APPENDIX I

List of Officers of the British and Indian Forces
Interned at Yozgad, 1917.
NAVAL
 
Lieut.-Commanders: A.D. Cochrane, R.N.
  H.G.D. Stoker, R.N.
 
Lieutenants: R.D. Merriman, R.I.M.
  A.J. Nightingale, R.N.A.S.
  E.J. Price, R.N.
  L.C.P. Tudway, R.N.
  P. Woodland, R.N.A.S.
 
MILITARY
 
Colonels: W.W. Chitty, 119th Infantry.
  A.J.N. Harward, 48th Pioneers.
 
Lieut.-Colonels: Hon. C.J. Coventry, Worcester Yeomanry.
  W.C.R. Farmar, R.G.A.
  E.H.E. Lethbridge, 1st Oxford and Bucks.
  F.C. Lodge, 2nd Norfolks.
  N.S. Maule, R.F.A.
  F.A. Wilson, R.E.
 
Majors: F.E. Baines, I.M.S.
  E.J.L. Baylay, R.F.A.
  H. Broke-Smith, R.F.A.
  T.R.M. Carlisle, R.F.A
  E. Corbould-Warren, R.F.A.
  J.H.M. Davie, Poona Horse.
  E.G. Dunn, 1st R.I.R.
  E.E. Forbes, S. and T. Corps.
  W.F.C. Gilchrist, 81st Infantry.
  A.F.W. Harvey, R.F.A.
  C.F. Henley, 1st Oxford and Bucks.
  G.M. Herbert, 2nd Dorsets.
  S. Julius, Royal Sussex.
  O.S. Lloyd, R.F.A.
  J.W. Nelson, 2nd Royal West Kents.
  B.G. Peel, 81st Infantry.
  F.S. Williams-Thomas, Worcester Yeomanry.
 
Captains: A. Brown, 2nd Dorsets.
  E.W. Burdett, 48th Pioneers.
  H.S. Cardew, 34th Div. Signal Company.
  C.E. Colbeck, R.E.
  M.J. Dinwiddy, 2nd Royal West Kents.
  K.F. Freeland, R.G.A.
  A. Gatherer, 34th Div. Signal Company.
  C.B. Mundey, 1st Oxford and Bucks.
  W.R. O’Farrell, R.A.M.C.
  J. Phillips, S. and T. Corps.
  E.W.C. Sandes, R.E.
  A.J. Shakeshaft, 2nd Norfolks.
  R.E. Stace, R.E.
  J. Startin, R.A.M.C.
  H.W. Tomlinson, R.E.
  A.J. Wilcox, Chaplain.
  S.C. Winfield-Smith, R.F.C.
 
Lieutenants: W. Barton, 2nd Dorsets.
  J.L. Batty, I.A.R.O.
  W. Bell, Worcester Yeomanry.
  S.W. Biden, I.A R.O.
  G.W.R. Bishop, 2/8 Somerset L.I.
  W.R. Boyes, I.A.R.O.
  E.B. Burns, 2nd Royal West Kents.
  T. Campbell, 2nd Norfolks.
  B. Chamberlain, Worcester Yeomanry.
  C.P. Crawley, 2nd Dorsets.
  F.B. Davern, R.F.A.
  J.H.T. Dawson, Worcester Yeomanry.
  W. Devereux, R.F.A.
  L.H.G. Dorling, R.F.A.
  P.N. Edmonds, R.F.A.
  R. Flux, R.F.A.
  H.C. Gallup, R.F.A.
  C.C. Herbert, Worcester Yeomanry.
  A.M. Hickman, Worcester Yeomanry.
  C.F. Highett, 2nd Dorsets.
  A.V. Holyoake, Worcester Yeomanry.
  C. W. Hill, R.F.C.
  B.A. Jervis, Worcester Yeomanry.
  E. H. Jones, I.A.R.O.
  J. Killin, R.E.
  O.H. Little, Topographical Survey.
  J. Marsh, Worcester Yeomanry.
  A.E. Mason, 1st Oxford and Bucks.
  L.W.H. Mathias, 128th Pioneers.
  A.B. Matthews, R.E.
  J. McCombie, 34th Div. Signal Company.
  J. McConville, 34th Div. Signal Company.
  D.S. McGhie, R.E.
  S.W. Miller, 2nd Dorsets.
  J. Mills, 2nd Royal West Kents.
  F.W. Osborne, Worcester Yeomanry.
  H.L. Peacocke, 2nd Norfolks.
  J.F.W. Read, 2nd Norfolks.
  D.A. Simmonds, 2nd Dorsets.
  W. Snell, 1/6th Devons.
  R.A. Spence, R.F.A.
  H.W.M. Spink, I.A.R.O.
  T. Strickland, Gloucester Yeomanry.
  L.S. Sutor, I.A.R.O.
  F.N.G. Taylor, R.E.
  W.E. Trafford, R.F.A.
  J.S. Twinberrow, Worcester Yeomanry.
  H.G. Waldram, 1/6th Devons.
  E.S. Ward, Worcester Yeomanry.
  E.J. Williams, R.G.A.
  F.P. Williams, R.G.A.
  F.W.B. Wilson, R.F.A.
  G.B. Wright, Worcester Yeomanry.

