Baxter Springs news., 1918-09-06

cards became our only uiVersiohs toL
we did, fortunately, have some OF
these.
There wasn't very much money a. q
rule In circulation, and think for once
in my life held most Of that. not due
TO any particular ability on my part
in the game, but / happened to have
several hundred francs In my pockets
when shot down. But We held lot
tery that was watched without quite
such intense interest a. that The
drawing was always held the day before
70 learn who was the lucky man. Tnero
was as much speculation a. to VINO
would win the prize as II It had been
the finest treasure In the world. The
great prize was one-third Of q loaf OF
bread. Through some arrangement
which I never quite figured out, II
happened that among the eight or ten
officers who were there with me, there
was always one-third OF loaf Oh
bread over. There was Just one way,
Of getting that bread, and that was to
draw lots. Consequently that was what
started the lottery. / believe II man
Ind ever been inclined to cheat No
would have been sOrely tempted In tnis
instance, but the game was played aD-
solutely square, and II man had been
caught cheating the chances are tnar
he would have been Stunned BY tho
rest of the officers as long as he was
In prison. I was fortunate enough 70
win the prize twice.
One man-and think he was the
smallest eater In the camp-won 1t ON
three successive days, but It was well
for him that his luck deserted him ON
the fourth day, for he probably would
have been handled rather roughly by
the rest of the crowd, who were grow
ing suspicious. But we handled the
drawing ourselves and knew there was
nothing crooked about It, 90 he was
spared,
We were allowed to buy pears, and
being small and very hard, they were
used as the stakes in many q game.
But the interest In these little games
was as keen as II the stakes had been
piles Of money instead Of two or three
half.starved pears. No man was ever
so reckless, however. in all the betting
as to wager his own rations.
By the most scheming and sacrinc-
ing I ever did in my life managed TO
hoard two pieces Of bread (grudgingiy
SPARED at the time from my daily ra'
tIons), but was preparing for the day
when l should escape-if ever should.
II was not q sacrifice easily maae
either, but instead Of eating bread
ate pears until l finally got one piece
of bread ahead; and when l could
force myself to stick to the pear diet
again. 1 saved the other piece from
that days allowance. and In days 70
come had cause to credit myself fully
for the foresight.
Whenever q new prisoner came IN
and his German hosts had sansneo
themselves as to his life history ana
taken down all the details-that iS all
he would give them-he was immeu-
ately surrounded by his fellow prison
ers. who were eager for any bit OF
news or information he could possibly
give them, and as rule he was glao
to tell us, because, II he had been n
the hands of the Huns for any lengtn
of time, he had seen very few English
officers.
The conditions Of this prison were
had enough when a man was In nor
mally good health, but 1t was DarDar-
GUS to subject q wounded soldier 70
the hardships and disc0mforts OF the
place. However, this was the tate OF
a poor private we discovered there one
day In terrific pain, suffering from
shrapnel In his stomach and back. An
of us officers asked to have him sent
to a hospital, but the doctors curtly
refused, saying 1t was against oruers'
So the Door creature went on suffering
from day to day and was still there
when left-anOther victim Of Ger
man cruelty.
At one time In this prison camp there
were q French marine, French nylns
officer, two Belgian soldiers, and OF tne
United Kingdom one from Canada two
from England, three from Ireland, q
couple from Scotland, one from Wales
n man from South Africa, one from
Algeria, and a New Zealander' the
latter being from my own squadron, 9
man whom thought had been killed
and he was equally surprised wnen
brought into the prison to nnd me
there. In addition there were q Cnl
uaman and myself from the o. 8. A
It was quite cosmopolitan group
and as one typical Irishman SAID
"Sure, and we have every nation tnat'i
worth mentioning, including the darE
Germans with us whites" OF cours'
this was not translated to the Ger
mans, nor was 1t even spoken In tnell
hearing, or we probably would no
have had quite SO cosmopolitan bunch
Each man In the prison was ready q
uphold his native country In any argu
ment that could possibly be started
and It goes without saying that neve
took a back seat In any Of them wirl
my praise for America, with the Cana
dian and ChInaman Ginning In on m'
side Rut they were friendly argu