THE HUNS' INHUMANITY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14287, 2 May 1917, Page 8

THE HUNS' INHUMANITY.

GERARD /IJAR&S HIS. PEISOtf BANQUET.

"M^W YORK, April 10.'

James; .W- . 'Gewd, formerly United States. Ambassador to. Germany, told the members.; of ' the Canadian Club of New' York at a dinner "last .evening of l-n-j human « treatment of prisoners of war by tli^, Raiser's military -authorities. Tjie ltoo v^ii|ie*j's ) ',recei\''ed with groans of indignation land shame the former Am? bassador'fc 'recitation* pf. ; how^ tlie t German au^thoi-ities, i.mpri sorted townsfolk foi' giviilg hl f(^od and drink -to starving Canadian,,.: prisoners,, of ,7\var ;,. lipw German sueepnounds wjarp. tramed to bite Briti^ii soldiers ; how small German boys were 4 allowed to shoot arrows tipped with nails -.into the bodies ■ of prisoners, and how when typhus broke out m a oamp of Russian prisoners' they, sent Frenchman and (Englishmen to live with ,them. It was.it>h J e' - first,,time sinee 1 heretui^ied from Gea-riiaiiy 'thatl-Mi'. Gerai'drhad tola of. any of these things.' he had^ seen .He sajv them on visits to 1 , the prison- camps m' 1 the capacity of official representative of the British. ' and , Canadian. / Government.! Mi- Gerard began his ( speecli byreferring' to' Germany as' "that country where they were so fond of me tliat they kept me a week after 1 said I wanted, to go home.'' ' -'-'•*' - HORRORS^ tWIMAGESrABLE. "I waht to tell you Canadians,^' ; he said, "some of the things I saw *yo.ur fellow countrymen endune m the German prisoners of war camps. -''"Toy, sitting here m tho Biltmore, can not' imagine the horror of liying two and a-> half 'years m. a Gei'inah prison camp. 1 know, because I saw. One day; I read m the North -Gerihan Gazette 'a' paragiaph,.which tpld.tljat a . number of tho inhabitants' of a northein ■ (^erm^n tojvn had been found guilty of 'improper ■ and unpatriotic conduct '.towards 'prisoners of

war and that tliey .had been, gaoled f,or terms of various lengths, and ttieir names printed m: the North German 'Gafcette, '; that- they* migrht be, .exposed., to : shame add their ~ falsity made known tp generations of .Oerjnans* to come. .'-. '■'.- - 'I.' said tq myself : 'Good; at lea^fr* some of these' -Germans • ai*e ; to- he punished for maltreating prisoners ol war.' "I directed , the American consul there to make a report on. .the matter. ' H*. sent back word- that a train load ' of OanadiaiiAprisOnei's of war were being taken through the town,' when it wa> necessary to put the train on a siding. Some of .'the prisoners communicated to curious townsfolk gathered "* about the train •' that tHey were starving and had nothiug to drink. The .townsfolk had • given * them food and drink, and that <was tlie crime, ifor .which .they .were imprisoned aiid held up. to shahie. SENT TO PEST CAMP.

" "I had seen small 'boys, with German simplicity and kindness, march about (the prison camps armed with' bows and. arrows, shoot arrows tippled with nails at prisoners ; but I had not before heard of •such a thing as- this, a- v "I had read ! iii' history that ""at the beginning ; of the Reformation ...Martin Luther nailed his thesis to the ddor of the cathedral.- After this you know who I. would liked to have nailed to that door, - >. -■■:■'. ; "Another tima-ith£f^.\y^typhu§ fa^er m a camp where .^Russians • ,were ''''"interned. Saying .tliat >aJl M the Aljles should stick .tocher,, "•■', the XyX&Tn\sns placed English ; and French*;' prisoi|*S|.'s with the ttiussiahsVin tlie typhiis! cajtflp, thus condemning , numbers df thenmto certain deatliy' ;. p, ■ •;••..,' *&' "At anptheV catrip I yipitedwtkey $&d/ trained German. sheep:hbunds 'to fyte British pi*ispiiers, and .Vrl-jea. the, gu-uTds tyent through, the camp. thtiy 't6ok ,fhe trained dogs with theni-l^d it "was seldo-m that they failed ito 'bit 'British soldiers; I complain^dltofeWjf]^ alwut the matteriand for .^ : .Jo^ ..leuir tflme my coniplairit was unii^ti^^fll^otMng was done until I tpld tHe:]coi)jnrianda|n.t that I was ~a, .very good pistol shot and .1 felt like going out and shooting some trained dogs and seeing tyhat ihfcy: >rpuld do about it. .. ShoKt^: af tSrwa-Ms .the Commandant i*-fa^-:.i'ei-*A*«fldA'^ v. , vj' iy