(Note.—The rank given above is that held by the officer at the time of his capture by the Turks.

The list does not include the officers from Kastamouni camp who arrived in Yozgad the day before the departure of Lieut. Hill and myself for Constantinople.—E.H.J.)

APPENDIX II

The Matthews-Little Code-Test.

What happened in this test is a little difficult to follow without an illustration.

Consider the Ouija illustrated on p. 5 as the one with which I was familiar up to the time of the test. Matthews made his secret rearrangement of the letters by interchanging T and W, B and M, D and V. The order of the letters on his “original,” “duplicate” and “triplicate” therefore was as follows:

APTEHYKXQNIFSVDOJLZWGMCURB.

Owing to my not having noticed that D and V had been interchanged, the order of the letters as I saw them in my mind’s eye was:

APTEHYKXQNIFSDVOJLZWGMCURB.

The “triplicate,” revolving inside the “duplicate,” stopped with its B opposite the V, the code formed being as follows:

Code I.
APTEHYKXQNIFSVDOJLZWGMCURB (dup.)
SVDOJLZWGMCURBAPTEHYKXQNIF (trip.)

On this code, to write the word “spook” I was expected to write the letters RVPPZ. What I did write however was USAAL. These letters, de-coded under the above code-system, give the letters FADDY, which are all one place to the left of the ones required—SPOOK. The reason for this was a double accident. First I had failed to notice that D and V had been interchanged by Matthews; second, the letter whose identity I succeeded in eliciting from Little happened to be V. Little’s inadvertent information had been that the B had stopped opposite V, so that the code on which I was working was the following:

Code II.
APTEHYKXQNIFSDVOJLZWGMCURB (dup.)
FSDVOJLZWGMCURBAPTEHYKXQNI (trip.)

If the alphabet be coded on Code II. (which is what I did) and the result decoded on Code I. (which is what Little had to do), it will be found that twenty-two of the twenty-six letters are represented by the letter immediately to their left in Matthews’s rearrangement; and of the remaining four letters two are two places to the left and two are in the correct position. The proportion of cases in which the letter appeared one to the left of where it should be was great enough to make the investigators believe that the Spook was purposely writing in this way. They either did not notice, or passed over as negligible, the four exceptions. Yet in these exceptions lay the clue to the trick.

APPENDIX III

I give below enough of the Telepathy Code used by Hill and myself to show the system on which we worked. The portion here given is about one-sixth of the whole code.

  THIS
(1)		 THING
(2)		 WHAT I HAVE HERE
(3)		 ARTICLE
(4)		 ONE
(5)
(0) A Yes Watch Chain Key Ring Strap
M I want you to tell me          
(¼) B Thanks Pin Nail Screw Buckle Belt
N Will you say?          
(½) C Thank you Button Badge Star Crown Medal
O Bones          
(1) D Well Banknote Coin Purse Pocket-book Spectacles
P I want you to tell us          
(2) E All right Handkerchief Tie Tie-clip Cap Scarf
Q Say          
(3) F Quick Glass Cup Mug Bottle Saucer
R Come on          
(4) G Quicker Cork Corkscrew File Tin-opener Adze
B Come along          
(5) H Quickly Matchbox Match Bit of wood Stone Earth
T Come          
(6) I Tell me Pipe Box Pipe-cleaner Tobacco Case
U Good          
(7) J Tell us Cigarette Cig.-paper Cig.-roller Cig.-lighter Cig.-holder
V Very good          
(8) K Can you tell me? Pencil Rubber Fountain-pen Nib Charcoal
W I want to know          
(9) L Can you tell us? Letter Card Envelope Photo Stamp
X We want to know          
(10) Will you tell me? Book Notebook Paper Ink Ruler
(11) Will you tell us? Knife Scissors String Wire Rope
(12)Y Do you know? Candle Lamp Oil Wick Candlestick
(20)Z Can you say? Fruit Flower Vegetable Grass Leaf

