Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1919-01-20

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e1 CosaHIg Mates
America needed nj props Isaa -
Germany dsrfng glss war The Amer
lean pgisOnera wsye pr0pa andasta
enough. they Won and held the esteem
og their guards and All of the German
people win whom they came in con
tact
Thas vas the statement Of Wayne j.
coIahan, esd company, 9Th marines,
whose hons Is as z17 Harvard street,
8. n. Minneapolis. 10 delegation 81
VI M. &. Al. workers who met tie pris-
onsFe at the Gwias border They we're
released from Rastata prison, Baden.
Germany. Coiahan was captured II
BelIeau Wood ON June s.
{ Ne hake yon but cannOt despiaa
you, Wae the way one German guard
expressed Il 70 me, continued Cola-
han. TIE American prisoners
throughout we're treated better than
these of other countries. one reason
was ts 1t We had i Y. III q. A. Cabi.
net 81 each prison which kept us In
formed of our rights. kept us interest,"
sd and secnrad for us many Conces-
si0ns. For instance. once We were Ri-
lowed 10 rsnt the biggest theater iu
Raatatt and put On : local talent show,
Virtually aH the American prison
ers except OfEicers, ommissiOned
and alck ard wounded we're put out to
work on Komuando that y on farrna
and Ii factories. AZ Arst our men
we're eager to work ont, for the Ger.
mans nearly starved us. and we hoped
10 get better food on the farms, Bui
even the farmers had Eery little to eat
After the Red Cross rationa began ar.
riying we prisoners were much better
ted than the majority Of the people
around us.
We secured library, books foI
study CLASSES, footballs. hssebalIs and
ali of athletic equipment. check
ars and similar indoor games and In.
struments Tor 20 piece band. and
piece orchestra, and bugle corps
We had our avn newspaper, the Barb
ga WtreIesg The band kept things
lively. Every night we had q cOnceri
In one Of the blocks 40 we called
the prison barracks.
,.The band played 81 football and
baseball games, and we had roofing
squads like those at college games 8
home The rivalry between the blocks
was intense. particularly between
Block and Block Z. Thanksgiving
day we had . football game and lol
Of fun. /,
The Germans were pretty hard ol
as at nrst, particularly when We were
held behind the lines. They were
ready enough % abuse or mistreat Il
II given an excuse, bat while our Eel.
lows stood np for their rights we die
not court trouble and they had little
excuse for II There we're occasions
when they beat Americans over thE
hack with .sabres, and forced them
to work dosuhle headers. all day Sat
urday. but when Il became evident
that Germany would lose they were
much better % us and did their begl
TO get friendly with us. They circu.
lated German propaganda news
paper called America ID Europe.
among ua. but our cabinet advised na
not To read It, and It did not help them
any.
In the prison camp or on kona-
mands. our men always commanded
the respect of the German people
even when they called us American
hounds.
When the arnistice was signed
the Germans. relaxed discipline utter
" and We we're free to 90 on spree
IN the neighhoring town, but We did
not Instead, We established our own
military police and maintained order
thing which greatly impressed tbs
Germans.