Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1919-01-09

a hydrant outside Of the barracks. and
for q while we drank 1t. But after
several Of the boys had gone west
and we could not figure out why, a
man told us he thought the water was
poisoned, and q Russian doctor, who
was a prisoner, slipped us word about
1t also. So, after that, very few of
us drank water from the hydrant. II
was scared stiff at first, because / had
had some Of the water, but after that
I did not touch hydrant water.
It wal a good thing for IS that
there was always plenty Of snow In
Germany, and even luckier that the
Huns did not shoot IS for eating It.
1t was about the only thing they did
not deprive us Oft was not verboten.
I thought / knew what tough coolies
were, in the trenches, but they were
regular ~mollycoddles compared toNthe
pets we had in the prison camps. After
we boiled our clothes we would be
free from them for not more than two
hours, and then they would come
back, with re-enforcements, thirsting
for vengeance.
The camp at Neustrelitz was sur
rounded by big dogs. which were kept
just outside the barbed wire. We had
them going all the time. Every once
in a while, some fellow would make
an awful racket, and the next thing
we knew, there was Fritz coming like
a shot, with musket at his hip. just
us they carry them in q charge, and
blowing whistles at each other until
they were blue In tie face. When.
ever they thought some n was es-
Gaping, they ran twice as fast as I
ever saw them run, except when the
Foreign Legion was on their heels
at Dixmude.
When they got up to the dogs, they
would first talk to them and then kick
them, and after that, they would rest
their rifles on the wire and yell
"Zuruck !" at us. We all enjoyed this
innocent pastime very much, and we
were glad they had the dogs.
There were some things the Huns
did that you just could not explain.
For instance, one of the Russians
walked out of the kuche, as we were
passing, and we heard a bang! and
the Russian keeled over and went
west. Now, we had not done anything
and the other Russians said he had
behaved himself, worked hard and had
; never had any trouble. They just
killed him, and that is all there was to
it. But not one Of us could figure
out why.
After we had been at Neustreliti
for three weeks, they drilled us out Of
the camp to a railway station, ant
stood us in the snow for four hours
waiting for the train. We were ex
hausted and began falling, n b!
one, and each time n of us fell, the
sentries would yell, "Nicht krank Y
and give us the rifle butt. We hat
our choice Of standing up and dyin|
} or falling down and being killed, ant
7 1t was a fine choice to have to make.
! The cars finally pulled in,, and a
, usual, the windows were smashed, tn
! doors open, and the compartments jus
3 packed with snow. When we saw this
we knew we were going to get wors
] treatment, even, than we had bee
T getting, and many Of us wanted to die
] 1t had not been unusual for some 0
the men to tell the Germans to shoe
3 them too, and it seems as though !
. was always a man who wanted to liv
: who did get it and went west.
However, all Of us nearly got kille
I when we reached Wittenberg. Whe
the train stopped there, we saw a bi
wagonload of sliced bread on the stt
Q ton platform and we all stared at \
We stood it as long as we could. an
then we made a rush for 1t, But whe
we got nearer. we saw that there wer
! four sentries guarding it and fou
l women issuing 1t out to the Germa
\ soldiers. They would not give US an.
\ Of course.
| So we stood around and watched til
\ Huns eat 1t, while they and the wome
laughed at us, and pretended th'
they were starving and would groa
and rub their stomachs and sa
"Nichts zu essen" to each other. ar
then grab a big hunk Of bread an
eat 1t. What we did not say to the
4 was very little indeed. We were ce
tainly wild II any men v were.
u Then some Of us said we were 6
. ing to get some Of that bread II Y
went west for 1t. So we started
: fight, and while they were attending
some Of us, the others grabbed and h
all the bread they could. They roust'
us back into the cars and we we
just starting to divide up the bre'
when they caught us with 1t and to-
It away. We were wilder than ev
then, but we could not do anything.
Sl 1t got colder after we left White
berg, and the snow blew into the CO
through the windows and doors IN
~ we were afraid to sleep for fear
freezing. It was the worst night
have ever seen, and the coal bunke
Oh on the Yarrowdale seemed like q p
!. ~ --A l. A. -~-.-A.AnAt.