The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-04-15
BOLSHEV|K IAILS
 ARE DUNGEONS OF
 SEVERE TORTURES
Alleged UnruIy Prisoners Are Further Punished By Being Locked in Darkened Cells
 With Hungry Rats
By Associated Press

%ASoCN1t1oNA T
 Berlin, April 9.-Bolshevik prison methods lack all clements of deceny and civilization. says M. Schwartz, California socialist and labor leader, who, with hls wife. was thrown into bolshevist prisons in Moscow for four months after he had failed to voice approval of the bolshe- vist government His wife died of the effects of a hunger strike started while in prison, as he has made known in pre- vious statements.
 My first two months in prison were the worst" MT. Schwartz said after ar irving in Berlin. My wife, who coulo not speak a word of any language but English, was taken from me. I did not know whether she was in the same prison, or what had become of her. could not get word of satisfaction from any of the prison officials.
 There was a small peephole in the door of my cell which opened into the main corridor. This had a little slide warning the inmates of the cell that they would be placed in solitary confinement if they peeked out into the corridor.
 FULL OF VEMIN
 Many times a day footsteps passed the door. To the horror of other men in the cell with me, occasionally moved the slide the least bit in the hope oi getting a glimpse of my poor wife. l became bolder and bolder. The corridor was so dark it was difficult to recognize the people who were passing.
 Finally, in sheer desperation, pushed the slide far back one day when light footsteps were audible. To my horror the eye of the guard almost touched mine. He opened the door and asked me if I could read Russian. I admitted I could and explained that my anxiety about my wife was responsible for the violation of regulations
 T was immediately taken to a dark cell in the cellar. It was full of hungry rats Water and sewer pipes ran all around the walls. and there was so much gas that I felt I was choking. I began pounding on the door, but the guard warned me not to and threatened to put me into a still lower cell if I didn't keep quiet.
 At the end of three hours I was so badly overcomefby the gas that pounded on the door in desperation and asked to see the commissar who was in charge of the prison. The guard was apparently uneasy about my condition and called the commissar.
 MOVED BY APPEAL
 T told the commissar my anxiety about my wife and asked him if he would not have peeped through the hole under the same condition. He was moved by my appeal and asked me if I would promise not to repeat the offense if he let me back into my old cell.
 You may be sure I promised, and l kept my promise. I had companions in my old cell and there weren't any rats and gas there. can't tell you how horrible it is to be confined alone. Even if one's companions have no common language, human companionship makes cell more endurable. Solitary confine- ment, such as my wife endured for two months, is the most horrible punishment that can be inflicted.
 Think of a cultivated. refined Amer ican woman being treated as she was by the bolshevists! It is no wonder that her constitution was so undermined by her jail experiences that she died shortly after we were released. But her blood is on the hands of Lenine and Trotzky and Chitcherin, foreign minister. She appealed to them repeatedly for a hear ing, and so did I. She finally effected our release by her hunger strike, but her strength was not sufficient to survive the awful agony she endured'