Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-02-01
Sllaffer's Last
Flight

boots Next to soap. I think rubber
was the biggest curiosity they had.
Arriving at our destination I was
put in another prison. This time though,
the warden looked through my sack
and took the vegetables out. leaving
the bread. Why, l don't know. for
there was three-fourths of loaf there
and 1t certainly was more precious to
me than carrots or turnips. But mine
not to question why. 1 was only too
thankful to have the sack returned
with the bread. Immediately was
placed in a cell with nothing for COM
pany but my thoughts-and Coolies"
1t was the same kind of prison as the
other. except that nothing was given
the prisoners to eat--same warm room,
same soft bed. same blanket and same
style of cell. meaning nothing but four
smooth walls. AS It. was near night
fall when l entered. 1 figured 1 had
missed supper. so after waiting awhile
for something eatable to appear. l
philosophically prepared for bed: for
! by this time I had grown somewhat
used to missing meals now and then.
and l had quickly discovered that sleep
made one forget the aching void in ones
stomach. If one could sleep this york
ed very well. and l was so tired from
the days march and being bounced
around in that doggone truck that
had no trouble falling asleep.
Meal mt Last
Imagine my surprise then on being
woke up about 3 p. m, by Boche
guard, who tried to make me under
stand that 1 was wanted in the office
I did not know what for but 1 pulled
on some clothes and went. And what
do you think they wanted of me? They
wanted me to eat big dish of meat
and vegetables brought in by a civilian
Believe me, 1 needed no second lnvi-
tation, but fell TO with an appetite that
Rockefeller would give a years income
to have. AS l munched away l wanted
to know how he knew was here. for
there were other prisoners there. and
he had asked, for me as the aviator
American" 1t seems as 1 marched
through the town, my uniform of blue
and soft leather boots excited the US
ual curious comment and II was in
town, and an American volunteer to
boot. And that Is the way the eats
arrived, and 1t was also through this
man that I learned that all the prison
ers in that prison were fed b. the
French civilians or not at all. A nice.
pleasant future to look forward to, was
1t not? Personally. 1 hoped l did not
stay there long, and my hope became
a fact, for the next morning l was
moved to another prison nearby. That
made the third one in three days.
What was the big idea anyway?
Was this personally conducted tour
of the prisons of Germany, or did they
fear that I might grow so used to the
same cell that 1 would break loose
again? With no answer to all these
questions l was chucked into another
cell with an Italian and a Frenchman.
Truely, nearly all the Allies were rep
resented in that cell. but 1 fear Italy
was badly represented, for that Dago
sure was a little shy in the garret.
When he wasn't talking he was eating,
and since there was little to eat he
did an awful lot of talking. The
Frenchman did not make any effort to
be polite. But promptly fell asleep and
soon showed us how much he was en-
joying it by snoring.
The prisons seemed to be all run
on the same plan here, for this one
gave nothing except the bread ration
and unless the civilians helped out we
got nothing more. Fortunately, there
was a French woman doing the scrub
bing in the prison, and she agreed to
bring us some soup. 1t wasn't much
to rave about as it was mostly water
with few cabbage leaves in to give It
flavor but 1t was hot and wet and we
thankfully ate it.
The next morning we were all or
dered to assemble in readiness to march,
and rumor had it that we were to be
sent to Germany. AS camps in Ger
many were supposed to be better than
those just back of the fighting lines,
all prisoners looked forward to being
sent to them-when they were not
planning to escape-as they could re-
ceive packages of food and letters from
their friends while there. This did not
affect me any for 1 was too far away
from home to think of getting either
letters or eats, but on voicing these
gloomy thoughts 1 was told that the
French government gave packages of
eats to such homeless guys as 1. Since
We were only twelve and well guarded