The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1919-03-13
IAN BRANDED BY
ORDER OF GERMAN
merican Prisoner Is Disfigured
in Almost Unbelievable
Manner.
HASTILY DESIGN ON HEAD
ormer Circus Performer, Horribly
MutiIated, Is Forced to Do Work
of Oxen for Turkish Master
Made Harem Guard.

London.-Many have been the tales,
exaggerated or without foundation,
-hich have passed from mouth to
louth, and even found their way into
rint, Of prisoners Of war who have
cen sent home with faces disfigured
y brands of the German eagle, snakes
nd other horrible objects. Many Of
hese stories could not be traced by
lie authorities and were attributed to
Gated imaginations. A correspondent
Lloyd's Weekly, however, has dis
overed a very bad case Of Hun saw
gerry, which sufficiently testifies to
lis method of mutilation by branding
tattooing, being no exaggeration.
sThe mans name is Roughton and
E lives in miserable slum near Wa
.rloo, hating to go out In daylight.
N his forehead was a Disagreement"
lys the writer, "that seems almost
Unbelievable in these days Of social
1 civilization.
"The mans head is covered with
tort stubby gray hair, and his nat
rally fine forehead gives plenty OF
)om for sinister sign that stretches
.om temple to temple and from the
rch of each eyebrow to the edge OF
ie scalp. 1t is a heavily tattooed
ssign of huge crablike creature
hich he afterward told me is called
he Spider of Death or the scorpion.
CHASTITY in Design.
s'In some horrible frenzy Of imagi-
ltion this creature, which had been
licked with red, white and green INKS
BON his forehead, has been given
rec bodies. One lies over the other
i'd each outline is clearly visible. 1t
lows first the shield Of Bulgaria,
,ove that the military drum OF Ger
any, and superimposed upon these,
e fez, the star and the crescent OF
urkey. On either side stretch eight
iman-booted legs while from the
lddle, or head of this horror, hangs
ring showing that the man brand
thus is the property Of the Turks
r eternity.
"'Yes, that is what I have to show
r my share in the great war; said
e branded man. II have seen a lot
my life. I was born fifty-seven
ears ago in Chicago and I guess
ere are a good many men there yet
no remember the name of Roughton,
nous for feats Of strength and phys
al endurance right through from
aine to California.
"My life has always been one OF
venture. / have been a strong
an" and an acrobat in circuses.
! When the war broke out in 1914, l
Ined up with regiment Of royal en-
neers that was being recruited In
!e States, and over I came to the
hitting front.
" I was at Mons, and | got the ribbon
ght here and he produced little
urred ribbon. But / never wear 1t.
fter I'd finished with the Second
my in France I was moved to Sa-
nika, and then to Mesopotamia, and
ats where I got caught.
" Tt was while I was doing some work
18th barbed wire one night alone out
,der the stars in that blessed land
Mesopotamia that l got done In
hey got me, but it took lot OF them
do it.
g I was put to work, and l tried to
cape, and I was caught and put
rough more torture, and then one
" a Turk under the direction OF a
erman officer, put this upon me- and
e man smote his forehead with a ter.
Die gesture.
Made Guard in Harem.
(" BY and by, over there in Turkey,
' captors realized that my physical
rength was beyond the ordinary and
was turned over to a pacha who
ught my body for his service. l was
It to work pulling a pillow, and when
didn't cover enough ground, or the
rrows that / made were crooked, l
Is beaten with leather cat-o-nine-
lis that had nails at the end of each
ong.
" Then the great potentate for whom
worked seemed to realize that he
IS wasting good material in rough,
skilled labor, and after many weary
nishments he placed me with this
dge Of shame upon my brow and the
ice of 5000 marks upon my head
ould I try to escape) as the guard
/ Of his harem.
" Among the many women slaves IN
Is place there was young Arabian
i who had been stolen and sold to
) man who was our master. She
s. unhappy to the verge of madness,
d the horrors through which she
mt on many occasions nearly drove
out of my mind. BY methods that
, too long to tell you, this Arabian
myself plotted and planned to-
her and succeeded in escaping.
1ally we managed to get in touch
tn British troops"
E;re+ Carno From Greece.