BRITISH PRISONERS SHOT

Ohinemuri Gazette, Issue 3941, 8 July 1918, Page 1

BRITISH PRISONERS SHOT

FOR REFUSING TO GET COFFEE

A British prisoner of war in Germany has been shot by his guard for refusing to fetch coffee from the camp to the bath-house.

Mrs Barry, of 27 Bousfield Street, Kirkdale, Liverpool, has received news of the death of her son, Private Joseph Barry, Scots Guards, who had been a prisoner in German for three and a half years. The German commander at Sennelager wrote that he had died from internal hemorrhage. Enclosed was a photograph of his grave, draped with red, white, and blue streamers.

But a letter from an Australian soldier who has returned to England from the same camp puts a very different complection on the matter. He writes: "At about 5 a.m. (January 18) a^ter Joe left camp for the bathhouse, one of the guards asked him to fetch coffee from the camp to the bath-house, and Joe replied that the English did not drink coffee, as there were Russians, French, and Belgians present at the time, together with some Englishmen, and they drank it. What he meant was that some of them should .go for it.

"The guard went outside for a couple of minutes and told the crowd to scatter, leaving Joe standing. He then put the rifle 4 to his shoulder,, took arm, and shot Joe, who lived for four or five minutes afterwards.

"When I left Germany the guard who shot Joe was up for trial. I know for certain that a priest read the burial service over Joe, and I attended the funeral."