The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1919-01-23

UP the road piece fell again, and
this time 1 did not care what hap
peheu, SO L just sat there in the
middle of the rOaduntil Fritz came up.
instead Of giving me the bayonet. he
made me take of my shoes-thet IS.
ne took them Off Of me with knife
through the strings-and had to walk
the rest OF the way in my bare feet.
It was about four miles altogether
from the station to the camp.
when we got near the camp, ali the
boys came out Of the barracks and
lined up along the barbed wire. md
yelled us welcome. We asked them
III they were downhearted, and they
SAID no, and we said we were not eth
er. We could hardly see them, but
they began yelling again when we got
nearer, and asked us, "Is there anyone
there from Queenstown" and then
Hull, and Portsmouth. and Dover, and
Toronto and lot Of other places.
did not pay much attention until
l heard. ANY Americans there?" and
l yelled back. Eyes. where are your"
Barracks 6-B. Grippe g."
"Where fromt' yelled.
Boston. Where're you from?"
The U. 8. A. and Atlantic ports.
See you later"
so. the next morning. went over to
his barracks and asked for the Yank.
They pointed him )ut to me, where he
was lying on the floor. I went over
and laid down with him, and we had
quite talk. 1 will not give his name
here for certain reasons.
lie had received several wounds Mt
the time he was taken prisoner. He
had been in the Canadian service for
TWO years. We used To talk about
New York and Boston and the differ
ent places we knew In both towns, and
we also talked lot about the rotten
treatment we were receiving. and tried
to cook up some plan of escape. But
every one we could think of had been
used by some one else. and either had
failed, or the Huns had fixed It so the
plan could. not be tried again. We
doped out some pretty wild schemes at
that. Altogether, we became great
pals, and were together as much as
possible at Dulmen. The day I left
the camp. he gave me n ring made
from shell, and told me to get it safely
back to the States, but some one stole
1T at Brandcnburg.
One day while was in his barracks
an Englishman stepped out of the door
Tor some reason or other, and though
ne did not say word to Fritz, in two
minutes he was dead, in cold blood.
we never knew why they killed him.
AT Swinemunde and Ncustrelitz, I
must admit that the Germans had us
pretty badly buffalocd, but at Dulmen
the prisoners were entirely different.
Dulmcn was the receiving camp for
the whole western front, and the pris-
oners there got to be pretty tough
eggs, as far rs Fritz was concerned,
before they had been in camp many
days. They thought nothing Of pick
Ing fight with sentry and giving
him good battle, even though he was
armed with rifle and bayonet. We
soon learned that unless his pals are
around German will not stand by his
arguments with his fists. In other
words. If he can outtnlk you, he will
beat you up. but If he cannot, 1t is a
case OF Here comes Heinie' going
back"
The Russian prisoners at Dulmen
were certainly miserable looking
bunch. They spent most Of their time
wandering around the. Russian bar
racks. hunting for rotten potato peel
ings and other garbage, which they
would eat. When they saw Fritz
throw out his swill, they would dive
right through the barbed wire one
after another, and their hands and
face and clothes were always torn
from 1t. 1t was unhealthy to stand
between the Russians and their garb-
age prey-they were so speedy that
nothing stopped them
One morning, just after barley-cof-
Zee time. came out of the barrac cks
and saw an Australian arguing with
the sentry. I was not only curious,
but anxious to be good citizen. as
they say. so I went up and slung an
car at them. The Australian had asked
Fritz what had been done with the
flag that the Huns were going to fly
from the Eiffel tower In Paris.
That was tos deep for Fritz, so the
you know, Fritz Well, We have no
blankets, you know"
Still the sentry did not get it. So
the Australian carefully explained to
mc-so that Fritz could hear-that the
Germans had no blankets and were
using the flag to wrap their cold feet
In.
This started n fight, of course-the
German idea of fight, that is. The
sentry. being II very brave man for
German, blew his whistle very loudly,
and sentrles came from all directions.
SO we beat it 10 the Australians bar
racks, and there ] found the second
American in the camp. He was a bar
ber named Stimson, from one OF the
Western states. He had heard / was
there rs well as the Boston man in the
Canadian service, but he had been
too sick to look us up. and I'm fact did
not care what happened, he was so
miserable. He had been wounded sew
eral times. and died in q day or two.