Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1919-01-10
ALBERT n. DEPEW


crazy, but even the older men were
crying, many Of them. It was nothing
but torture all the time. They opened
all the windows and doors in the bar
racks, and then we could not heat the
room with our bodies. When we start
ed to move around. to keep warm, they
fired few shots at us. / do not
know whether they hit anyone or not ;
we had got SO that we did not pay any
attention to things like that. But 1t
stopped us, and we had to stand still.
The Huns thought we would take the
rifles from the sentries and use them,
too.
| never saw yellower bunch OF
people in my life. do not mean peo-
pie. wish could publish what |
really mean.
We had stoves in the barracks, but
no coal, or wood to burn. There were
many boxes piled up there, but they
belonged to the Germans. We would
have burned them if we could, but
the Germans made us carry them
across the road. They weighed about
$50 pounds apiece, and we were so
weak that it was all two men could do
to bulge them. And we had to carry
them; they would not let US roll them.
We were so cold and hungry that even
that exercise did not warm us.
About 2 80 the whistle blew again,
and the Huns picked out few men
and took them down the road. We
could not figure out why, but they
came back about three o'clock, all of
them with bread in their arms. They
were chewing away on it when they
had a chance. Whenever the sentries
were not looking they would bite at 1T
like fish going after worm. Each
man carried five loayes.
When they got in the barracks the
sentries made them put the bread
down on the floor, and then, with
their bayonets, the sentries cut each
loaf once down the center lengthwise
and four times across, which meant
ten men to loaf about the size of an
ordinary ten-cent loaf in this country
now. They gave each of us piece
little larger than a safety-match
box.
The bread was hard and dark, and
really think they made it from trees.
1t had just exactly the same smell
that the dirt around trees has.
We filed past the sentries single file
| to get our ration of this mud, and
there was no chance Of getting in line
twice, for we had to keep on filing
until we were out in the road, and
stand there in the snow to eat it. We
could not go back in the barracks I'M
til every man had been served.
Our meals were like this: A can of
barley coffee in the morning cabbage
soup, SO called. at noon: a tenth of a
loaf of bread at 8 p. m. That was
our menu day in and day out, the
kaiser's birthday, Lincoln's. May day.
or any other time.
This cabbage soup was a great idea.
We called it shadow soup, because the
boys claimed they made it by hanging
a cabbage over barrel Of water and
letting the shadow fall on the water.
| We pretended. too. that if you found
any cabbage in it, you could take your
dish back for second helping. But
1 never saw anybody get more than
one dishful. All it was, was just
spoiled water.
We tried to go to sleep that night
but there were so many sentries
around us-and those of us who were
not sick were wounded-that do not
think man of US really slept. After
while asked sentry If could GO
outside for minute, but for some rea.
son he would not let me. had diff.
ferent ideas about it, so / stood
around near the door, and when he
turned his back out went and around
the corner of the barracks.
But one of the sentries there saw
me and blew his whistle, and guard
of eight came up from somewhere and
| grabbed me. l tried to explain, but ii
was no use, because every time l said
| word it meant another swat over
the ear, SO finally gave it up.
Then they drilled me across the
road to the officers quarters. There
were three officers there, and each OF
them asked me questions about all