c0mmandant was summoned
and l could see that he was very an.
CRY. Someone undoubtedly got a Sc
we're reprimand for 1t.
was taken out OF my cell by q
guard with rifle and conducted about
a quarter of a mile from the prison
to an old factory building which had
been converted into anselab0ate fumi.
eating plant. There 1 was giveB q
pickle bath In some kind Of solution
and while 1 was absorbing it my
clothes, bed clothes and whatever else
had been In my cell was being put
through another fumigating process.
While 1 was waiting for my things
to dry-it took perhaps half an hour
L had a chance to observe about one
hundred other victims of -cooties'-
German soldiers who had become In
tested in the trenches. We were al
nude, of course, but apparently IL was
not difficult for them to recognize me
as a foreigner even without my uni
form on, for none of them made any
attempt to talk to me, although they
were very busy talking about me.
could not understand what they were
saying, but knew 1 was the butt OF
most of their jokes and they made nc
: effort to conceal the fact that l wa.
: the subject of conversation.
When 1 got back to my cell founC
that it had been thoroughly fumigated
and from that time on had no furthel
trouble with "cooties" or other visl
, tors OF the same kind.
AS we were not allowed to write
anything but prison cards, writing wa
out of the question; and as we had NJ
reading matter to speak of, reading
was nil. We had nothing to do u
pass away the time, so consequent!
cards became our only diversion, TO
we did, fortunately, have some o.
! these.
J There wasn't very much money as
rule in circulation, and think for one,
: in my life held most of that, not du,
: to any particular ability on my par
in the game, but happened to hav,
7 several hundred francs in my pocket
when shot down. But we held a LOT
terry that was watched without quit,
: such intense interest as that. Tn
| drawing was always held the day befor,
| to learn who was the lucky man. Their,
. was as much speculation as to win
{ would win the prize as If it had beef
| the finest treasure in the world. Tn
! great prize was one-third of a loaf o
] bread. Through some arrangement
: which never quite figured out,
> happened that among the eight or tel
officers who were there with me. Their
E was always one-third of a loaf a
t bread over. There was just one wa
1 | of getting that bread, and that was t
draw lots. Consequently that was wha
{ started the lottery. believe if a ma
l had ever been inclined to cheat h
! would have been sorely tempted in thi
t instance, but the game was played ali
t solutely square. and If a man had bee
5 caught cheating the chances are tina
t he would have been Stunned by tn
{ rest of the officers as long as he wa
in prison. was fortunate enough {
9 win the prize twice.