The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1918-11-07

LA uOOOAAOO4ACe I0A0 q WOu1uu Jul 0QO
literally tear her clothes to shreds be-
fore the police succeeded in rescuing
her from the mob and took her to the
police station. The general SUPPOSE
ton raj that all the man spies were
l~nasQuerading as women and the first
thing the mob did was to pull out hair
pins to see whether the hair was real.
On Monday evening, we managed to
edge our way into the last through
train to Berlin. W. were side-tracked
i%nnurnerable times to allow troop
trains to pass through, and we were re-
quired to keep our windows closed SO
that no enemy passenger could drop
bombs on the bridges we crossed. It
was a hot August night and the lack
Of ventilation was most oppressive.
Our compartment was crowded with
officers OF their way to join their regi-
ments and very grand and important
they felt in their new 1eld-gray uni
forms which may have long been put
away in moth balls for just this oppor-
tunity, but which took the German peo-
pie as well rs the allies completely by
surprise.
At Naumberg, which is about half
way between Frankfort and Berlin, a
company Of soldiers boarded the train
and guarded the corridors while q nom
commissioned officer questioned the
passengers
My wife, who was asleep tn a nor.
ner Of the coupe 1, was the only wom-
an In the compartment. Believing that
her sleep might be feigned and she
might, In fact, be a man in woman's
clothing. the officer yelled at her:
"Where are you goingr" Her Ameri-
can accent, revealed when she an.
swered him, incensed him the more
and he demanded angrily: "What right
have you to s this train? Where is
your passport"
BY that time I had produced all the
papers Of Identification I could find and
tried to tell him that my wife and I
were returning to our home in Berlin,
but he was too excited to listen and
would have dragged us Off the train
had not an officer, with whom / had
been talking en route, interviewed and
said: II shall make myself personally
responsible for these people" I was
Rlad / had admired his new uniform
From the coupe next to our I saw
soldiers drag six Russians, throw them
down and kick them In the face, and
one was a woman! The train pulled
out as the crowd closed In on them so
that I vas unable to ascertain the fate
Of those innocent but helpless passen-
gers.
When we finally reached Berlin,
about five the next morning, It seemed
like q dead city. There was not a
droschke, q taxi or q tram in sight.
Every available means Of locomotion'
had been modified for the time being.
As we had heavy bags, we simply.
had to find something to take III home
and after half an hours search far
from the station I found an old cab
driver who thought he could take US
for the liberal bonus I agreed to pay
him. We had hardly got seated when
an officer tried to force us out, and
only my wife's quick plea Of Illness
saved him a black eye and me iron
bars or q large fine.
After England declared war, the eff
forts to capture spies were doubled,
and the mob had a new lot Of signs to
tear down. We were forbidden to talk
English on the telephone or on the
street. We kept to our homes rather
closely. Most of the buses, taxicabs
and horses had been Communicated,
and the only signs Of life in Berlin
were furnished by the officers driving
madly about in high-powered cars
which exceeded all speed limits and
other traffic regulations.
After w days, things began to re-
turn to NAL again. The food sup
ply see ample and the headlines In
the ne )apers were so encouraging
and tb eports Of victories upon vic
tories convincing that every one ex-
pectea he war to be over within q
very 81 ,rt time and they began to eat
up t stores they had so excitedly
cole ID.
B ID cards were initiated, it is true,
but e amount allowed was more than
ad late for all except, perhaps, the
We poor who depend almost entirely
u i bread.
ne press began advising the peo-
~ to conserve food but at the same
time said that II. car was taken there
was no danger Of there not being
enough for all. School teachers gave
daily talks to the children to eat every
thing on their plates. One went so far
as to announce: IT always lick my
plate, children, and you should do the
samei" 4.
The result Of these warnings was
merely to increase boarding and buy
ing. from food spectators. I never
knew Of q single German who volun-
tarily deprived himself. Of a single
article Of food out Of patriotic mo-
lives. The only sacrifice a German is
willing to make for his country Is the
one he cannot escan0