The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1919-01-18

a hydrant outside of the barracks, and
for while we drank it. But after
several of the boys had gone west
and we could not figure out why,
man told us he thought the water was
poisoned, and a Russian doctor, who
was prisoner, slipped us word about
it also. So, after that, very few of
us drank water from the hydrant. /
was scared stiff at first. because I had
had some Of the water, but after that
I did not touch hydrant water.
It was a good thing for us that
there was always plenty of snow In
Germany, and even luckier that the
Huns did not shoot us for eating 1t.
1t was about the only thing they did
not deprive us Oft was not verboten.
I thought knew what tough coolies
were, in the trenches, but they were
regular mollycoddles compared to the
pets we had in the prison camps. After
we boiled our clothes we would be
free from them for not more than two
hours, and then they would come
back, with re-enforcements, thirsting
for vengeance.
The camp at Neustrelitz was sur
rounded by big dogs, which were kept
just outside the barbed wire. We had
them going all the time. Every once
in while, some fellow would make
an awful racket, and the next thing
we knew, there was Fritz coming like
shot, with musket at his hip, just
us they carry them in a charge, and
blowing whistles at each other until
they were blue in the face. When
ever they thought some one was es-
Gaping, they ran twice as fast as I
ever saw them run, except when the
Foreign Legion was on their heels
at Dixmude.
When they got up to the dogs, they
would first talk to them and then kick
them, and after that, they would rest
their rifles on the wire and yell
"Zuruck /" at us. We all enjoyed this
innocent pastime very much, and We
were glad they had the dogs.
There were some things the Huns
did that you just could not explain.
For instance, one of the Russians
walked out of the kuche, as we We're
passing, and we heard a bang! and
the Russian keeied over and went
west. Now, we had not done anything
and the other Russians said -hhe--sspa
behaved himself. worked hard and had
| never had any trouble. They just
killed him, and that is all there was to
| 1t. But not one Of us could figure
out why.
After we had been at Neustrelitz
for three weeks, they drilled us out Of
the camp to railway station, and
| stood us In the snow for four hours
waiting for the train. We were ex-
hausted and began falling, one by
one, and each time one of us fell, the
sentries would yell, "Nicht krankw
and give us the rifle butt. We had
our choice Of standing up and dying
or falling down and being killed, and
1t was fine choice to have to make.
The cars finally pulled in, and as
usual, the windows were smashed, the
doors open, and the compartments Just
packed with snow. When we saw this,
we knew we were going to get worse
treatment, even, than we had been
getting, and many Of US wanted to die
1t had not been unusual for some Of
the men to tell the Germans to shoot
them too, and it seems as though 1t
was always man who wanted to live
who did get It and went west.
However, all of us nearly got killed
when we reached Wittenberg. When
the train stopped there, we saw biz
wagonload of sliced bread on the sta
ton platform and we all stared at 1t.
We stood it as long as we could, and
then we made rush for At. But when
we got nearer, we saw that there were
four sentries guarding it and four
women issuing it out to the German
soldiers. They would not give us any,
of course.
So we stood around and watched the
| GdL IL, Wuilc LliSy anu Lie WOliCii
laughed at us, and pretended that
they were starving and would groan
and rub their stomachs and say,
"Nichts zu essen" to each other, and
then grab a big hunk Of bread and
eat it. What we did not say to them
was very little indeed. We were GER
tainly wild If any men ever were.
Then some of us said we We're 90.
ing to get some of that bread If we
went west for it. So we started q
fight, and while they were attending to
some Of us, the others grabbed and hid
all the bread they could. They rousted
us back into the cars and we were
Just starting to divide up the bread
when they caught us with it and took
it away. We were wilder than ever
then, but we could not do anything.
1t got colder after we left Witten-
berg, and the snow blew into the cars
through the windows and doors until
we were afraid to sleep for fear OF
freezing. 1t was the worst night
have ever seen, and the coal bunISers
, on the Yarrowdale seemed like a pal.
, ace compared to the compartments