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Show Albert KDepe EX-GUNNER AND CHIEF PET fOFICERrUrSNAvV ' MEMBEK OF THE FOREIGN LEGION OF FRANCE CAPTAIN GUN TURRET, FRENCH BATTLESHIP CASSAKD WINNER OF THE CROIX DE GUERRE ? 'CewV. I"l by Rcjy ml BmuNl Co-. Threogh Son:.1 Amnantn. Wah ih. Gcoajc , WW AJiml Savx. afterward wiih to lullt about IiIh vlHlt mill what hi' IiihI mild lo tlii'iii. Wo know Mr. Gerard lind not llm Germany (() IMIllltl Conditions lll'UlT III HOIIM! Of tlni worst helbholes In Germany mid tho men were always glad when he (Mini! iirounil. Tiny I'i'll. they lind something some-thing Ix-t 1 it to look forward to mill Hiiinii rrllcf from tin- iiwful misery. Mr. Gerard wiih passing through the French barracks iind a mini I knew Micro told 1 1 iii Micro wiih iin American Micro. Tho (JcnniiiiH did not wind lilm to hco inc. lint lie put up mi argument wllh tins commanding olllccr lind tlicy finally Hiild lie could Interview me. I never wiih ho Kind to hco iinyono ns I wiih to see lit in. The picture Ih hMII wllh mi! of tilm coming In tlio door. Wo tnllteil for iiliout nn hour iind a half, I guess, and then he Rot up to go nnd lie wild I would lienr from him In nbout three weckH. Juxt think what good iicwh that wiih to mol They let mo out of tin; k"i rdliouso and I cclehrntod by dolus all the dinn-n dinn-n KO to German sentries that I could do. The men In the camps went wild when they learned Mint Ambassador Gerard was Micro, for they wild ho wan t ho only man In Germany they could tell their troubles to. The reason wan that ho was strong for the men, no mailer what nationality, and put hl.s heart into the work. I am one of those who cannot Hay enough good things about him. Like many others, If It had not been for Mr. Gerard I would be knput by now. A few days after MiIh I wiih hIow again as we wore marching to the bread house nnd the guard at the door tripped mo. When I fell I hurt my wounds, which made me hot. Now I had decided, on thinking It over, that tho bent thing to do was to be good, since I was expecting to be released, nnd I thought It would bo tough luck to be killed Just before I was to be released. lint I had been In the American Amer-ican navy and any garby of tho U. S. A. would have done what I did. It must be tho training we get, for when a dirty trick Is pulled off on us we get very nervous nround the hands nnd aro not always nble to control them. So I wont for the sentry nnd walloped wal-loped him in the Jaw. Then I received his bayonet through the fleshy part of tho forearm. Most bayonet wounds that we got wore In the nrm. But other times trying to pick a fight. It was all (inn to iui : I Just wauled something some-thing to do. I found what I wanted, all right. I had (pillo a talk wllh a sentry In front of n barracks. It must have lasted Mirec-ipiiirti is of an hour. I Id did not know what I wiih calling him, and I did not know what ho wiih calling call-ing me. I could have handled him nil right, but another Hcnlry canio up on my blind side and grabbed mo and tho talk wiih over. They dragged mo to the commander of the camp nnd ho Instructed them to give mo a bath. So they took mo to tho bathhouse, whero I was stripped and lashed. All tho time they were whipping mo I wiih thinking what a Joke It wan on mo, because I had boon looking for excitement and had got more than I wauled, so I laughed and tho II mis thought I was crazy sure. I was dumped Into a vat of hot water and at the same time my clothes were given a boiling, which was good for them. Then I was forced Into my wot clothes and marched back to the barracks. bar-racks. This bath and the stroll through the snow In wet clothes Just about did for me. Nowadays, when I sit in a draft for a second and catch cold, I wonder that I am still alive to catch It. Having gone through Dli-mudo Dli-mudo and the Dardanelles nnd the sinking of the Goorgle and four German Ger-man prison camps and a few other things I shall probably trip over a liolo In a church carpet and break my nock. Thnt would be my luck. There were nil the diseases you enn think of In this camp, including black cholera and typhus and somebody wns nlwnys dying. We had to make colllns from any wood we could find. So it was not long before we were using the dividing boards from our bunks, pieces of flooring nnd. In fact, the walls of tho barracks. Tho officers were quartered quar-tered In