The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1918-12-06
him prisoner. anu 'oof

MS hole with fixed bayonets .na 49,.
him prisoner. anu 'ooi
savicki was taken mile to .ho ro.,
~ 'ne support trenches. when won
hiied with Germans. He was -. ~
lover TO an officer who spoke Ens,;sh
} HOW many Americans arc .l -
France?" asked this officer ' IL
Five Million" replied savicki
L. ROW many American soldier, ~.
tnere in the United States?" onsr,at
the German. a"e''ee
Ten Million" saif the Yank
The captain was impressed hv .
round estimates. He was so imnras..
cd that ne gave Savicki a shove which
sent him to the ground.
Raus!' exclaimed the officer
Savicki was taken two miles furtbo,
to the rear. He was locked in ono
room OF French farm house after tho
Germans had searched him and taken
three francs in silver his watch ,
safety razor. and his spiral puttees.
Savicki had had almost notbina n
eat for two days prior to his canture
ills water had given out several hours
before he was taken. But his reouasts
for food from his captives were d;sre-
| sarded.
They left him in the farm house for
two days. There was no article Of
furniture in the room. the only winI
ow was boarded up.
On the morning of the third day
came two Germans. They made signs
that the captive was to accompany
them. Then started hike which last
ed all that day and all the next night:
and ended at daylight of the second
day at Laon.
Four days Savicki had been without
food, but when he asked one of his
guards for piece of bread the latter
only waved his rifle threateningly at
him. They did, however. allow him
water before they started All the
way to Laon the two Germans accom-
panied their lone prisoner
At Laon, weak from fatigue and
hunger, Savicki was put in prison
barracks in which were quartered
several hundred other Americans.
French, British and Italians. The
barracks had been converted from
some large public building and was
surrounded by barbed wire fence.
On the morning of his arrival three
days and 16 hours after his capture,
Savicki was given his first meal
All the prisoners were lined up and
every seventh man was handed
hunk of black, sour German war
bread. weighing three pounds. This
was the daily raticn for seven men.
The man to whom twas handed
shared 1t equally with six comrades.
To supplement this, half a can of
liquid was given each man. Savicki
thought it was hot water until it was
explained that it was supposed to oe
coffee Whatever ingredient it had
been made of hadn't destroyed the
transparency of the water.
For a month and a half SavicM
was at Laon. and this is how he des-
cribes his stay there:
There were several hundred prl-
soners, about so of whom were Ameri-
cans. We worked every day frcm I
O'Clock in the morning until or
o'clock at night. We were divided in
to small gangs Of from six to Il 10
work on the roads, on the railroads
or unloading supplies. Always there
were almost AS many guards as pri-
soners. II they sent eight men out
they had five or six guards.
1--WE had to walk one, two o. three
miles. TO our Job and usually we
worked hard. Sometimes we woulo
get a good ouuch OF senlfios VINO
would let us rest OCCASIONAL "u,
mostly We were made to work nara
oil tho time. Those who did not WORK
were beaten by the sentries win their
rife butts. u
Every morning we were given o"'
bread ration-three pounds for seven
men. At morning and at nlsht we
were given q can OF the so-eai'e"
coffee. At noon we were gwen soup
made OF some kind of grass aah morse
meat. There never was much ihe"t 'n
It though. This MONDAY isSu" was
the only pretense CT meal oi 4s .ae
whole day. lived on it TO" :h'h'',
and half, but don't know now J
did 1t. ,;ort
"1n the MORNINGS and at night,
marching to and from WORK we "s''
n a
TO try to gather grass Slong 'ns 'o"a
eide We would take this naeh ~
camp with us and make soup u -
Tho Frenchmen cooked it in the prs
an ward. flavoring it libera"y VIII
salt. Salt is the only thiig '" ,i,
many. so far as | know, OF "h'ep '''''
have plenty. wo,,1 the
'"Ru, only infrequently wol'' ,ne M
guards let us gather grass ''. us"'',, -
! If we tried it, they would a''"1" ,os
r,,.h tbe;r rife butts. Twice ! Wa'
struck across the sack w
offense. uo terrible
~ iv;np conditions Were teri ioio.
There we're no beds IN the pa'' '"u,s W.
.s none of us had blankets
% ~. IN the barn floor. Thera w"S
cold water in the yard ou1 no haa a
for taking a bath. NO one ns m"' M
oharga of clothes and there was TN TN
,noons of washing those we hau, AN
lib -, .ho month and half was AT '''o
a. q ala .n not have my clothes off. Every
body was covered with lice. o..,rs
"rhe Germans issued us hote'nh, rs
| ~. ovep mess tin. We ate ont oi or
cans, and if we happeneu ~ ~ h,e 70
niece of meat in the soup 700 n u.e er, ~
drink. we had to eat it win our "
setI From Laon, savicti was sen, , TO .. ,nv tn e
nr,son camp at Raststt to whicii. ,,,ans "a, -
pi'1un ~ war many Frenh: civl'.'hS