In order to indicate any article to me Hill asked the question in the horizontal column in which the article appeared, and added the word or words at the head of the perpendicular column. Thus:—

“Tell me what this is,” meant a pipe.

“Can you tell us what this article is?” meant a photograph.

“Yes, what’s this one?” meant a strap. And so on. (The italics indicate the key words.)

The table given shows eighty articles. By prefixing the word “now” to his question, Hill let me know he was referring to a second series of eighty articles. “Now, tell me what this is,” did not mean a “pipe,” but it referred to the article in the corresponding position in the second series. Similarly a prefix of “now then” referred to a third series. And so on. The questions were very much alike and it required an acute observer to notice that no two were exactly the same.

The addition of the words “in my hand” indicated that only a portion of the article in the list had been shown. Thus when Slim Jim produced the stump of a candle Hill’s question was, “Do you know what this is in my hand?”

Each question in the horizontal columns also stood for a letter of the alphabet, so that it was possible (though slow) to spell out the name of an article.

Both the questions in the horizontal columns and the headings of the vertical columns were used to indicate numbers. Thus, “Tell me quickly if you can say what this number is? Come along! Don’t you know it?” is 6 5 2 0 1 4 1 2.

We had key words for decimals, fractions, subtraction, addition, and for repetition of the last-named figure. We also had key words to indicate any officer or man in the camp.

If the same thing was handed up to Hill twice in succession the question could nearly always be varied in form. Thus a “pipe” is indicated either by “Tell me what this is” or “Good! What’s this?”

Finally we had a system for using the code without speaking at all, which we employed with success at a private séance in “Posh Castle,” but which is too intricate to describe here. An amusing result of our use of this alternative system was to bewilder completely those in the company who thought the message was conveyed by the form of Hill’s question to me. They argued (quite fallaciously), that because we could do it without speaking, therefore what Hill said to me when he did speak had nothing to do with my answers.

I ought, perhaps, to add that perfection in the use of the code involves a good deal of memory work and constant practice. Nothing but the blankness of our days in Yozgad and the necessity of keeping our minds from rusting could have excused the waste of time entailed by preparation for a thought-reading exhibition. It is hardly a fitting occupation for free men.

THE SILENCE OF
COLONEL BRAMBLE
By ANDRÉ MAUROIS. Second Edition. 5s. net.

“The Silence of Colonel Bramble is the best composite character sketch I have seen to show France what the English Gentleman at war is like ... much delightful humour.... It Is full of good stories.... The translator appears to have done his work wonderfully well.”—Westminster Gazette.

“This book has enjoyed a great success in France, and it will be an extraordinary thing if it is not equally successful here.... Those who do not already know the book in French, will lose nothing of its charm in English form. The humours of the mess room are inimitable.... The whole thing is real, alive, sympathetic; there is not a false touch in all its delicate glancing wit.... One need not be a Frenchman to appreciate its wisdom and its penetrating truth.”—Daily Telegraph.

“An excellent translation ... a gay and daring translation ... I laughed over its audacious humour.”—Star.

“This admirable French picture of English officers.”—Times.

“A triumph of sympathetic observation ... delightful book ... many moving passages.”—Daily Graphic.

“So good as to be no less amusing than the original.... This is one of the finest feats of modern translations that I know. The book gives one a better idea of the war than any other book I can recall.... Among many comical disputes the funniest is that about superstitions. That really is, in mess language, ‘A scream.’”—Daily Mail.

“The whole is of a piece charmingly harmonious in tone and closely woven together.... The book has a perfect ending.... Few living writers achieve so great a range of sentiment, with so uniformly light and unassuming a manner.”—New Statesman.

JOHN LANE, The Bodley Head, Vigo Street, W.

