Iron County register., 1919-01-23

that were in the bunch. The Huns
knew that Cossack never forgets and
will get revenge for the slightest mis-
treatment, even If it means his death.
1 have seen sentries turn aside from
the beat they were walking and get out
of the way when they saw Cossaek
coming. There were very few Coss-
acks there, however. do not think |
they let themselves get captured very |
often.
We had roll call every morning of |
course, and were always mustered in
front of our barracks, the middle Of
the line being right at the barracks
door. Sometimes when the cold got |
too much for them, the men nearest |
the door would duck into the bar
racks. AS they left the ranks the
other men would close up and this
kept the line even, with the center still
opposite the barracks door. Finally
almost all Of the men would be in the
barracks and by the time the roll was
over not one remained outside. This
seemed to peeve the German officers
great deal, but they did not punish
us for it until we had been doing 1t
for some time.
For several days I had noticed that
! someone else answered for two men
who had disappeared; at least had
not seen them for some time. l did
not think much about it, or ask any
, questions, and did not hear anyone
else talk about it, but I was pretty
sure the two men, Russian and q
Britisher, had escaped. But they were
marked present at roll call and all
!, accounted for. Everything went along
very well until one day when the name
= "Fontaine" got by without being an
= swered. Fontaine was French fire
! man from the Cambrian Range and
= that was the first time he had not been
present. We saw what was coming
and we began to get pretty sore at
; Fontaine for not telling us. so we could
answer for him and keep the escape
covered.
The minute they found our count
one short they blew the whistles and
a SQUAD Of sentrieS came up as an
extra guard. They counted us again,
but by sneaking back of the line and
| closing up again we made the count
| all right except for one man-Fon-
1 taine. We would have tried to cover
up for him, except that they had al
ready discovered his absence. Now,
we thought, they will nab Fontaine
Il but will not discover the escape of the
H others.
But evidently they suspected some
i thing, for soon they brought over q
4 petty officer from FL. M. S. Nomad,
who had not been with us before and
forced him to call the roll from the
q mastering papers, while they watched
the men as they answered. Then they
A discovered that two more besides Fon-
A taine were missing and began to search
"A for them.
u The other two spoke German and
II had been missing for at least three
81 days and, think, had escaped by this
. time. They were not returned while
I was at Brandenburg.
=. This was about a. m. They drilled
a. us down to the little lake, where thu
cold was much greater, and kept III
there until p. M, without food o.
ID drink. At about eight that morning
le they found Fontaine in French bar
ID racks and kicked him all the way Il
a the lake where we were.
ID All day long we stood there, falling
le one by one and getting kicked or beat
u en- each time until we dragged our
C. selves up again. Two or three died
'c- do not know the exact number. Blu
re we had enough strength, when ordere
KS back to the barracks, to kick For
OF taine ahead of US all the way. w
ot did not get anything to eat until seve
as the next neutrality-suspicious. hour
OF without food and water, ten of whic
an were spent in the snow without an
ng protection from the cold and wint
ee. No wonder we kicked FOntalne fo
IN, bringing this punishment on us and Ell
dahgering the two who had escaped
'as he had simply strolled over to th
'or French barracks and forgot to returl
lth Now, the food received was jul
5nt about enough to keep us alive. I SUI
lth pose, with true kultur, the Huns ha
yer figured out just how much 1t woul
ird take to keep man on this side I
or the starvation line and gave us th'
ler much and no more. So we were alwal
I'm. famished-always hungrier than yo
IN probably ever have been. But som
ks. times when we were ravenously hu
IND CRY and could not hold out any long
ept we would trade rations.
ny One man would trade his whole T
tne tion for the next day for a half ratio
ute today. That is, If you were so hung
1tt' that you thought you could not la
am out the day on your regular share. "
'oie would tell someone else that II he ga
ent you half his share today you wou
my give him all Of yours tomorrow. If
ms was gambler he would take you u
cKs That is, he would gamble on his bell
mo alive tomorrow, not on your keepll
me your word. He knew you would cor
ueu across with your ration the next da