"IN A BLACK HOLE."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 122, 16 October 1914, Page 6

"IN A BLACK HOLE."

i-.JTUSONED Jix UKaiUXS. WELLINGTON AIA.V6 ThiUUBLK EDC. PEUIJSSOE. BRUTAL, AND IlAßdil TrfIELVTUENT. "jly experiences oa the Continent? Well, .fley wero pretty rough, and. I wiil never forgeC them. I will never put a canary in a again after my imprisonment in Gummy, tor like a caged culture I paced up and down a forty foot cage for oigliteen days, and the cruelty of it I will never forget." This was u rumark made by Mr Ai. A. Carr, of the iirm of Mandcl and Carr, who returned to Wellington reoently, bringing with him memories of a most trying ordeal at the hands of brutal German officers and otiiciais. With Mr L. Alexander, a West Australian murchant, he arranged a Cook's tour of Germany, and they were actually in that country when war was declared by Great Britain. A graphic redtai of bis oxporiunces was given by Air Carr to a representative of the New /.'wiland Times in an interview on Tuesday.

SUSPICIONS AROUSED. ''Alter going 'through uoiun, wo arrived at, W'.iesuaden 011 ouiy 31st,' he said. "Everything ihtn sevineu peacetill, but we were surpr.ssdd to learn that We could not get m;ws' tiwougti to England, as the au. bonnes were not putting up any mails for that country. This made up a trille suspicions. It must be thai, owing to the strict censorship of papers no intimation of the possibility of trouble even between France and Germany and Russia had been made known. Anyway, we started for London, as we thought, on Sunday morning, via Bjrun. This was on August 2nd. On arrival we found 'tihav Germany had ueclared war against France and Russia. This made us thoroughly alarmed, despite olio fact that the 'Germans were at the same 'Cimo very courteous to Fngiisn people. On Monday morning we left by the morning 'train for the Upland border. Ihe train travelled very slowly, and we did not arrive at Bremen uiuii Tuesday night. It was then that we h.iard that trouble was likely to arise between Germany and England. Eventually we arrived at Cansbruck, and we were cornpelliid to change our train there. Wc were then placed formally under arrest, and taken t'o the police station, where all our luggage and papers wer e snircihed. Wo wero detained for about live hours, but we did not mind this in the end, for wo were given German passport* entitling us to travel to Holland. These pasports were issued by the director of military notice at o.>nabruck, but as you will later hear, they were i-ipeedily dishonored l>y the Germans themselves.

On arrival at the railway station, we were again arrostud. They refused to listen to us or read the passports. As a matter of fact, the officials were too excited to do anything, but after they had calmed down sufficiuntly to look at our papers, we were allowed to go. By t'his time our seats in the train were taken, and wc liad to take up our positions in a cattle trin-k. Arrested once more we travelled in this way as far as Kheinen where we wer.-- again amvued. 'We were getting a trifle used to being arrestud b- then. Eventually wo reached Bentheim, on the Holland border and again wo were arreted.

THE MACK HOLE OF BENTITEIXL "Xexl morning we were taken to a meat slied in the railway station, together with forty other prisoners' including Poles, llutssians, French, Indians and Japanese. \Y C were all taken to a little inn next morning ana bundled in, together with our luggage, in a room 40 feet squaro. Hherc were women and children with ua, and you can imagine what a state we must have been in when I tell you that wo ate and drank and slept in the saino room. We all took it in t'urns to wash at the sink taken .from tJie lntliroo n. You can imagine that we were in deadly fear of an epidemic occurring. "After a few days, worn on and children wore aJlowed to proceed, in j)ai'ties ol front four to -seven, to the ibaa.-oon® of the inn. Wc were. not allowed (o umiunicate with anyone inside or outside of Germany, a! hough we could ask for money. All niglit mill all day there was an armed patrol both outside and inside the pi' Non. 'J h- 1',.0il whs -noek'"o. mostly consisting of rice and pork. Mind you, we knew our pla;'e ;'.nd never did an;, tiling or said any.liiifr thai the could possibly take excoptiuu :o. Tiiey e.-.peeially hat ,1 4!». Jlritish. I will g;vc you an oramp'e of their vindict.venctfs ami surly behaviour. It had been impossible for some of us to sleep v: u tho mattresses which had been piU'lied on the door, and some of iv> asked that we should be allowed to occupy bedroohis for two or three thour* in the ilf'M-nooa. A» a matter of fact, flies were so bad in tlmt fell that 1 had to i-it) a luuidkerchief over my face when curled up on tho settee before 1 could "n to skip. Our request was abruptly lefrsed. A week niter 'our entry into I'his prison we were allowed to exercise in lcitches in a yard -TO feiit ilong and -I feet wide, which 'Jiad been usc-d for a fowlyard, and whk'h had not been at'tended to for a coirsiderajble time. Wo sine,lily cleaned .it up witli raki-s'. Ymi can imagine what a droadful tinie we had in the prison. IWe tried a u much ■is possible to delaich ourselves from the outside world altogether, and confine our thoughts to making thu best of a bad job. Our popular pastime was to inanimate spelling bees, and this amused us vastly. Then we found someone

