The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1919-01-31
HELD PRISONER
FOR -FOUR YEARS
French Judge Returns to Battered
Remains Of Cambria
Home.
HID PRICELESS CITY RECORD
Refused to Leave Post When Hun
hordes Poured Through His coun-
try-Tells Of cruelties lnfliet-
cd by invaders.

cd by invaders.
Paris.-There reached Paris recent
~ q fine-looking old French gentleman
sad-eyed. hollow-cheeked. For fou
years he had been held prisoner b,
the Germans in the city Of Cambria
He had seen the Hun kaiser thre,
times passing through the streets o.
his city which previously had beer
swept by the French women. Nigh
after night he had been forced to e
and sit In the railroad stations of thu
city while the British bombed them
He had seen his friends, people once
wealthy and Of high birth, sent out tG
dig trenches, to bury the dead and to
cultivate and weed the fields. For two
years he had only soup and cocoa for
his dinner and a semi-mOnthly allow.
ance Of three-quarters of pound OF
meat and black bread.
Henri Bergier reached Paris just as
the news came from the front that
British and American troops had freed
his home. As soon as he is strong
enough to travel again he will return
there to find, if possible, the priceless
records of the city which he hid in
1914 when the Huns swept across BEL
GUM and invaded northern France.
Stuck to His Post.
As judge of a tribunal or court
of Cambria. Bergier refused to leave
his post when the German hortles
poured through his country in August,
1914. By a trick of chance he had
just sent his wife and three daughters
to Boulogne-sur-Mer, on the coast of
France, for holiday and was plan
ming to join them early in September.
The meeting was deferred just four
years. He was captured, but was
spared the bitterness of seeing his
family subjected to the humiliations
which came to the other women Of
Cambria. His wife and daughters at
once volunteered for hospital service
and worked so heroically for three
years that they were decorated by the
French government with the medal
"des epidemies ct du devouement."
The story which Bergier brought
back was one of want and suffering.
The Germans held him as hostage SO
he was not maltreated. Whenever the
city was bombed, however, he was
sent with three other judges, also held
as hostages. to sit In the railway sta
lions SO that they would be killed If
the traffic centers were destroyed.
The people Of the city who did not
hold official positions were treated
more summarily. The women were
all made to do mental work of some
kind, such as sweeping the streets
Of the city or cultvating and weed
Ing the fields. The young boys and
men were sent out to dig trenches and
to bury the dead. No one was al
lowed to leave his lodgings after seven
o'clock at night, and no lights, were
allowed at any time.
Turned Out % Homes.
Family after family was turned out |
If homes to make place for the wives
II the German officers who came to
,tay in Cambrai with their husbands
md for German actresses and sing. |
RS who were brought from Germany |
o stage performance Of grand opera
Ind to make merry In the casinos. |
The prisons were kept flied with
offenders" One woman was thrown
INTO Jail because she had hidden q
Upper vessel, family heirloom, In
le6ance Of the German order requisi-
ioning everything Of metal from the
'e0ple. Another woman was arrested
'ecause she read copy OF q French
'aper which had been dropped into the
ity BY allied airplanes.
Early in September Bergier was told
hat an exchange had been effected
nd he was to return to France. He
vould be permitted to take with him
That belongings he could carry. He
ound an old baby carriage with two
heels of and patched It up with
heels from a dismantled gun. His
lothing, though threadbare. still held
,gether, but he had no shoes at all.
[e took the leather portfolio which
Is youngest daughter had used to
AIRY to school and made q sort Of
,otgear out Of 1t, using for soles the
citing from machine In an aban-
oned factory.
Part Of his journey to Belgium he
lade on foot, pushing his belongings
long in the old baby carriage. Part
Q made by train. r
From Belgium M. Berger went to
finally arriving in Paris
here he rejOlned his family.
Four Average Nlnsty-Two Ysars.
Bowdoinham, Me.-Living together
this town are Mrs. Eleanor Sparks.