The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1919-03-26
Tortures in Salt Mines Stir Re.
turned Captives.
HATRED WILL LAST LONG
Boy OF Twenty Relates Story Of
Wrongs and Sufferings at Hands of
Hyphenated American Who Had
Charge of American Prisoners
Makes Yankee Get Down on His
Knees and Beg for Water.

Since the boys who have come back
from captivity in Germany arrived the
tone of our ward odt at Tottenham.
London, has changed, writes Margaret
Walter in Chicago Evening Post. Be
fore that 1t was the rarest thing that
any boy showed desire for revenge
when he spoke of Fritz or Jerry. Even
those who have suffered most In battle
have been frank in their admiration
or the German as fighting man. But
when the prisoners began to come In
and tell their stories last month things
changed, and now the boys have con-
| ceived a personal hatred for kultur
which will not be cast off with hospital
blue and the return Of these boys to
| civil life.
One boy of twenty, who spent the
last four months working in the salt
mines of Germany for three pfennig
prison money! day, tells story
of wrongs and sufferings at the hands
of a hyphenated American. This
German-American, who happened to
be in the fatherland when war broke
out, enlisted in the German Red
Cross, became a sergeant, and during
the last months was put In charge of
all American prisoners In his camp.
Tortures of "KuItur."
AS our boys were brought in he at
first treated them with the greatest
consideration and gained their sympa-
thy by telling them all about his life
in America and bemoaning the sad
on the wrong side. In this way he
disarmed the Americans, get their con-
fidence, and in some cases, no doubt,
obtained information. When, however,
he had got all that he could from the
boys he would begin system of tor
ture which in the end either killed
them outright or reduced them to a
state of abject slavery that has left
its marks on every one of those who
have survived to come back.
But I've got his name, you bet,
here, written down In my secret book,
that they never got away from me,
and just as soon as / get back home
| Il III sOluS W kO"h WHtlt thuL cCl
geant's family lives and I'm going to
show them what hate is"
The white-faced boy raised himself
on his arms and two red spots burned
In his cheeks. The other boys drew
round aghast. They had evidently
heard the tale before.
Will Make 1t Hot for Him.
"We're going to join him, too, all us
fellows; when we get back home we're
going to that town in Iowa where that
German Red Cross sergeant came from
and make it too hot for him ever to
dare to show up there again. 1t sure
isn't going to be healthy place for
him to come back to. We don't want
any more of that kind of citizens In
America"
The boy on the cot told me that
even now he can't sleep at night for
thinking of the horrors that took place
deep in the bowels of those German
salt mines.
'The thirst torture was the worst
. he said. "When all the boys are asleep
here at night / get to thinking how
. that sergeant made me go on my knees
and beg for water. and then threw il
! on the ground In front of my face.
see as plain as if it were right here,
: and the sick boy bent double, showed
: along In the working gang and never
!. allowed to fall back till they dropped
:, in their tracks, all beaten up with
: rifle butts.
. "But I've no complaint Of the fare
: we had; miserable as 1t was, be-
lieved 1t was as good as some of the
. Germans had themselves. The little
: children of the poorest class used to
!, hang round the barbed wire inclosure
begging for scraps. We used to throw
= things over to them, especially the
! British Tommies, when they got their
Red Cross prisoners packages. It's
2 no use--us men couldn't bear to see
!, little children starving, no matter
whose children they were."