corrugated Iron barracks, so thoy hnd to borrow wood from us for their coffins. We would make the box nnd put the body In it, give it as much service as we could, In the way of prayers and hymns, and put It awny In a hole near the barracks. There was so much of It that a single death passed unnoticed. One morning the German sentries came to our barracks they never came 6lngly and told us that nn officer offi-cer wns going to review the prisoners and ordered us to muster up, which we did. I was the last man out of the barracks bar-racks nnd on nccount of my wounds I wns slower Minn the rest. You understand I had hnd no medlcnl treatment except crepe-paper bandages ban-dages nnd wnter; my wounds had been opened by swimming from the Georglc to the Moewo nnd they had been put In terrible shnpe In the coal bunkers. On account of the poor food nnd lack of treatment thoy had not even started to heal. Incidentally, the only cloth bandages that any of us had were what we would tear from our clothes and I have seen men pick up an old dirty rag that someone else hnd had nround his wound for a long time and bandage his own wounds with it. So it wns all I could do to drag myself my-self along. The officer noticed thnt I was out of line nnd Immediately nsked my name and nationality. When he heard "American" lie could not sny enough things about us nnd called me nil the swine names he could think of. I was pretty thin at this time nnd getting thinner, so I figured I might Just as well have it out before I starved. Besides, I thought, he ought to know that we are not used to being bawled out by German swine in this country. So I told hlra so. And I said that he should not bawl Americans out, because be-cause America was neutral. He then said that as Amerlcn supplied food and munitions to the allies she was no better bet-ter than the rest. Then I said : "Do you remember the Deutscliland? When she entered Baltimore Bal-timore and New London she got all the cargo she wanted, didn't she?" "Yes." "Well, if you send over your merchant mer-chant marine they will get the same." For that answer he pave me ten days in the guardhouse. He did not like to be reminded that their merchant murine mu-rine had to dive under to keep away from the Limeys. I admit I was pretty flip to this officer, of-ficer, but who would not be when a slick German swine officer bawled him out? It was while I was in the guardhouse thnt Mr. Gerard, the American ambassador, ambas-sador, visited the camp. He came to this camp about every six months, as a rule. Even in the German prison camps the men had somehow got Information Infor-mation about Mr. Gerard's efforts to improve the terrible surroundings in which the men lived. Some of the men nt Dulmen had been confined in various vari-ous other camps and they told me that when Mr. Gerard visited these camps all that the men did for a week or so days. Thoy thought nothing of pick-1 lug a tight with a sentry and giving lilm a good battle, even though ho was armed with rlllo and bayonet. Wo' soon learned that unless his pals aro nround n Gerniau will not stand by his arguments with his lists. In other words. If he can outtalk you, ho will beat you up, but If ho cannot, It Is a case of "Hero comes llelnlo Kolug back." Tho Russian prisoners nt Dulmen wero certainly a miserable looking bunch. They spent most of their time wandering around the Russian barracks, bar-racks, hunting for rotten potato peelings peel-ings and other garbage, which thoy would eat. When they saw Fritz throw out his swill, thoy would dive right through tho barbed wire one after another, and their hands and fnce nnd clothes wero nlwnys torn from It. It was unhealthy to stand between tho Russians nnd their gnrb-ngo gnrb-ngo prey they wero so speedy that nothing stopped them. One morning. Just after barley-coffee time, I came out of the barracks and saw an Australlnn arguing with the sentry. I wns not only curious, but anxious to be a good citizen, as they say, so I went up and slung an enr at them. The Australlnn hnd nsked Fritz whnt hnd been done with the flag that tho Huns were going to fly from tho Eiffel tower In Tnris. Thnt wns too 'deep for Fritz, so the Australlnn answered it himself. "Don't you know, Fritz? Well, wo have no blankets, you know." Still the sentry did not get It. So the Australian carefully explained to me so thnt Fritz could henr that the Germans had no