East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1921-06-06
Life in BolShevik Prison Camp
is Matter Of Physical Endur-
anCe Captain Cooper Says.

MAREssssasw. June e.--CA. P.)--The
plight OF seven Americans, one OF
them woman, held by the bolsheyilS
IN prisons on various charges, is worse
today than at any time since they
were taken Into custody. in the opinion
OF Captain Merton c. Cooper of Jack
sonvilie. Fla, who escaped recently
from one of the camps near Moscow
Captain Cooper at the time of his
capture was commander OF the Kos
cuiszko air squadron of the Polish
army.
Life in bolshevk prison camp Is a
matter Of physical endurance as to the
length of time one is able To hold ons
II compelled to live upon the food
furnished by the soviets. Captain
Cooper said. All Of the Americans
would have died long ago. Cooper be-
lieves, If IL hadn't been for outside
aid from time 10 time.
Captain Cooper said he was on the
verge OF starvation several times.
members Of a British railway mission
who we're also prisoners coming to his
rescue with food in one instance and
on other occasions, eatables having
been sent him by foreign welfare or
ganizations.
The food ration Of the average camp
follows:
Morning-Imitation coffee. half
pound black bread, spoonful sugar.
Nooh-Two spoonfuls cooked mush
made OF cereal resembling bird seed.
Ntght--Cup of hot soup. A small
amount of potatoes and a piece of
meat usually not larger than an egg.
twice a month.
The black bread, according to
Cooper. who, as an aviator with the
First American army. was captured by
the Germans during the Saint Aiihiel
drive, is far worse than the bread
served by the Germans even during
the last few weeks of the war.
Mrs Marguerite e. Harrison OF
Bali.more, writer, arrested nearly
two years ago. is in the prison where
foreigners under investigation by the
extraordinary commission are held
Conditions in this place are said by
prison in all Russia
Estey (unidentified) and William
Flick, moving picture operators, were
in the same prison near Moscow where
Mrs. Harrison is confined.
Thomas Hazelwood of San Francis
CO, a United States soldier captured in
Siberia, was in prison hospital.
Hazelwood has never been sentenced
as he has been under medical treat
ment most Of the time for frequent at
tacks of illness.
X. p. Kalemantiano, a graduate of
the University of Chicago. having been
accused of being a spy, has been held
nearly three years, most of this time
having been in solitary confinement.
Originally, Kalemantiano was sem
fenced to be shot, Cooper heard but
later this was commuted to 20 years
imprisonment and at last accounts the
sentence had been reduced to five ,
years. Kalemantiano claims that he
went to Russia strictly in connection
with business
Another American held by the boil |
sheviki is Royal c. Keely, a civil en-
gtneer. arrested early last year after
he had completed an industrial survey |
of Russia for the soviet government. /
According to various persons who /
have come from Russia during the
last year Keely was imprisoned be- 1
cause he aroused the wrath of the So |
viets by writing the plain truth in /
his reports. although they were sub |
mitted to no one excepting soviet au-
thorities. Recent reports said KeeIy
had been sentenced to two years i'm
prisonment
The last American to be arrested
was Emmett Fitzpatrick. Of Uniontown.
Pa. taken last fall in the Crirnea
where he had gone as an American