1. A list of the officers who were prisoners of war with us in Yozgad is given in Appendix I.

2. Of course neither this nor any other of the conversations in the book claims to be a verbatim report of what was said. Such a thing would be difficult to give even after twenty-four hours—much more so after two years. These conversations are “true” in the sense that they are faithful reconstructions of my recollection of what took place. Every event mentioned in the book occurred. (See footnote, p. 85.)

3. I believe the English language is indebted to Lieut. L.C.P. Tudway, R.N., for the invention of this word. A “posh” is a good-tempered cross between a riot and a rugby scrum. The object of the “poshers” is conjointly and severally to sit upon the victim and to pinch, smack, tickle, or otherwise torture him until he begs for mercy.

4. See Appendix II.

5. The séance that follows is incidentally an example of a conversation with a person still alive, or, in the technical language of the séance room, “still on this side.”

6. Yok is the Turkish equivalent of “Na-poo” in Tommy’s French.

7. Yessack: Forbidden.

8. The conjuror was Lieutenant C. W. Hill, R.A.F., who ultimately became my partner for escape and whose better acquaintance the reader will make later on.

9. From now onwards O’Farrell, Matthews, and Price did not attend any of our séances, as communication was not allowed between the Schoolhouse and the Hospital House after dark. The séances that led up to trapping the Interpreter were conducted by Nightingale, Bishop, Hill, and myself, with Edmonds and Mundey as recorders, and numerous casual visitors.

10. It is true that the feat was eventually accomplished, and eight men led by Cochrane reached Cyprus in September 1918. The narrative of their adventures has been published, and is a splendid story of pluck and almost superhuman endurance, of wise and heroic leadership. But these qualities, which the party possessed in measure full to overflowing, would have availed them little had they not met with the stupendous luck that their courage deserved. It detracts not one whit from the splendour of their achievement that their effort was favoured by the Goddess of Fortune. And the reflection may bring some comfort to the eighteen others who started the same night—only to be recaptured—and to those wiseacres who remained behind.

11. Events prove we were perfectly correct in our anticipation of what the Turks would do in the event of an escape.

(1) After the attempted escape of Cochrane, Price, and Stoker from Afion Kara Hissar in 1916, the whole camp was confined for six weeks without exercise, in a church. (2) The escape of Bishop, Keeling, Tipton, and Sweet from Kastamouni in 1917 was followed by a very severe “strafing” of the whole camp.

(3) The big escape of twenty-six officers from Yozgad in August 1918 was followed by a camp “strafe.”

(4) The following Turkish Order, which was put up on our notice-board in Yozgad in October 1917 speaks for itself. I quote it verbatim:

“The stipulations of the Penal Military Statutes will be applied fully and severely to the officers or men Prisoners of War who will try to run away and will be caught and they will be confined in a special building in the district of Afion Kara Hissar. In (sic) the other hand their comrades will be deprived of all liberty and privileges. The prisoners of war in my camp are requested to take information of this communique.

”The Commandant.”

12. For the benefit of the curious our code-system is given in Appendix III.

13. Complete records of all séances between February 2nd and April 26th were kept and smuggled out of Turkey. The above is a verbatim copy of the Pimple’s statement. From this point to Chapter XXIV. (where our written record ends) all questions put to, and answers given by, the Spook are quoted from these records. So, too, are the letters to and from the Turkish War Office at Constantinople. We have to thank Capt. O’Farrell, Capt. Matthews, Capt. Freeland, Capt. Miller, Lieut. Nightingale, Lieut. Hickman and others for the preservation of our documents and photographs.

14. The Senior Officer of the camp met me after I had regained my liberty. “Why on earth did you keep us in the dark, Jones?” he asked; “if you had only told us what you were up to we would have helped you.” “Would you, sir?” I replied. “I put it to you frankly: had we gone to you in February and said we were planning to do the things which we actually did, you would undoubtedly have regarded it as impossible, and used your authority to stop us.” “Yes,” he admitted, after a moment’s thought, “you’re right. I would.”

15. This is really a code sentence (code-word “Bonhil,” code Playfair). It was put in for our own protection should things go seriously against us at any future time. Decoded it reads: “Take note this is a leg pull against both Turks and camp.”

16. This report was sent by the Commandant to the Turkish War Office on 18th March, 1918, and was the first of a series of official documents dictated by the Spook.

