| Show II MERICAN SEAMAN LONG ONG PRISONER IN GERMAN CAMPS I ack lack to U. U us u.s. S. S He Says Men MenI Are Dying Ding Y of Neglect e lect I and III Treatment I EW w YORK July Tuly 1 Believe me ie's ies some queen to look upon said dward L. L Johnson speaking of Miss berty He had been entertained in inri rf ri extremely frugal way by the Gerans GerI Ger- Ger I ans ns most of the time in the British camp of Berlin and land Johnm John John- id Just reached his native taken pris- pris J m an able seaman was er luer of ot war by the on August 1914 1919 and since that time he has been ring ying to get away to Paterson N. N J J. J here here seemed to be a fear that Mrs would have something to say husband concerning his protract- protract 1 t absence and Johnson hinted that iw w he was free back In the land ofIe of Ie e Stars and Stripes the fighting uld cease In Europe Johnson is at present abiding at the Daman's amans Church Institute 25 South reel reet In the meantime he Is full fun of rath against Prussians and their ays as of feeding prisoners rs of using the itts of their rifles and so forth He lie lowed a passport and other proof tock to ick ck where hes he's been The story held helid he heId Id lid was heard by several persons and appeared well wen satisfied with withe e e food and coffee corree that was set before th m at luncheon time Youve You've got to let me have my head t this tl ls yarn said the sailor It It ain aint t Try pry ry day that I come back to America th the tale of a prison camp and what e Germans do Im I'm an American but at at did not count for much over there the till I got free and I suppose I should grateful for that eh eh is Last Voyage I I was a lamp trimmer A. A B B. aboard chartered from Liverpool ie its e a rm by the Hamburg-American Hamburg line If hadn't been for a part load of Rusan Rusan Rusin Rus- Rus in an peas I might never have been ld Id in the blessed place The a vessel of tons and the big- big st t British ship held there I haden h had haden d den d'en en at sea se-a for thirty years and had solved that It should be my last voy- voy e. e It was and you'll not wonder fen ien len I get through On August 1 1 1914 when we hadam hadam had hadam am tp tip up and were going to fo take a I once ance ance on the Russian peas the Gerins Gerins Germs Ger Ger- ins ms came aboard and held us back thing doing they told us on beating away wa So with Captain the I lef mate whose name Ive I've for forgotten otten cond md Mate Andersen and Third Mate l and several other men I was wasen wasten ten cen en over to an old hulk There w were re reto 10 to 0 men aboard her mostly Russians e was docked in Hamburg We Ve were ed like dogs I never was so pushed put in all my life Why Vhf the smell of 3 cooking was enough to make malte a dog i J k Nobody could eat at anything Thea Theis' Theis The is' is feet w waked away from your plate pre you had time to stick your fork p 9 them So you can guess what life Ufe is tS like to us Im I'm not used to feeding the Astoria Waldorf-Astoria or Delmonico's t now and again I like Uke to enjoy what eat at And when I say something's Hen you can bet your our sweet life Ufe that ire Cre re must have been something wrong out it eh How glorious It was when some of se Ise Germans ordered us off the hulk a were ready to run It was then tober 6 They took us away early earlye e e morning We got to Berlin in the ht without one thing thing- to eat and only ter to drink It was 10 o'clock when Were were marched Into camp was told to find us a place sleep In We could not sleep beuse beuse beuse be- be use we were so hungry It was next orning at breakfast time that we got lilt bit to eat But dont don't think that we out with grape fruit seated onI on I uble le violets special cereal with earn earn eggs and bacon and coffee coffee oh oh i That was what we wanted What idid did get was plain coffee bad at that milk or sugar with it and a pretty all piece of black bread bread black black as the fee ought to have been Even that thatis is s better than what we had on boarde boardo board o e hulk at Protests Ve 7 we were lined up and cr cr anden and andon on en counted again I told them that vas vas Nas American said it softly shouted and yelled it All An I heard back was sneering English They scoffed at ato 9 o word They seemed to hate it and th It they hated me JAs As s I had only had one one slim break break- st In two days I was eager to see mt at the lunch affair would bring j rth My hopes were blasted How uld mid you like to be ready to eat cat arse a arse arse and have served to you cabbage t sh h and a piece of black bread AIst Al Alst Al- Al st makes you feel as If vou you did lId Lily illy want to give up this habit of tang ung You began to feel that in the st t you had made a pig of yourself wever I looked to the future future din r r- r rIt It was some shock when I d that I had had