GERMAN PRISONERS IN PARIS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2274, 7 October 1914, Page 6

GERMAN PRISONERS IN PARIS

AN AGREEABLE SURPRISE

LEGENDS OF FRENCH SAVAGERY

I saw further convoys of prisoners passing through a small station of the Coiuture Railway this morning (wrote tho Paris correspondent of tho "Morning Post" on August 20). They were infantrymen, and, so far as 1 could jutlgo, belonged to ono of the Prussian regiments winch appear .to bo operating on the Lorraine frontier. Apart from the_ hang-dog- look, inevitable under their circumstances, it must bo admitted that otherwiso they wero well enough set up and in good physical condition, neither were they so famished as wero ■the first contingents of cavalrymen, whose condition could be explained by tho rapidity of their advance, and by the faot that they were detached patrols. These men's boots wore certainly all right, and they were in good marching condition, which, disposes of certain exaggerated reports that have appeared on this subject. Their chief preoccupation now seems to be to try to sell their helmets, belts, and othor items of their accoutrement as souvenirs, and so obtain some money to help them when they are on prisoners' fare. The officer in charge of the convoy told me the Germans aTe overcome with surprise at tho treatment they have received, for had been told by their officers most hoi rible tales of French brutality; in fact, some of them still had a lurking suspicion that they were destined- to' be shot. , . Necessities Without Luxuries. Several officers were in tho trains, some, I was told, of high rank,-but they remained in prudent seclusion in their compartments with the blinds drawn. In this they were well advised, because the apparently authentic stories of Ger-, man atrocities have considerably altered the attitude of the French public, and while still remaining strictly humane the feeling is not precisely cordial. In contradistinction to ' what I saw last week, thero ie no disposition to give the prisoners anything beyond the strict necessities of life, and I saw a wellintentioned individual who presented himself with a couple of buckets of some kind of small a.lo quietly but firmly turned awa-y from the station. As ooe man expressed it, among these prisoners are assuredly some who have cruojly maltreated our countrymen, and the innocent must suffer with the guilty. "It is enough," said this man, "if we don't flv at their throats." , '

'The attitude of the German prisoners is further illustrated by a story told in to-day's "Petite Republique." A Saxon Uhlan was brought in as a prisoner, and the French soldiers raised a murmur of protest when he appeared, as they believed that several of their wounded had been finished off by the enemy; "Remember," said the sergeant in command, sevorely, ■ "that heie a. soldier like yourselves, and ask him if ho is hungry." . The Uhlan said that he had eaten nothing, for two. days. Food was brought, and the prisoner ate v'ith a .tremendous appetite. Then.lie asked mildly, "3\ T ow, when shall I be shot?" It was with tho greatest difficulty that tho French soldiers persuaded him that lie would bo treated as a prisoner of war, as he had been told that the French had been shooting all prisoners.