17. See p. 100.

18. The order is quoted in the footnote. p. 70.

19. Major Gilchrist was not alone in his admiration for the Commandant’s leniency. Major Peel, in recording the sentence in his account of the trial, adds the comment: “The Commandant seems to have behaved remarkably well over this.” See also Col. Maule’s letter to the Netherlands Ambassador at Constantinople quoted in Chapter XXX.

20. The “hockey pitch” was a piece of ground rather smaller than a tennis-court and surrounded by stone walls. Lack of space limited the size of the sides to four men.

21. Several of the photos in this volume were taken with this homemade camera. They were developed at Yozgad by Hill and Miller, who somehow got possession of the necessary chemicals.

22. After our “conviction” for telepathy Colonel Maule asked the spookers in the camp to refrain from further experiments.

23. Really to give us a “starved look” which might be ascribed to madness should we have to adopt the madness scheme, and in order to enable us to accuse the Commandant of starving us should enquiries come on the compassionate release plan. It could be made to serve either purpose.

24. The author has taken the liberty of altering the names in paragraphs 1, 3 and 4 of the Pimple’s letter, as he sees no necessity for making public the identity of these two ladies.

25. One of our principal assets was Raymond, which reached the camp about the end of February 1918. Moïse translated it to the Commandant, and read it himself, by order of the Spook.

26. The phrase is borrowed from Spink’s Armenian Phrase Book, which he compiled from a study of Lavengro and a dictionary.

27. See Raymond, pp. 360-361.

28. Such a secret organization of Armenians actually existed.

29. “Sup.”—“the Superior.” The Spook’s name for the Commandant.

30. Since the 14th, the Spook had controlled our diet, allowing us no meat, but “tomorrow” (20th March) was the Ski Club dinner, and we wanted a “bust” before going on to bare bread. We were starving in preparation for a medical examination, should the “escape” plan fail. We tried (by secret signal to Matthews) to stop Posh Castle from sending us food from the 14th March, but our friend Price insisted on continuing until after the big dinner at least, and would have gone on for ever in the face of any opposition but our own.

31. The greyhounds were expensive—about £T20 each, I believe.

32. Spink was the originator of ski-ing in Yozgad, and to his tact in dealing with the Commandant the credit of the Ski Club is due.

33. Really because time was getting short and we must soon face the doctors.

34. The curious will find a description in “450 Miles to Freedom.”

35. This, we believe, is the first instance in modern times of correspondence between a spook and a Government office.

36. A most unfortunate explanation, as events proved.

37. The telegram was dispatched from Constantinople on March 29th and reached Yozgad on the afternoon of April 1st. It was in cipher, and read as follows: “With reference to your letter of March 18th, 1334” (i.e., the report of the trial dictated by the Spook) “the two officers who have been communicating with the townspeople should be released from imprisonment, and their punishment should be to stop them writing letters to their relations for one month.”

38. See our previous arrangement with O’Farrell, p. 118.

39. Pure water is useful on a voyage to Cyprus.

40. See p. 188.

41. Acting under the Spook’s order, Moïse had previously cross-examined Doc. O’Farrell, who, by agreement with us, had shown confusion and hesitation when asked if he thought we were mad, and had finally denied our insanity.

42. Of course no such letters were ever written. Moïse was willing to lie as much as the Spook wanted.

43. We had to provide against the danger of independent enquiry by the doctors amongst our fellow-prisoners. Therefore, wherever possible, we distorted facts so that enquiry, if made, would reveal as a basis for our delusions some incident which had really occurred and which had (apparently) been misunderstood by us. Thus, in the present instance, Colbeck did threaten (jokingly, of course) to take us out by force when we refused his invitation to tea.

44. He did—a friendly visit to support Colbeck’s invitation to tea. At this visit he gave me permission to say what I liked about him to the Turks. I used it freely to name him as my principal “persecutor” and my “would-be murderer.”

45. This was founded on fact. The Turkish officials who were unpacking my parcel said waterproof sheets were “yessack” (forbidden), and seized it for their own use. A tug-of-war developed between me and the Cook for possession of the sheet, and when the officer in charge ordered me to surrender it, and showed signs of joining in the struggle, I cut it into ribbons to render it valueless to our enemies. This was in the early days, before the treasure-hunt began.