Evening star., 1942-05-18
Americans Suffered
From Md|nutrition
In Italian Prison
Priest, Finally Released,
Lost Weight Rapidly
Despite Own Purchases
Bv tn, Associated Press.

Bv tn. Associated Press.
LISBON, Portugal, May l8.-
Americans homeward bound from
Rome enjoyed the freedom OF this
neutral capital today, some OF them
after months of prison or intern
ment in Italy. The repatriation
ship, the Swedish steamer Drott-
ningholm. will sail Thursday.
One of the group, the Rev. Hiram
Gruber Woolf of Elmira, N Y, rec
tor of ST. Paul's Episcopal Church
in Rome, still was thin and nervous
from nearly six months uncertainty
as to his fate in the solitude Of his
prison cell.
The minister was arrested last
November l8 and was convicted OF
espionage. He was pardoned and
owes his freedom to the exchange
of notables between washington and
the Axis capitals.
Mr.. Woolf begged of from telling
his story last night until he has
eaten his way back to health, but
part of it was available from friends
who worked hard for his release.
Lost Weight Rapidly.
The minister, once plumpish, lost
weight rapidly on the prison fare
of one bowl of thin watery soup
and a pound Of bread daily.
For a time, when authorities al
lowed him to receive money from
American friends. he was able to
supplement this diet with few pur-
chased foods and to occupy a cell
more comfortable than the one
given common criminals. But at
other times the money was withheld
He, like the six news correspond
ents who spent the first two days
of the war in the same unheateo
prison. Regina CoeH Queen OF
Heaven), suffered mostly from cold
Mentally, he suffered from having
been told the American Embassy
staff already had left Rome. He
learned it was waiting for him only
when police delivered him to the
Grand Hotel, where the diplomats
lived, or May 13 at 10 am, five
hours before the special evacuation
train left for Lisbon.
Technical Application Of Laws.
Friends were told that Mr. Woolf S
conviction was a somewhat tech
nical application Of anti-espionage
laws under which an action which
would have been overlooked in
peacetime became punishable in
wartime.
The only other Americans who
suffered malnutrition were Harold
Denny of Des Moines. Iowa, New
York Times correspondent, and Maj
Michael Buckley, United States
Army observer, who were captured
in Africa. They found prison fare
much too meager.
Americans in Italy enjoyed greater
freedom and better food, but suf-
fered the same boredom as their
colleagues in Germany. stories
snapped by the two parties dis
closed.
While Louise CTeddy) Lynch, for
mer debutante torch singer in a
night club who in private life is
the wife of Paul Getty, Los Angeles
oil man, and the newspaper cor
respondents were interned in Siena,
they were allowed the freedom OF
the city, its billiard halls, concerts,
theaters and tennis courts. They
even bicycled in the scenic Tuscan
hills.
They maintained separate club
room in their hotel where they en-
Joyed bridge, pingpong, backeam-
mon and books.
Same Food Rations.
The correspondents received the
same food rations as the italians
with meat only at the noon Satur-
day meal, but the embassy staff
which remained in Rome enjoyed
quadruple diplomatic rations with
meat twice-on Saturday and Sun
day.
The diplomats lived in three
hotels, each with plainclothes po-
lice guard outside his room or &C.
companying him when he went out
Public restaurants and amusements
were forbidden them. so that they
envied the comparative freedom oi
correspondents in Siena.
To relieve the tedium OF theil
Idle days, the embassy staff prac-
ticed archery, played catch, tossed
the medicine ball and tried croquet
in the embassy grounds.
Otherwise they played bridge OF
solitaire and listened to the radio
which Italian authorities allowed
them. Thus they kept up with the
news from home.