blankets and were using the flag to wrap their cold feet in. This started a Cght, of course the German Idea of a light, that is. The sentry, being a very brave- mnn for a German, blow his whistle very loudly, and sentries enme from all directions. So we beat it to the Australian's barracks, bar-racks, and there I found the second American in the camp. He was a barber bar-ber named Stimson, from one of the Western states. He had heard I was there as well as the Boston mnn In the Canadian service, but he had been too sick to look us up, and in fact did not care whnt happened, he was so miserable. He had been wounded several sev-eral times, and died In a day or two. I never knew how he came to be In the Australian service. Those two and myself were the only-Americans only-Americans I knew of in this prison camp whether in Canadian, Australian Austra-lian or French service. The other two had been captured In uniform, so there was no chance of their being released. Dulmen was very near the Dutch border and as It was quite easy to get out of the -camp attempts at escape were frequent. Most of Miose who ran away were brought back, though. The Germans were so easy on those who tried to run away thnt I almost thought they were encouraging them. One chap was doing his ten days In the guardhouse for the sixth time while I was there that is. he had Just about completed his peTiod of detention. He claimed that the sixth time he hnd really got across the border and was arrested in a little town by the Dutch authorities and turned over to tho Germans. Ger-mans. That is against the law in most countries, but he swore it was the truth. I am not so sure, myself. He got away for the seventh time while I was at Dulmen and was not returned. Ten days in the guardhouse Is not such a light punishment after all, because be-cause water three times a day is all the prisoner received during that time, but it is pretty mild compared to some of the things the Huns do. One morning I thought for sure I was going cafard. I was Just fed up on the whole business and sick of doing do-ing nothing but suffer. So I strolled along, sticking my head into barracks doors, sometimes trying to have a talk. CHAPTER XXI. 18 A Visit From Mr. Gerard. Late that night we arrived at Dulmen, Dul-men, Westphalia. We wero rousted out of the carriages, mustered on tho platform, counted, then drilled through the streets. In spite of tho lateness, tho streets wero pretty well tilled with people, and they zig-zaggod us through nil tho streets they could, so thnt all the people would have a chance to see the crazy men, as they called us. Most of the people were women, nnd as soon as they saw us coming, they began singing the "Watch on the Rhine" or some other Gentian song, and It was funny to sea windows openiug ami fat fraus, with night-caps on, sticking tholr heads out of the windows. They would give us a quick once-over, and pipe up like a boatswain: "Sehwein-hund "Sehwein-hund Yaterland Wacht am Rheln" all kinds of things and all mixed up. So we gave them "Tipperary" and "Pack Vp Your Troubles," and showed them how to sing. Our guards had no ear for music and tried to stop us, but Miough they knocked several men down, we did not stop until we had finished the song. Then, after we hnd admitted to each other that we were not downhearted, we shut up. We would have done so, anyway, because be-cause by this time we were on the outskirts out-skirts of the town, and we needed all the breath we had. The road we were on was Just one long sheet of Ice, and we could hardly walk more than four steps witiout slipping and falling. My shoes had wooden soles, and It was Just one bang after another, with the ice and myself trying to see which could hit Mae hardest. Every Mme we fell smash 1 came a rifle over the back. I was getting pretty tired, so I said to some of the fellows that I was going go-ing to sit down and rest, and they said ttiey would also. So we dropped out and waited until the guards behind had Just about caught up with us, and tien we would go on. We did Miis several Unies until they got on to us, and we could not do it any more. Cp the road a piece I fell again, and this time I did not care what happened, hap-pened, so I Just sat there in the middle of the road until Fritz came up. Instead of giving me the bayonet, he made me take off my shoes that is, he took Uiein off of me with a knife