Jackson County journal. (Sylva, N.C.) 19??-19??, 1919-01-24
CHAPTER xVlll-Continued.


under fire of spit, if you could call it
that, but also of rocks and bottles and
sticks and most anything that could
be thrown.
All this time. "lest you forget" we
had no Shoes and no clOthing-Only
what had once been our underwear.
It is all right to be a COney Island
snowbird and pose around in your
bathing suit in the drifts, because you
are in good condition, and last but not
least, because you do not have to dO
it. Figure out the other side Of it
for yourself.
They marched us into field where
there was nothing much but guns ana
ammunition and snow, and set us up
in something like skirmish formation.
We stood there for some time. and
then we saw a lot of Huns with the
new long rifles coming toward us,
yelling just as they did In battle, and
we thought sure we were being used
for practice targets. 1t is good
thing they halted and stopped yelling
when they did, or we would have
started for them to fight 1t out, for
we were not the. kind that likes to be
butchered with hands in the air, and
we would have been glad for chance
to get a few of them before they got
us. But they did halt, and then sur
rounded us, and drilled us away
through swamps and woods and shall
low water or slush. The women fol-
lowed, too, and there were plenty of
bricks and spit left. Women as we'll
as men are the same the world over,
they say. l wonder? You can just
picture the women of. say, Rockland
Me-. following a crowd of German
prisoners that way, can't you? Not !!
But of course the women of ROckland
are pretty Crude-no kultur at all
and Colt never commissioned Presi-
dent Wilson to take the lid off the
strafe pot for him.
They drilled us along the docks, and
1t looked as though the whole German
navy was tied up at Swinemunde
We saw many of the ships we had
heard about. among them being the
famous Vulcan, the mother-ship for
submarines. There were many sail
ors l0afing along the docks, and they
gave the women a hand with their
days work. They were no better with
brick, but they had more ammunition
when 1t came to splitting. One of then
tripped a young boy by the name Of
Kelly and as you would never doubt
Kelly picked up a rock and crashed
the sailor with it. He was then bay
oneted twice in the left leg. We be
gan singing then. our popular favorite
Pack up your troubles" etc, AM
when they heard us, how the swim,
stared!
Then they drilled us past the Ger
man soldiers quarters. The men wer
at rifle practice, and I guess all of u
thought how handy we would be a
targets. But when we got near then
they quit practicing and crowde
around us yelling: "'Raus Zuruck !
Finally we got to the top of tn
nili, and were halted near the bal
racks while an officer read the mai
tial law of Germany to us. AT leas
we thought maybe that was it.
Finally they let us into the ba
racks, and the first thing we saw wa
great pile of hay. That looked goo
to us. and we made a rush and dive
into 1t. But the Huns told us to tax
the hay and throw it in the middle
the road. They had to use force b
in, however, and started to carry
out. Some of the young boys we
crying, and / do not blame the
much.
But one of the boys tried to hi,
some of the hay behind a box and w
caught doing it, and two sentri
clOuted him from one end of the bs
racks to the other His nose w
broken and his face mashed to a jel
But there was nothing we could {
so we just wandered up and down t
barracks, about as we did betwe
decks on the Moewe, trying to Ike
warm.
While this marathon was on
heard whistle blown very loud
ana When we looked out we saw
wagon piled up with old tin ca
Then we were told to form single E
walk out to the wagon and each ge
can for himself. Each man had
take the first can he laid his har
on, and many Of us got rusty ones w
holes in them. So that about half
hour later, when we received bar
coffee, and all we had to drink it fir
was the cans, lots of the men had
drink theirs almost in one gulp or |
half of it.
The barracks were very dirty ,
smelled horribly, and the men W
still not even half clothed. We
looked filthy and smelled that W
and where the coal dust had rub
Off, we were very pale. And all of
were starved looking.
About eleven o'clock that morn
the whistle blew again, and we c.
out and were given an alumir
spoon and a dish apiece. Then