SEVEN MONTHS IN PRIEON

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 20 May 1915, Page 5

SEVEN MONTHS IN PRIEON

ESCAPE FEOM GERMAN CAMP.

After live terrible days and nights of msii.'e.u.es aaj coaiLier-m.arCii©s, iiivune ia iore&LS aua oarns and outhouses, in au. ih-oaz continual aanger ot recapture, & i'rench infantryman who ettocted & ilui-iag escape norn the Ger.man camp at txianeiagar juas just arrived in Holland. (.writes an Express special correspondent).

1 have had an opportunity of talking to the man, who is leaving immediately for the i rench front, as he is eager to fight for his country, and he has told me many interesting things.about fche life of prisoners ot war in Germany. How he made his escape' it is no,t} wise to teii just yet; it is enough %q jj«y that even his brief and hurried narra» tive indicates that it was. a tbfiU\R|jL venture. ' " ■*• '•"; .■?

He was.made pri^mi^r in Alsfte^JjjCP*?' in August;, an^ has'i^en.1 inter^teij v e Ver sbic§...^|i«K" >|^k-mpnth5 k9 captivity, ,!$ |s. $s keen as a*tzor to go to tho Vsrenghes. . ' •"'' * "V "'"":■• REGALED WITH LIES., ".■ .■*?*£ AH jn g^,^ v' : Woitf uesiir^MStf «6i ef tn§ utmost savage character, have n* u fi J^U^ spirit Aiouaeifujiy. Several Who ratf* away were caught because they did not know the i^.^ and had to ask their way of Hermans, w"h& deaoffieec^ them, They were recaptured Sfl4 f*mt to gael for two months on half Tatiflni* J?ive or six have left the camp and never returned,; but whether they had nmde go'Gd their escape or been shot by a sentry nobofty Ifnotv^/ "Tne iite of the prisoners frith 6 Sett•nenfager camp « terrible," he told me rhe rood given to the men is hardly fit to eat, and a dog would decline" t£ touch it. It consists of 'soup 1 with old bones floating in it. ''Apart from that the men get nor^ gmn^he^ t]*ey complain they are told. The English are leaving us wjth?tr «•* Send your' complaint to Grey \Ve 11 forward it. 5 If you put in a Beeond complaint you are punished "The consequences of this diet are* obvious enough: Most of the men get terribly weak, and several can hardly stand The Germans are indifferent tor ail this. Their doctors come to tl» camp and enquire only whether thereare any cases of contagions illness The Germans are terribly afraid of typhoid. but otherwise they do not care what happens to prisoners. A man must Be almost dead before he is removed to hospital, unless his illness is catching

STORY OF A PRIVATE. The escaped prisoner also told me a story of a Belgian private who fell at Charleroi. He was reported dead, but' was only wounded, and was moved to a hospital m Germany, lie was weu treated and nursed, but the mere idea of being interned in enemy land made him crazy. He knew his health was practically restored, and that he would only leave the hospital to be sent to a camp, and he decided t© escape. One morning the Bed Cross sister WHO was in charge of his room, found his bed The man had run away in uniform, though he stilj had tubes in i hi§ back^ ttQC«ffi&te<| l>y h.is terrfble wounds. V He walked, regardless of pain, for several nights, resting in bushes and forests m the daytime, and only proceeding on his journey between dusk and sunrise. He marched through Westphalia and entered Belgium and found his way as far as Holland." _He arrived at the frontier one afternoonv and was challenged by the German sentry and asked to' show his papers. His answer was.quick. He> threw himself on the sentry, snatched the rifle out of his hands, shot the man down, walked peacefully over the border, and came into Holland. He is now on his way to the Belgian front.