The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1919-02-06
|ROQU0|S BOY WAS
TORTURED BY HUN
BLINDED SOUTH DAKOTA SOL.
DER TELLS OF THE CRUELTY
OF CAPTORS
SPIT ATyAND M0cKED BY THE WOMEN
Story Of Home Boy Will Bring Home
To Hearts Of All The Beastiness
OF German Methods

Through the courtesy of the Union
Pacific press bureau the Register is
enabled 10 give its readers the follow
ing interview with a blinded South
Dakota soldier from one of our neigh
boring towns. His story has little in
il TO make us. his neighbors, think
much of the German in his 'own home
town:
Corporal E. NJ. Roberts, hailing from
Iroquois, South Dakota, said to be the
first American soldier blinded in
France, lies in Debarkation Hospital
No. 5 in New York, the victim of al.
most unbelievable cruelties att the
hands of the Huns, during months in
their prisons. He was one of the first
to be captured and was one of the
first TO be released after the signing
Of the armistice.
Put on exhibition like a captured
animal in a hall in Tiffen, the butt of
PrusSian insult and abuse, paraded
through the streets of Frankfort, spat
at by Prussian are but a few
OF he experiences of the Mid-western
boy while a guest" of the Imperial
German government.
Here is Roberts story as he tells
it simply and without heat, from his
hospital bed:
81 was the first blinded American
soldier, the 18th taken prisoner, the
first American prisoner released and
the first to reach the United States.
Although | was wounded in four places
there are no scars on my face to show
that my eyes were blinded in bat
tie. 1t is my belief, corroborated by
surgeons in Paris who have examined
me, that my right eye was removed
and my left eye blinded by German
medical officers while / lay uneon-
scious in a German hospital.
Our regiment, the 18th Infantry,
was doing patrol work in the Lor-
raine sector. On the night of Feb.
Sth, a party of us started on outside
wire duty. We saw a party of Ger
a and started after them only 70
find ourselves in a trap. For ifteen
minutes We had a real battle and then
a grenade got me.
For eight days / was unconscious.
When | came to | found myself in a
German hospital at Journey. They
l;lp't Toll mr. Tho ,,t,ro &c o.-
70" four weeks in spite of my ques-
tons.
Frequently German officers would
come in for information as to my reg
iment. Misinformation was what they
received from mt and | would be sub
jected to ridicule and abuse. Think
ing to bride me the officers sometimes
gave me a cigar or cigarette which |
would not be permitted to smoke in
the ward. After taking two or three
puffs in the hall some Hun would
come up, yell "A~merikaner Schwein-
hund' at me, knock the smoke from
mouth and kick me back into the
ward. Several times / was knocked
down.
My uniform, my rosary, my moth
er's testament, her picture and my
girls were all stolen from me. My
right hand, which had a bad wound
in it had been untreated all of the
time | remained in the hospital. The
odor il gave off was terrible and l had
to let it hang down over the side of
the cot before i could eat the soup
they gave me.
The Huns finally moved me to Tie
fen. There | was on exhibition one
day for the German populace to jeer
at and insult. | was made to stand
on a platform while they gazed on me
and hurled insults at President Will
son and " flag. At Tiffen I was
kept four days. | slept on the floor
and was fed a little bread and acorn
coffee. From there | was sent to
Darmstadt. On the road | collapsed
and they had to carry me to the hos
pital. | Jared better there during my
wv "CthS stay DcCduSt i met ali
Englishman who received things
through the Red Cross and he shared
with me.
Il was next moved to the prison
camp. They gave me a blanket and a
place TO sleep on the floor, with an
old coa for a pillow. While sleep
ing the Huns used to come around,
kick me and make me get up and
stand at attention.
Il was sent from there to Muen-
ster. and at Frankfort. on the way,
I was paraded through the streets for
the entertainment of the people. At
Muenster l IA kept for four weeks.
| had not shaved for nine weeks and
was being eaten alive by coolies. My
face wac covered with sores. The
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