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Show i Amer icon Prisoners Suffer at Hands oi Huns I S I? . r ' . H I Germans Adopt Inhuman Acts to Bring Death i to Prisoners. j MURDER AND ROB Only Red Cross Kept Americans From Starv- gto Death I I LONDON. Nov. 29. Eight American j former prisoners of war, the first men j of this class to reach London, arrived 'hero this morning. Thoy are Corporal, Thomas Barry, Frank Butler and Cor-! , poral John Bathgate, all of New Ha-;ven; Ha-;ven; "William Lilly of Southington. ' Conn., Corporal Lech Whitehead or (Jeffroy, Ky.. William O'Sullivan of I Forestville, Conn., James Epltochelle I of North Providence. R. I., and Cor-I Cor-I poral Leroy Congleton of Philadelphia. ! All, the men are in good condition. I All tho men are members of th- 102nd infantry. They were captured I in April. Congleton was Injured in I the shoulder, Bar In the knee and Lilly I in the eye. All three men were placed ; in various hospitals but later Joined J the other prisoners who wero taken first to Conflans for a week then to DarmsUdt for five weeks, to Limburg for three months anil thou to the Op-laden Op-laden work camp. Thoy were attached attach-ed to the Friedrichsflcld camp until their release November 15. All the men said they had been forced forc-ed to work hard and were given insufficient in-sufficient food. They would have starved had it not been for tho American Amer-ican Red Cross packagqs which were 'received at long intervals. English J prisoners tried to aid them, but the , Germans' prevented this, i The men said they were supposed ! to get American Fed Cross packages weekly but they were lucky if the Germans permitted this monthly. Even ' I tho packages received, especially of1 snnn wore lnntprl nrrnrtWntr tn lhr nris- I , ! pnors. Their treatment was varied in the different camps. In Darmstadt they endured civilian insults. While working work-ing on the roads they ofton were spat jupou. After the armistice was sign- ed guards and civilians "got down on I their knees to us" they said. Limburg was called tho "mystery camp" owing to tho numerous disappearances disap-pearances of prisoners, tho fato of whom was never revoaled.. Tho Americans everywhere observed observ-ed a scarcity of men for onerous work, women doing the tasks in lumber yards and on the railroads with picks land shovels and unloading coal. Lilly j rsaid the women and men looked alike; and as far as the girls were concorned.) "you would not know they woro girls." I At Opladen the women workers' , pushed freight cars at six cents a day,' I said Lilly. He added that thirty1 American prisoners wore shipped to aj coal mine. Hero it was reported that a corporal named Luclen whose regiment regi-ment is unknown, refused to enter the pit. German guards pushed him over tho brink and ho was killed by tho fall. He was burled the next day. The American prisoners exporienc-jed exporienc-jed considerable Illness. Several of them, suffered from influenza. The men wero permitted to write two letters let-ters or four postal cards monthly but were allowed to receive only two. j Four days after the armistice the men wero taken to Frlodrlcksfiold and then to Hod, whenco they sailed from Rotterdam on the 13th. Thoy arrived at RIpon, England, November 24 Ex-! cept for an average loss In weight of ten pounds each all the mon woro in good health and spirits. They will be sent to camp at Winchester. |
