The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1919-01-31

sergeant HdJOT WHO WAS OCCASIONALLY
under the influence of schnaps, which
is German for whiskey. He was the
possessor of q fiendish face and two
beady eyes. A mad twinkle would
come into his eyes when he was
drunk and it gave him delight to
knock people about when he vas in
this state.
"Of course you can understand how
thick the lice and heas were. We
seldom went to the baths, and we had
no soap. At nights we lay naked in
our blankets trying 10 sleep. One
night the sergeant major came
around, drunk of course, with a cor
poral who carried a lantern. The
sergeant major was armed with his
automatic pistol. He punched a man
here and there.
"One fellow, a youngster of the
Guards, whose bed happened to be
broken, was lying on the floor. He
had been suffering from diarrhoea for
some time and was weak. The ser
geant major kicked him. The Guard
got up and tried to run, but the Hun
was after him, banging him with a
stick. The poor Guard was scream-
ing, but we could do nothing. I'll draw
a curtain over the rest of the scene.
Next Day He Died"
1.-THE same night he caught a poor
sick fellow going upstairs who had
just come back from the latrine. He
was badly man-handled and just
managed to crawl into bed. Next day
he was dead. The next day the post
mortem examination came off. The
boy was in a badly decayed condi-
ton and the verdict was heart fail
ure' and we were informed that no
blame could be attached in any way
to the sergeant major.
"The young Guard l previously
mentioned, on the morning after was
put in the guard room, a small dark
hole, on a charge trumped up by the
sergeant major. He was in an awful
condition, one mass of bruises and
his face was terrible to behold. He
had been kicked, flesh broken in
places and blood all over. He had to
be sen to the hospital when he was
released.
According to men who returned
from the hospital shortly afterward,
the Guard went to Germany later and
apparently one of the doctors was
very angry at the treatment he had
received. l could cite numerous in
stances of sheer animal nature COM
ing to the surface in this creature
when sober. Even yours truly
was not free from the affection of
this brute beast. He got me by an
ear and deliberately twisted it, grin
ming fiendishly all the time. But l
fO hnu-1 n1+hp,,~I I th4,,rlt
was going to lose an ear. We had
halted in the street and l was en-
d~eavoring to get a piece of bread a
woman was offering.
Tommy Was A%dvancing!"
1--WE left Orchies on October 10,
knowing to the fact that Tommy was
advancing. We guessed this by the
sound of the guns, the traffic on the
roads and the refugees, and some
times we managed to get a word with
civilian. All the prisoners personal
camp property and the
sentries packs were put on clumsy
transport trucks which were pulled
by the prisoners. That's us. We
made for Belgium.
1.-THE Belgian people were very
good to us and we got more and bet
ter food than we ever got from the
Germans. We were billited in a
church the first night. 1t was only
the kind heartedness of a
priest that this was permitted. Soup
and bread was sent in to us while
here. We stayed in a church on an
'ther occasion. Ultimately We ar
lived at Hal, a fairly large town about
l6 kilos from BruXelles, then to a
small village where we were billited
n a chateau.
1.-TWO days before the armistice was
we were digging trenches
here, as it was close behind the Ger
nan lines. On Tuesday, the 18th, we
we're told that at 4 p. nj. we would be
rec men. I vas captured on April
z, at about 4 o'clock in the after
loon. To try and describe my feel
ngs would be impossible. We set
)f under the guidance of several
strange sentries who took us to the
German outpost. They were linemen
were quite decent. We shook
lands and the poor Jerry took out
lis cigarette case and gave me his
asst flag. Fags are very dear in Ger
many.
"Freedom and Fags"
81 had been bad with dysentery
md was feeling weak and washed
'ut, At the first village l reached the
Belgian people were in a terrible
of excitement, standing free
and giving us soup, coffee and
/ was unlucky-could not look
1t food. l rested here a bit, then
on. By dusk l could see no
me on the road. Some had stopped
At the last village, others had push
ID on in hopes of reaching the Bri-
ish lines that night. Just ahead |
could dimly discern a village and
could hear singing AMI shouting. This
was the jOlliication of the civilians
md the released prisoners. By this
.ime l was getting rather unsteady
IN my pins.
Just as ! was wondering if l were
going to collapse two young women
along. One made signs if l
anything to eat and | shook
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