Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 97, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 March 1919 — HUNS FEAR NEGROES [ARTICLE]

HUNS FEAR NEGROES

Offer Reward for Each Colored Soldier Captured. New Attract Great Attention In Oooupled Sections of Germany. With the American Army of Occupation.—Wherever American negroes have appeared in the area occupied by the Americans they have attracted great attention among the civilians, t In Treves, Coblenz and other places, during the early days of the occupation, crowds assembled wherever any negro soldiers stopped In the streets, and It was necessary for the military police to enforce the orders prohibit-* ing gatherings In the public thoroughfares. Even yet In Coblenz and where there are a number of negro soldiers, the negroes attract crowds of German children every time they appear in the streets. The German soldier also regards the negro with great curiosity. According to a discharged German soldier In Rengsdorf, the German army, early In the war, offered a reward of 400 marks for the capture alive of each negro. The discharged German soldier said that throughout the war German soldiers lived In great fear, and even terror, of the negroes, and It was In order to overcome this fear that rewards were offered. One evening on the front a scouting party, consisting of ten Germans, including the discharged soldier, encountered two French negroes. In. a fight which followed one of the negroes escaped, the other being taken prisoner. In the fight two of the Germans left their comrades and ran to the protection of their own trenches, but these, it was explained, were young soldiers and untrained. The reward of 400 marks subsequently was divided among the remaining six Germans for capturing the French negro.