said, 'Not the father and son together.' The prison
authorities showed their surprise at the sort of criminals who had been
entrusted to them, as the bulk of them were shopkeepers and artisans.

"Included in the number were the burgomaster of Dinant, a sheriff,
professors, barristers, and judges. An imbecile, a dozen children of
about 13, and some old men (one of whom was 81) made up the party. At
the end of a week, we were assembled in a yard and told that we were not
under sentence, but were detained in the interests of public safety."

In that prison the poor wretches were treated with much greater severity
than ordinary prisoners, for they were shut up in cells and had no air.
"By climbing on a chest one might open the window and see a little bit
of the landscape. The ordinary prisoners were allowed to do this but we
were forbidden." There was not a single chair. There was the skeleton of
an iron bed which was quite useless as there was no mattress. There were
four blankets, and two bundles of straw which very soon crumbled into
dust. "One day a week we had an hour in the courtyard, and there we
walked round and round in single file, being forbidden to walk two by
two. There was a guard with fixed bayonets always with us. The food was
absolutely inadequate[21] and we suffered continually from hunger. There
was a certain Croibien who had been slightly wounded at Dinant by a
bullet in his arm. His wound, neglected during the journey, had become
septic and in spite of all his sufferings, nothing was done for him. It
was not until after several days that it was decided to take him to the
infirmary where his arm was amputated; he died the next day. Although
his father and brothers were interned with him, they were not allowed to
see him again, alive or dead."

M. Tschoffen, public prosecutor at Dinant, the high official who writes
these lines, finishes his deposition with these words: "They had no
reason whatever for our arrest, and I do not see any reason that they
could have for setting us at liberty. One fine day they told us that we
were going to leave."

Here is another illustration: Before the 28th February, 1915, more than
10,000 persons, old men, women, and children, who had been deported from
France to Germany, had been repatriated by way of Switzerland. All those
who received them on their return were "alarmed at their ragged
condition and weakness," which was so great that the French Commission
of Enquiry