Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-05-31 | Page 18 | War Prison Aliens may have to Work

WAR PRISON MJEK MAY ino IRK Military Men Interested in Recent Order by Provost I Marshal General. j Although announcement was made from I Washington, D. C. some days ago to the effect that the work or fight order of ; Provost Marshal General Crowder had been applied to the interned enemy aliens i in the country, no intimation relative to I such 'plan has been officially received by j the officers of the, war prison camp at i Fort Douglas. Lack of any communication on the matter mat-ter has caused conjecture If the new or-1 or-1 der applies to prisoners of the department I of justice, su.-h as the men now held at Fort Douglas are. The Washington dispatch dis-patch said the order applied to interned enemy aliens, and spoke of a plan to put I them to work on a 40U-aere farm at Camp Dlx, N. J., but it did not specify whether or not the order would apply to j the prisoners at Fort Douglas. These men, about 30U in number, it is pointed out, are in a peculiar class by ' themselves. They are not prisoners ot war in the accepted sense of that term, nor are they military hostages such as are usually taken into custody or held under surveillance by countries at war. All of the men at the local camp are held, as a matter of fact, imprisoned by authority au-thority of presidential warrants issued upon evidence supplied to the chief executive execu-tive of the nation by the department of justice of the country. In other words, it is pointed out, they are held for the violation of some law of the land relating relat-ing to espionage. In fact, it is stated, that most of the men held at Fort Douglas are really In the spy class, such as are usually tried by military court-martial, and if found guilty are executed. Pending against all these men, however, are charges of violation vio-lation of the espionage act or some kindred kin-dred law, upon which the presidential warrants for their incarceration have been Issued. None of them lias oeen tried for the offense alleged, hence none has been convicted. Thus, the prisoners at Fort Douglas are in a similar status. It is said, to ordinary criminals arrested upon warrants and held in jail pending trial on the counts standing against them. Whether or not these men will be tried remains to be seen. The military authorities who have the responsibility of holding these prisoners in custody, do not know the nature of the charges against the individuals that caused them to be picked up and sent to the camp for incarceration, as this information in-formation is solely in the hands of the department of justice and its investigators. investiga-tors. The only information in Individual cases which the military authorities re-.coive, re-.coive, is an order for them to accept and hold the prisoner for the department of justice. Local military authorities are interested to know il the work order really applies to the prisoners held at the local camp.