that in the middle I he e d day y The third and last meal meals meala s a fine looking menu Here It is ea ea and bread the latter black Jt It it was some time before those ends of mine in Liverpool and Dun- Dun started to send things or maybe Germans held them back hack because nV i 7 believed that I was lying and not American at all lYou ou ate your meals with a soldier ying about with a fixed bayonet on ont t end nd of his gun There was no doubt to ho what he would have liked to do that bayonet before the war was a e e track Now there the are twenty- twenty nt ht W wooden den places they call caIl barr barracks t We He were used like dogs M. M C. C A A. A Helped Some 1 I had no papers with me Why I I had been shipwrecked cue gee e times In seven years It never u ed to me that the worst jobbing jo Pu get would be right in ey cy ey started a Y M M. C. C A. A in the camp i 1 d that helped matters a bit bite bit But But m Betimes e in the middle of winter if 1 wanted wanted warm clothes they'd make w U u Walt wait until you ou nearly froze to H h The Germans did not care It 8 one e less prisoner for them to It U was on the kaisers kaiser's birthday that e ne fellow in digging around the staff which they had hoisted the flag cut halyards with his spade and the x came down The Germans looked fn to and then fierce There was a lot whispering among the soldiers and more by the officers Next n 5 I knew was that all an mail mall was wa Died ed for three weeks Whey hey did everything they could to make us mis mis- erable In In the morning they'd pull pun the bedclothes bedclothes bedclothes bed bed- clothes off and yell Raus mit that's mt-that's that's the language Ive I've been bossed by for nearly two years I 1 dont don't understand German and maybe its it's a good thing for me that I did not Ive I've been kicked though Once I was hit with the buttof butt buttof buttof of a gun and had to be taken to the hospital Its precious when you come back hack here after walking around In the snow with your hands as deep In your pockets as you can get them and wooden shoes on your feet Some of the men there have been in Germany for many years The German commander COmmander commander com COm- mander calls us out for fire drill The orders were translated through the captains who were prisoners Now and again they pull pun this kind of thing Whoever is in sympathy with Germany Germany Germany Ger Ger- many can step out Men l knew that would mean that they could go around Berlin practically free Who stepped I out Just one negro When I thought of the food and of what I was going through I was half way willing to ste ste. st stout stes out but to say Bay that I was actually In sympathy with Germany was something something something some some- thing different I had been fighting to get that passport passport pass passport pass pass- port for months and months I spoke about it to Mr Gerard yes Gerard yes I did the did the American ambassador I 1 guessed ID U tt must have slipped his mind that Edward Edward Edward Ed Ed- ward L. L Johnson was with the British in Camp Maybe too he hp had a lot of people telling him hini that who were born in the land of the free Preacher to the Rescue On November 8 1915 things began to look brighter Hanged If I 1 didn't I finally get et a chance to sign my passport passport passport pass pass- port but it was not the one that I got ot otaway away with A clergyman came to the tho camp I told him my story the same samo one that I 1 had rammed into every everyman's everyman's mans man's head who would listen to me I asked him to send a message forme for forme formo me mo to the embassy of the United States and offered him 5 sterling to todo todo todo do it it He lie would not take the money but said he would do his best Soon I 1 got this word Mr 11 Johnson your passport Is on its way and as soon asit as asIt asit It comes it will be handed to you you It was from the American ambassador T 1 went out soon after that to get the passport Do you think that I could be trusted without a soldier Nothing doing I had one with a fixed bayonet as I went along the street Finally I did get away in a train for Holland HoIland with marks When I got to the border after having haYing been all that time In the prison camp they stripped me to see what I 1 was wa carrying through They had charged me double fare before that but hut I would have given anything to get away Men are dying there through neglect and abuse One man who died was a jockey and another was a captain and several others were sailors They stick the needle into you for anything I had six ninety-six hypos hypo in me mo Johnson recognized an an old friend at this Instant and shouted Ho Ro Jim TIm Blimey BUrney Ed said the Briton Excuse me said Johnson but I Iguess Iguess Iguess guess I can got t some more of this off my chest to Jim f He e ought to have been there instead of me |
