II—"I SAW ARABS AND TURKS ILL-TREAT THE NUNS"
In a certain hospital at Jaffa—this I know personally to be true—the French nuns there, who had with unceasing care and attention devoted themselves to sick and needy Arabs and Turks, were now rewarded for their past unselfish labors by the grossest ill-treatment, being driven out without any thought as to what was to become of them. One incident in particular well depicts the atrocious treatment meted out to these devoted women by the Turks. An old man who had been at this hospital for twenty years told me that when German and Turkish commandants visited the place they asked the French orderly why the sick Turkish troops had no food to eat, to which he replied that there was no money with which to obtain it. Thereupon these heartless officials ordered the Frenchman to be seized and soundly flogged.
From now onward the position for subjects of the Allies became worse and worse. Directly hostilities began, gendarmes came to our house and took me away in the presence of my mother and sister. It was a terrible parting, as may be easily imagined. The distress of the two women was most pitiful, and I dreaded to think what their fate might be when left unprotected. Because of the natural outburst of anger and sorrow on their part, they were the recipients of further mental punishment at the hands of my captors, one of whom threatened my mother with his rifle in order to increase her terror, while another roughly pushed her aside whilst I was hustled from the scene. In my anguish I struck one of them, but they soon overpowered me and dragged me off.
This was the beginning of my sufferings. When I arrived at the Government buildings with my escort I was told that I was a prisoner of war and was about to be sent away. I was, however, allowed to bid good-bye to my mother and sister, who had followed me there. Afterwards I was carefully searched, permission being refused me to take away any luggage whatever. From early in the morning until ten o'clock at night I was guarded in these buildings; then, a number of other prisoners of war having arrived, we were all taken outside and placed upon donkeys. An escort surrounded us, and we set off inland. We marched away along a route which, fortunately, was already well known to me, for as a tourist in the happy days of peace I had traversed it many times previously.
At three o'clock the next morning we arrived at an Arab village, where we rested until nine o'clock, when breakfast was served. This consisted of Arab bread—prepared in a couple of minutes from water, flour, and salt—and a small piece of cheese. The inhabitants of this village pelted us with stones and subjected us to most insulting and abusive language.
III—"I WAS TAKEN PRISONER TO AN ARAB HUT AT BEERSHEBA"
After breakfast our journey was continued until the afternoon, when we halted until eight o'clock. Then we started off again, reaching a place called Ber Sheba, or Beersheba, about sixty miles from Jaffa, by the following morning. Here we were all separated, and I was taken to an Arab hut and given a straw mattress to lie on and a filthy blanket to cover me. The same meagre fare—native bread and a small piece of cheese—was again served out to me, and I was left alone. After spending two days and nights in this wretched shelter I was removed to another, which I fully made up my mind was to be the last ere I attempted my escape, which I was continually thinking about.
The stretch of ground allotted to the prisoners-of-war camps was surrounded by a barbed-wire fence some twelve feet high, having only one gateway. The camp consisted of about twenty-five huts, the bulk of these being for the accommodation of the prisoners, and the remainder for the soldiers. Posted to every four of these buildings was a guard consisting of several sentries, stationed at a distance of from twenty to thirty yards from the buildings. Every Friday it was the custom for the soldiers—who were, of course, Mohammedans—to attend the mosque, and on these occasions but few sentries were left to guard the camp; the gate was also allowed to stand open. I therefore decided that, when I had worked out a plan of escape, I would choose a Friday on which to attempt it.
In the camp I had the good fortune to come in contact with other prisoners of war, who generously gave me some of their money, of which I stood in great need, for I knew that money would be absolutely necessary to aid my escape. After a short time, having received various small amounts in this way, I accumulated quite a useful sum.
Although the food was wretched and the accommodation miserable, I must state in fairness that I received much kindness from different Turkish officers, who, perceiving that I was sad and anxious, had compassion on me and tried to console me. When the German officers, however, with their renowned kultur, came to know this, they became enraged, and forbade the officers to have anything to do with me. There was much bad feeling, by the way, between the Turks and the Germans, because while the latter enjoyed plenty of luxuries, the former entirely lacked them, and received pay which was totally inadequate to their needs.