Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1921-07-28
ANkSSTARvINC
IN RED PRISONS
jacksonville Man Who Escaped
Tells OF Suffering.
CONDITIONS WORSE Than EVER

Life in Bolshevik Prison Camp Is a
Matter of Physical Endurance as to
Length of Time One Is Able to Hold
Out If Compelled to Live on Food
Furnished by Soviets-Bread Worse
Than That Served by Germans in
Last Days Of War.
The plight Of seven Americans, one
a woman, held by the bolsheviki in
prisons on various charges, is worse
today than at any time since they
were taken into custody, in the opinion
Of Capt. Merton G. Cooper Of Jackson
vile, Fla, who escaped recently from
one Of the camps near Moscow. Capt.
Cooper at the time Of his capture was
commander Of the Kosciusko air squad
ron Of the Polish army.
Life in a bolshevik prison camp is
a 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," Capt. Coop
er said. All of the Americans would
have died long ago, Cooper believes, il
1T hadn't been for outside aid from
time to time.
Capt. Cooper said he was on the
verge of starvation several times, mem
bers Of a British railway mission, who
also were prisoners, coming to his
rescue with food in one instance and,
on other occasions, eatables having
been sent him by foreign welfare
organizations.
The Food Ration.
The food ration of the average camp
follows:
Observation-Disclosures coffee half pound
black bread, spoonful Of sugar.
Noon-Two %spoonfuls of cooked
mush made Of cereal resembling bird
seed.
Night--Cup of hot soup. A small
amount of potatoes and a. piece Of
meat, served on an average of about.
twice a month.
The black bread, according to Coop
er, who, as an aviator with the first
American army, was captured by the
Germans during the ST. Mihiel drive,
is far worse than the bread served BY
the Germans even during the last few
weeks Of the war.
Mrs Marguerite q. Harrison OF
Baltimore, a 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
the prisoners to be the worst of any
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 Hardwood Of San Francis
co, a United States soldier captured in
Siberia, was in a prison hospital.
Hardwood never has been sentenced,
as he has been under medical treat
ment most of the time for frequent
attacks Sof illness.
U. of C.. Graduate Held.
x. P. K~alemantiano. a graduate Of
the University of Chicago accused of
being a spy, has been held nearly three
years, most Of this time having been
in solitary confinement. Originally,
Kalemantiano was sentenced to be shot.
Cooper heard, but later this was COM
muted to twenty years Imprisonment
and at last accounts the sentence had
been reduced to five years. Kaleman-
tiano claims he went to Russia strictly
in connection with business.
Another American held by the boil
sheviki is Royal C. Keely. a civil engi-
neer, arrested early last year after he
had completed an industrial survey Of
Russia for the soviet government. Ac-
cording to various persons who have
come from Russia during the last year,
Keely was imprisoned because he
aroused the wrath of the soviets by
writing aplain truth in his reports. al
though they were submitted to no one
except soviet authorities. Recent re-
ports said KeelY had been sentenced
to two years Imprisonment.
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 Sac-
cnsed Of being a military observer for
the United States government. Kill
patrick and Cooper were prisoners TO
gether three months. Fitzpatrick con-
tends he never has had q trial and that
he has been denied the privacy Of out
side assistance.
Cooper was charged With being d
counter re~volutionist and was d prison
er nine months He escaped from Mos
COW to Riga, travelling most az the
distance on foot.
May MuxzIe Roosters OF Growing Age.
A resolution that policemen be re-
quired to take q census OF all roosters
of .crowing age within the city limits
has been Introduced III the borough
council of Glen Ridge. nj II, by VIII
liam Peek. Councilman Peck favors
al ordinance requiring all ROSTERS Of
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