Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-06-06
Seven Americans
Suffering in
BOlshevist Prisons

PreSS) .-The plight OF seven AHierl-
cans, one of them a woman. held by
the Bolsheviki in prisons on various
charges. is worse today than at any
time since they were taken into cts
tody, in the opinion of Captain Merton
c. Cooper, of Jacksonville. Fla. who
escaped recently from one of the
camps near Moscow. Captain Cooper
at the time of his capture was COM
mander of the KoscuiszRo air squad
ron of the Polish army.
Life in a bolshevik prison camp is
matter of physical endurance as to
the length of time one is able to hold
out if 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 it hadn't been for outside aid
from time to time.
Captain Cooper said he, was on the
verge of starvation several times,
members of a British railway mission
who were also prisoners coming to
his rescue with food in one instance
and, on other occasions, eatables hav-
ing been sent him by foreign welfare
organizations.
! The food ration Of the average camp
follows:
Morning-Imitation coffee, half
pound of black bread, spoonful sugar
| Noon-Two spoonfuls cooked mush
made of cereal resembling bird seed.
| Night-Cup of hot soup. A small
amount of potatoes and a piece of
Iar
were served on an average of about
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 Mi
hiel 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 Bal
timore, writer, arrested nearly two
years ago, is in the prison where for
cigners under investigation by the ex-
traordinary commission are held.
Conditions in this place are said by
the prisoners to be the worst of any
prison in all Russia.
Estey (unidentifed) and William
Flick, moving picture operators, were
in the same prison near Moscow where
Mrs. Harrison is confined.
Thomas Hazelwood of San Francis
co, 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. accused of
being a spy, has been held nearly three
years, most of the time having been in
solitary confinement. Originally, Kali
emantiano was sentenced to be shot.
Cooper heard. but later this was COM
muted to 20 years Imprisonment and
at last accounts the sentence had
been reduced to five years. Kaleman-
t!ano claims that he went to Russia
strictly in connection with business.
Another American held by the Boil
shcviki is Royal c. Keely. civil en-
sineer arrested early last year after
ne 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-
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 Kelly
had been sentenced to two yeara' inn
prisonment
The last American to be arrested
was Emmett Fitzpatrick. of Uniontown,
Pa, taken last fall in the Crimea
where he had gone as an American
Red Cross worker. Fitzpatrick is ac-
cused of being military observer
for the United States government Kill
patrick and Cooper were prisoners to-
gether three months. Fitzpatrick con-
tends he has never had trial and that
he has been denied the privilege of
outside assistance.
Fitzpatrick told me that he was en-
gagged in humanitarian work in the
Crimea as an official of the American
Red Cross and that he carried an
American passport giving him the
right to travel in the capacity of a
welfare worker" Captain Cooper said
He said he felt that death would
come within the next few months if
compelled to exist upon the ration
issued by the Soviet authorities. So
far as l know none of the Americans
were receiving outside aid at the time
l last heard of them and the condition
of each. judging from what I heard
from time to time. was most pitiful.
Fitzpatrick was in poor condition
when I saw him last though still keep
ing up his nerve and he felt thorough
ly confident that the American gov