through the strings and I had to walk the rest of Mie way in my bare feet It was about four miles altogether from Uie station to the camp. When we got near tie camp, all the boys came out of the barracks and lined up along the barbed wire, and yelled us a welcome. We asked them If they were downhearted, and they said no, and we said we were not either. eith-er. We could hardly see them, but they began yelling again when we got nearer, and asked us, "Is there anyone there from Queenstown?" and then Hull, and Portsmouth, and Dover, and Toronto and a lot of other places. I did not pay much attention until I heard, "Any Americans there?" and I yelled back, "Yes, where are you?" "Barracks 6-B, Gruppe 3." "Where from?" I yelled. "Boston. Where're you from?" "The U. S. A. and Atlantic ports. See you later." So, the next morning, I went over to his barracks and asked for the Yank. They pointed him out to me, where he was lying on the floor. I went over and laid down with hlra, and we had . quite a talk. I will not give his name here for certain reasons. He had received several wounds at the time he was taken prisoner. He had been in the Canadian service for two years. We used to talk about New York and Boston and the different differ-ent places we knew In both towns, and we also talked a lot about the rotten treatment we were receiving, and tried to cook up some plan of escape. But every one we could think of had been used by some one else, nnd either had failed, or the Huns had fixed It so the plan could not be tried again. We doped out some pretty wild schemes at . that.. Altogether, we became great pals, and were together as much as possible at Dulmen. The day I left the camp, he gave me a ring made from n shell, and told me to get it safely back to the States, but some one stole It at Brandenburg. One day while I was in his barracks an Englishman Gtepped out of the door for some reason or other, and though he did not say a word to Fritz, In two . minutes he was (lend, in cold blood, We never knew why they killed him. At Swinemunde and Neustrelitz, I must admit that tho Germans had us pretty badly buffaloed, but at Dulmen the prisoners wore entirely different. Dulmen was the receiving camp for tho whole western front, and tho prisoners pris-oners there (-'(it to ho j .rtly tniv.-h vex, as far i-:; J'r'jin was concerned, betr,!'r. ;'((-; )!:-l l;in in cnir.p many Most of Those Who Ran Away Were Brought Sack. those arms were in front of our face9 at the time. The sentries did not aim for our arms, you can bet on that. A wound of the kind I got would be noth ing more than a white streak if prop, erly attended to, but I received absolutely abso-lutely no attention for it and it was a long time in healing. At that, I was lucky; another bayonet stroke just grazed my stomach. I had been at Dulmen for three weeks when we were transferred to Brnndonburg, Havel, which is known as "the hell-hole of Germany" to the prisoners. It certainly is not too strong a name for it, either. On the way we changed trains at Osnabruck and from the station platform plat-form I saw German soldiers, open up with machine guns on the women and children who were rioting for food. CHAPTER XXII. "The Hell Hole of CermE.ny." On arriving at Brandenburg we wefe marched tho three or four miles northwest north-west to the camp. While we were being be-ing marched through the streets a woman walked alongside of us for quite a way, talking to the boys in English and asking them about the war. She said she did not believe anything the German papers printed. She said she was an Englishwoman from Liverpool and thnt at the outbreak out-break of the war not being able to get out of Germany, she and her children chil-dren had been put in prison nnd that every day for over a week they had put her through the third degree; that her children hnd been separated from her nnd that she did not know where they were. She walked along with us for several blocks until a sentry heard her say something not very complimentary to j the Germans and chased her away, j When we arrived nt the camp we were i put into the receiving barracks nnd j kept there six days. The condition of tiieso barracks was not such that you : cou'd describe if. The floor-? were ac-!!::!! ac-!!::!! lioimli!? but f:!:'.t. Very f of tile 1. miks jwr.n'm't! : M; rest lm-.i !.iv?i rn down for fuel, I -ai:;oa. cro :-. co;;t:'i ,:r ) |