Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1919-04-24

Of camp-Beat Them at Own Game.
The true facts ON the life American
prisoners were forced to lead in Ger
many are told by Sergt. Edgar M.
Halyburton, Company F. Sixteenth in.
fantry, who arrived at Vichy, France,
recently. Sergeant Halyburton was
prisoner of war in Germany for ID
months. He was the Commander" of
the American prisoners at Rastatt and
is qualified to describe conditions as
they actually existed.
81 passed seven months at Tuchel,"
said Sergeant HalyburtOn. ut was
strafe camp and hell-hole in every
sense of the word. We were hitched
to a wagon like horses and forced to
draw wood IA kilOmeters all day long.
Dirty German guards We're constantly
Insulting us at the point of hayonets
We wore wooden shoes and for socks
we used winding of fabric and paper
Scantily clothed and half-starved, we
pulled our wagon through snow '>last
winter that was above our knees.
SdVco py neo SToSo'
"There were 10 Americans in Tuch.
ell. had written postcards to the Red
Cross from each.town we had been In
previously, hut they could never have
been sent, for no answer was received
until four months after we reached
Tuchel. 1t was then March II, 1879
that the first Red Cross parcels ar.
rived. These parcels saved our lives.
If we had been forced to continue two
months longer on the prison food and
under the harsh treatment, / am Ger.
tain most of us would have died OF
starvation"
Sergeant Halyburton and his com.
rades were transferred to Rastatt on
August II. 1918. There were approx
mately $50 American prisoners in the
camp at that date At the close of hos
tilities there were 2,4OO.
"Rastatt was propaganda camp"
said Sergeant Halyburton. "Pro-Ger.
mans We're In charge Of everything
within the prison confines when we ar
rived. The noncoms, clerks, and billet
chiefs were all working hand in hand
with the propagandist leaders, the prin.
cipal of whom was none other than
Captain Won Tauscher, the German
American that was implicated in the
plot to blow up bridge in Detroit,
Mich.
Captain Won Tauscher was caught
with suitcase of dynamite, He was
tried, but the jury failed to find ''in
tent" and released him. He was later
ordered out of the United States.)
Pro-German Papers in Camr.
captain Won Tauscher made several
attempts to Introduce the Continental
Times and the American in Europe
into Rastatt, but we told him point.
blank we would stand for no German
propagandist paper in the place.
When Sergeant Halyburton and his
. comrades first reached Rastatt they or.
gnnized and demanded that the SER
geant be given command over all the
American prisoners. They were so per-
sistent that the Prussian general gave
his consent. Sergeant Halyburton i'm
medately Ousted the pro-Germans and
replaced them with true American sol
diers.
1--WE perfected a crude but efficient or
ganization." said Sergeant Halyburton
"When the armistice was signed we
had hand picked intelligence staff OF
$50 men working in the camp, all
Yankees we knew tC be absolutely free
from PruSSianiSm. We beat the Hun
prOpagandists at their own game. II
was the duty of these men to preach
into the ears of every prisoner the true
facts on prison life in Germany and to
teach every young Hun soldier that he
met, that it would be essentially bet
tel for him to surrender to the Amer
leans when he got into action. The
Yanks impressed them with vivid stOr'
les of kind treatment and wonderful
food for every prisoner taken by our
forces. We met many young Germans
and l firmly believe our propaganda
bore fruit among them"
Fought With Propagandists.
1--WE worked night and day to defeat
the propagandists at Rastatt," said the
sergeant, land nullify their work. II
the army officials conduct an inquiry,
nm positive they will obtain great
deal of surprising information on Ras'
TAFT and the careers of some of the
khaki-clad men that sojourned there
Sergeant Halyburton interfered sc
much with the propaganda work al
Rastatt that ne was sent to Heubere
Dadep) and confined in "strafe'
camp. Private Charles A. Geoghegan
Company B, Eleventh engineers, who
acted as his "adjutant," was sent with
him. They were forced to do hare
mauEal labor, insulted continuously
and given insufficient food to subsist
on.
Is Recommended for Promotion.
Sergeant Halyburton, when in Berne
Switzerland, received the following
commendatory letter from Col. w. l..
q. GOdsOn, cavalry, the military at.
ache at the United States legation:
Before you leave Berne with the re-
oatriated American prisoners ! desire
% furnish you with this statement to
make record of your services while q
prisoner of war in Germany.
Captured on November 3, 1917, I'M
Ter circumstances which were abso-