Omaha daily bee., 1921-08-12
Tells
Of Hardships In
Russian Prison
Famine Largely Due to Con-
fiscation of Grain by
Soviets, Captain Kill
patrick Says.
By DONALD DAY.

Chicago Tribune Gable, Copyright, 1921.
Reval, Aug. 1l.-Having bathed,
donned fresh clothes provided by the
American Red Cross and filled them
selves with real food, the six Amer
ican just released from Russian pris-
ons are beginning to feel more like
themselves. At first the men talked
but little, asking time to adjust them
selves. Later Capt Emmett Kilpat-
rick was prevailed upon to tell OF
some of the suffering he had expert
enced.
when we were released" said the
captain, Officials told us that the
soviet had granted us an amnesty.
We did not discover the real reason
for our freedom until we reached
Petrograd There we saw news
papers, which Kamlatiano translated,
containing Hoover's note.
Il talked with men from Kuban,
Crimea, Omsk, Tomsk, Siberia and
other provinces. These men reported
that the famine was not entirely due
to the drouth, but was largely
brought about because the commu-
nists conhscated last years grain
crop, including the seed.
Fight for Food.
To-day banditry is prevalent in
Russia. Every night we could hear
fusillades in Moscow and many
wounded bandits were brought to
the hospitals. Some with whom l
talked told me they were fighting
for food. Now the Moscow hospitals
refuse patients unless they are able
to provide their own food.
''In the prison in which I was
confined, | was reported to be crafty
because I had several fist fights
with Polish prisoners who refused
to open their windows. The air in
our basement cells was terrible. The
most horrible experience which l
was forced to 60 through was when
was confined in a basement cell
next to the execution room. | was
under death sentence once and was
taken into that room. There water
runs over the floor constantly to
wash away the blood. / could not
sleep nights because of the constant
shooting between 2 and 4 in the
morning. There is more terror IN
Russia than ever before.
Questioned By Woman.
"Practically the entire staff of the
soviet foreign office arrived at the
prison one day because of intorma-
ton which had leaked out, Mrs.
Louise Bryant was brought to my
CELL She questioned me regarding
Capt. Merton Copper, saying he had
done wrong in aiding the Poles and
would be punished later. Later l
read her brutal signed article in the
Moscow Isevestia, praising the prison
treatment accorded Americans. She
told of the good food we were re-
ceiving when as a matter OF tact we
were starving. She told how all we
had to do was to sleep when we were
too weak to stand.
IF America starts relieving the
Russians I hope it will watch the
food go down the throats of the
hungry, otherwise the communists
will be the only ones to be provided
for. Already the soviet is sending
out propaganda urging that only the
fit should get food. All others must
die.
"A horrible tragedy is being en-
acted in Russia today. Prisoners
captured on the battlehelds of the
late war are rotting in prisons, all
records of them being destroyed and
their existence forgotten. They arc
now actually starving because the
quarter of a pound of bread giving
them daily is not enough to keep lite
in their bodies"