It was too funny not to recopy!
Enjoy!
Regine Brindle
In a Belgian Prison
Hec DESGAIN in Jail at Charleroi and Must Do Duty as a Soldier
"I am going to visit Belgium and if any of the army people says a word to me I'll
give him a good American punch," said Hector DESGAIN, just before he left this city
to take a steamer for the old country a few weeks ago.
Hector had just finished reading his passport when he made the remark. The passport when
he made the remark. The passport had been obtained at some trouble and expense for the
express purpose of enabling Hector to visit Belgium, in which country he was born, without
incurring liability to army duty. It's a cinch," said Hector. "No blamed
shoulder-strapped emissary of an effete monarchy can monkey with me as long as I hold this
passport from the land of the free and the home of the brave."
Hector did not use exactly the language quoted but that is what he meant.
Now the news from Belgium is to the effect that Hector has been nabbed by some of the
shoulder-strapped minions of the effete monarchy that he derided and he is being held
practically a prisoner until he has served the time which King Leopold demands from every
able-bodied citizen of his domain. For in Belgium, as in most of the continental
countries, a man's first duty s to his king. In peace or war this is true, and to
escape the duty many emigrate to this country before they can be conscripted.
Hector DESGAIN was born in Belgium but he came to this country when he was a boy. When he
decided to go to Europe this summer he procured a passport from the secretary of state and
the wording of the document convinced him that he would be safe from interference on the
part of the Belgian authorities. It seems however that the Belgian Government makes no
allowance for passports that conflict with its military law. It is said, further, that
there is no treaty stipulation which will prevent the Belgian government from seizing
citizens who have been conscripted.
Arthur Corneille, a young Belgian, who has been working in a Matthews glass factory, wet
to Europe under the same circumstanced that exist in a Matthews glass factory. Like
Hector he was apprehended and will not be permitted to return to this country until he
does his little stunt as a soldier. It seems that Hector Desgain the young Belgian who
returned to his native country to visit, armed with his American passport and some well
developed American muscle got in his favorite American punch after all. He punched the
jailor who had charge of him after the government arrested him as a citizen who was likely
to evade his military duty. Hector may come home to --- and work in one of the Hartford
City Glass companies.