Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-01-01
5000 YANKS HELD
PRISONER BY HUNS
Generally Well Treated,
Especially Toward Last,
But Poorly Fed.
FORCED TO WORK HARD

many, in hospitals and prison camps,
were perhaps 5000 Americans. Gen.
orally they were well treated, espe-
cially toward the last. l have talked
with James Delaney. chief gunner's
mate, who made such a fine fight on
the Campana with a three-inch gun
against submarines five-inch gun.
Outranged, he tried by the ruse of
Withholding his fire to draw the sub
marine nearer. He succeeded, but the
small projectiles did little damage to
the submarine, which stood off and
had the Campana at its mercy New
ertheless Delaney fought from in
the morning until nearly 2 in the
afternoon, when the ship was aflre
and had to be abandoned He was
picked up with others by the sub
marine and made prisoner. Then a
mysterious ship came along which
opened blind gunports and fired on
the submarine, which plunged almost
vertically directly under a mine field
II escaped all torpedoes and projec
Ties except few from the Campana,
which injured several Germans. De-
fancy was complimented by the Ger
mans on the fight he had made.
Given Salt Sandwiches.
After nine days Delaney, with 9TH
ers OF the crew. including Ray Roop
OF Saginaw. Mich; Charles Kline of
Reading. Pa; Fred Jacobs of Pitts
burgh, Pa. and william Miller of
chicago, arrived at Wilhelmshaven,
where they were turned over to the
army and taken to prison camp.
Durlng the first four days they were
ashore they received coffee with a
little bread and salt. The Germans
hnF -.
Wlches by spreading half on the
bread. The Americans offered to pay
any price for other food, but thev
were given nothing, and were only
allowed to look at fruit laden trees
from the car windows
Ihey were taken to the Branden-
burger camp, which was known as
the worst in Germany. There they
found British prisoners, who shared
their rations with them. These were
quite meager and the living was ex-
tremely bad until packages began to
arrive from the Red Cross in Switzer-
land, after which life became at least
enduraoie. on their arrival in camp
they We're given a lime bath" This
consisted of stripping and being
painted with some unknown sub
stance applied-with a whitewash
brush. Then by order of the Ger
mans they were placed under a
shower bath, after which they were
surprised to find all the hair gone
from their bodies. This was supposed
to be for sanitary reasons.
Living Conditions Very Bad.
Living conditions in the camp were
very bad. One layer of hunks was
on the ground with another tier
above made of loose Stats, so that the
fieas and vermin fell on the
sleepers below. The fleas were large
and vicious. On each morning the
prisoners hung their blankets on the
barbed wire and hunted for vermin.
Rats came in droves. 1t was impos-
sibie to keep the camp clean. They
week they were allowed to buy some
brooms at marks ($2) apiece They
were inspected by Russians, who were
themselves filthy, as they were never
allowed to have soap.
The food continued meager, con-
sisting of barley soup or cabbage
soup. They never saw meat. except
Red Cross. The Italians suffered
severely, but the Russians were
treated the worst, and in consequence
died like flies from fever. All the
German doctors ran away from them.
In one cemetery alone there are 1000
treated otherwise, the Russians were
given very little food, but If the
gave them any they sold it
to the Germans.
Barometer of the Front.
On each morning the prisoners were
lined up for muster. If the Germans
were winning the men were called
pigs and were kept standing long
ha
they were treated better; 1t was a
sort of barometer Of the front.
Amusements were lacking except
those organized by themselves, with
the aid of Mr.. Hoffman, Y. M c. A.
worker captured in German drive.
on the little lake within the Enclosure
like children, while on the shore they
cooked their food in cans strung on
wires. They had a. hard time getting
fuel with which to cook the food.
officers we're not forced to work
but the men worked hard from 5
o'clock in the morning until at
night, laying rails. Albert De Mellow
of New Bedford. Mass, was forced to
work in a coal mine until one of
his hands was badly crushed
The British comfort organization
sent many things, including medi-
cines. which were very hard to OBJ
tain. Smokes sent by friends helped
lot, though many of the packages
sent never arrived. Delaney verified
the story Of the British stoker, who
in fight with a guard over a trivial
matter was shet point blank in the
stomach and was forced to walk to
his quarters, no enc being allowed
to help him. He died from his wound.
There was no particular form of pun
ishment No one in the camp was
tied to a post and the only confine-
ment was in cell.
Americans in the Camp.
There were thirty-four Americans
in the Brandenburger camp. These
included John Murphy of Newport,
r L: Albert De MELLOW of New Bed
ford. Mass, from the destroyer Jacob
Jones. torpedoed by the U-53, the
commander of which said he was
looking for the Winslow, which had
told him to keep away from ships
near the American coast, and Alfred
Oliver Of New York, the master of
the Campana. From the ship sunk by
the raider Wolf there were the mas
ter of the John kerby, John Bloom
of CharleStown. Mass; Elmer Rich
ardson. chief of the Encore, and Al
fred Colsted. second officer of the
Kerby. of Philadelphia. Another was
III. JoHh Drown Oh hampton, va,
from the Esmerelda and there were
besides a number of civilian stokers
and seamen of mixed parentage, but
naturaliZed Americans. William Mil
Ter of Chicago. with John Rome, of
the Esmerlda escaped from the camp
January 20. 1917. with the intention
If caught of claiming that they be-
longed to different camp or '1aager'
nearer the frontier, from which they
might escape before their identity
was discovered. These two were
not heard of afterward and no trace