Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-01-05
by KENNETH J. DOTY.


North American Newspaper Alliance.
After II DAYS in the guardhouse at
Decra following our capture as de-
sNrierS we we're taken out anu
chained two hV Two, one mans left
wrist to the others right. and sent W.
Ia Damascus in care Of 4 company
ccudarmr.
We were marched to the citadel.
searched. questioned again. The
prison was a large room cut into
ruhicies with wooden partitions John
Harvey and ! We're put into one Of
these WeiSSer and Lass into another.
The building was the old Turkish
citadel. 1t must have dated hack to
the Middle Ages We were in one Of
the towers. There We're no windows.
Light and ventilation came through
deep loopholes used originally by
arChers defending the citadel.
Cells Are Crowded.
1t was $50 in the afternoon when
we We're put into our cells. 1t was
sitting hot. The place was crowded
with Syrians, Arabs. Druse. Sena.
galese Tunisians. Algerians, Moroc.
cans and FrenChmen. The Legion
was we'll represented. There were 80
of us there.
This was the central prison of the
military police. Hence the crowd.
They were in for every conceivable
crime One Syrian bandid told me-
proudly he had killed 20 gendarmes.
He was only 16 They hanged him
a week later In the public square. 4
couple of Syrians were serving 100
year sentences for furnishing informa-
ton TO the enemy, for rebellion and
other military crimes.
Outside the main cell was the death
cell. There We're IL men In IL. They
We're all Syrians from Damascus.
They had been mixed up i'm lighting
i'm The Gardens. They were all very
cheerful about II. and seemed 10
regard approaching death lightly. =.
Like all prisons in Syria, the place
was infested with all the insect pests.
our routine was simple. At 430 in
the morning a gendarme got us up by
heating on the wooden wall with his
riding crop. We had coffee. and were
driven up onto the roof for exercise.
At $50 a 20gallon bucket of soup APP.
peared. with inches of grease on
top of IL. This soup generally con.
tanned a few beans or ientils. and IL
YOU We're lucky Won drew a couple.
1t was ladled into our gamelles with
a piece OF foul looking meat. We
had a half-loaf OF bread Bad as it
was. 1t was the best OF our food. ]
couldn't eat the stuff. / managed to
buy with my remaining money some
chocolate the cook boiled for us.
Bath Is Welcomed.
We remained on the roof until
40. Then We had the same meal
again. and at O'Clock we were taken
1..~n .s..Hh L. sI...kE
were taken down TO sleep. Actually.
We spent great part of the time pur
suing the invisible enemy. Once a
week We were taken down 10 the river
which runs beneath the citade! and
allowed to wash our clothes. Once q
week we had a hot shower. Harvey
and ! were glad enough about this,
hnt the natives didn't share our en-
thusjasm. The gendarmer used to
have TO drive them TO il. believe
some OF these bandits got the frs;
hath OF their lives the day they went
10 prison.
We did most OF our sleeping In the
day. When the bugs didn't keep W.
awake. the card players and hasheesh
smokers did. All the natives are great
gamblers. They would range around
in a circle lighted by candles and
play some native card game until one
OF the men arose and threw the cards
in a players face. They would be at
each others throats in n minute. the
whole gang chaitering like monkeys
In would come the geDdarmes and
beat them over the heads with riding
crops. This happened three or four
times a night.
If ii wasn't the card games 1t was
the smokers. They got hssheesh
some way or another. This they
either smoked or drank In their ten.
~ seemed to have exactly the Ma ~"
effect az bo0Ze on them. Some sang.
athers fought. The best Of the l0t
went 10 sleep The poet who wrote
The Night Has Thousapd Eyes"
didn't know Syria. He mean; n
thousand noises.
Consul Arrives.
had been In the citadel about a
week when MIR. keeIey. American
consul. looked me up. a newspaper
corfesfsD ndent | had met at Sueida
had gent story announcing I was Ia
be shot by the council of war We
never had amy such fear. Nobody
"lll believe me when ] say that
neither The Legion nor the French IN
general shoot dasetters except in
"ases of desettion In the face Of the
enemy. We knew we w0uId he
punished II we were caught. hut WE
never expected it would be- ANYTHING
worse ihan a couple Of years In
prison.
The first news my parents had 81
my plight Vas through the core.
sDGHdents dispatch. ny father had
"abied Mr.. Kelley, who himself
L.