aiming tilie prisoners who could read Oerman. and he would read Mio latest news to its.

AX APPEAL THAT FAHLKO). "Eventually things got so desperate that Mr Alexander and I addressed a letter to the who is a sort of chief magistia'e or Tepii'senlative of the civil power. Tim reply that we <roi from him shows that ihe bruUlih- with which we were treated, simply because we were liritishers, was not merely the action of a few irresponsible miiiiiar,' people, but was part, and parcel of the attitude adopLed towards our nation by the Herman, authorities. 'A few homr.s afterwards we received our own fetter -back sigain, with a curt note written on the back of it'. There were no 'beg paichins' <>r anything- of that 'sort about it. The note, was nigged 'Die 1 jam]rat. W. Kricge,' and v.'aAo tha following effect: It' you are ill you can ohiiiin a medlical certificate mid Ik! taken t„ Uu. hospital at your own expense. All other requests are refiLscil. BRUTALITY TO BRITISH OKKIC-

JALS. "It was not for sonic ila\>j f-flor 4Jiis ■tfcvt our names wore act'ually ttuJkan. It appeared that some of the women who hail. been allowed to 'leave fold some o£ our friends of ow .plight. The result, was-'that the American Anitws-ea-dor intervened -on our behalf.

"Badly as we had been treated, our treatment was humane compared, with tjiat meted out to British officials. The •British Consul at Danzig, and Mr Huttchins, another British Consul, were with their wives travalline to Britain, having been given the usual ipaasporto. On arrival at Bentheim, t'hey were separated from their wives, tho 'authorities stating that t'hey would provide accommodation far the families at hotels, and bhq;,i would provide even ibetteT accommodation for the husbands. These four men, however, wea-e taken to a small prison, where the lavatory consisted of a single bucket, which was dhangod every twenty-four ihoura, They were ocoasionaJlly allowed to exercise with convicts in the exercise yard. They never knew what the time was, and had to rely on the chimes of the town clock. For eight days this lasted and then they were sent on to our little domicile.

"All through our e-periencew we found the German® overbearing, domineering and always tautal. One old man among us was once butted round' tJio room bv a burly German., who used his massive chest to push the old chap a>boiit. With the eighteenth day, came the welcome order of release. We were informed that every man in the prison over fortly-five years of age eotfi<i go, and I can tell you it is the first timo t'hat I was proud of my age. We were ■given 'passports and placed on a train, and we wore not convinced tuiat we were going to safety until we realised that the engine of the train was directed towards Holland. We travelled to Ivngland via Rotterdam and Flushing, and ai? we crossed tdie border we both raided ■our elbows significantly and with drylips. drank silentlly Iflie toast of the King.

WHAT A CONTRAST IN LONDON! 'All the circumstances of our arrest., and detention convinced us that the ony reason why we were so treated was the fact that we were HiriUnhera, and had belonged! to a nation that 'had dared to interfere with Germany's plans for t'he subjugation of the world. The treatment meted out to us was 'the sort 01 'treatment you mligjht expect to 2>e reserved for individuals suspected of being spies. It seemes inconceivable that ,in this twentieth century inoffensive travellers, armed with clean British and German passports, could be held up and subjected to indignities which we had to suffer at the hands of the Germans. What a contrast to the treatment. accorded to German travellers i™ England who. had no passiportte at all! To my disgust when I got to London 1 found that a winiber of Germans who were held up there and kept at Olym.pia, wero being treated to ali .the delicacies, including haim and eggs for breakfast, while ladies wero canvassing for subscriptions to provide them with cigarettes and literature! We in Germany wore (kept under conditions, disgusting to humanity and civilisation, and.' had bo pay for our keep in the bargain."