The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-01-10
THE POLICE VERSION.
Sergeant Rathjen Describes
How the Elbe'S Sailors
Nearly Murdered a
Policeman.
THE GERMANS BROKE FAITH.
After the First officer Agreed TO
Detaln the Chief Criminal on
Board, lie Was Permitted
to Escape.
THE GERMANS BROKE FAITH

to Escape.
The copy of the letter sent by Count
Areo. the German Minister OF Foreign
Affairs. to Secretary Blaine relative to
the trouble between the Hoboken police
and the officers and sailors Of the steamer
| Elbe, which was exclusively published in
THE JERSEY CITY News last night. was
the sole topic Of conversation in Hobo
ken last night. Among the police officials
the letter created a sensation.
met Chief Donovan as he was about
| 70 leave the station house last night. He
said that he had read the letter, but
that he had not yet been notified by the
| Governor, in fact he had no notification
Of the affair at all. All that he knew of
| it was derived through the newspapers.
Was the Consul General informed Of
the arrest Of the sailors of the Elbe at the
time Of the arrests or subsequently,"
asked.
Not to my knowledge" was the Chiefs
| ieply. II did not inform him.
r Are you aware that there Is a treaty
between this country and Germany that
provides for such a coursew
mo, am not" was the reply.
Captain Hayes said he had read the
letter carefully, and that from what he
| could learn fIom his men, the facts had
| been misrepresented to the Minister. He
said tnat when the proper time arrived
| the police would have their say. Further
than this he refused 10 talk.
SERGEANT RATHJEN's STATEMENT.
| Sergeant Rathjen, under whose COM
mand the policemen were at the time the
descent WAS made upon the ship. was a
little more communicative. The Sergeant
is a German by birth. and is one of the
most careful men In the department. This
was substantially his statement:-"About
| one o'clock Of the morning Of October 5,
1889, was told on River street that a
policeman was being murdered by gang
of sailors on the Bremen dock. | was off
duty at the time, but borrowed a club
and went down. There on the dock were
q crowd of drunken sailors yelling like
demons. Policeman Ryan was lying on
the dock and appeared to be dead. i was
promptly knocked down and q crowd
jumped on me. The men ran on the ship
then. Myself and several others
carried Policeman Ryan to St.
MarY's Hospital. We thought
he could not live an hour. The news of
the affair spread rapidly, and when got
back 10 the station house several police
men who had heard of the affair agreed
to 90 down and capture Ryan's assail-
ants. It was then reported that Ryan
was dead. l assumed command of the
men and we went down to the ship. Two
officers were standinga at the ships en-
trance and refused 10 allow us 20 go
aboard. We forced our way through.
We did not use any unnecessary violence.
We took four men from the ship. did
not see my men club them on the way to
the police station. When we arrived at
the station house we learned that we did
not have all Of the men concerned in the
affair. We started back again reinforced
by several other policemen. There were
about twenty men all told.
THE GATES WERE BARRED.
when we reached the gates leading
to the dock we found them barred. My
men wanted to batter them down but |
advised caution. l went and saw Cap
tain Zimmerman, the superintendent
Of the dock, who lives on river street
He was in bed at the time, but he dressed
himself and came out. | told him that
one of our men had probably been muir
dered, and that the murderer was aboard
the ship The SuDerintendent saw all
| the policemen outside the gate. He
| thought that it would not be advisable to
allow them on the ship as the crew was
ugly, and u free fight might ensue- He
said that he would let me go
aboard with one policeman. which l did.
| taking Policeman Goode with me. On the
ship met First Officer Won Bardeleben.
We talked the matter over. The Captain
finally agreed to muster the whole ships
crew on deck in the morning after the ex-
citement had subsidized, aud the first Off
Ger agreed TO this also. The Captain said
he would instruct the nightwatchman on
the dock not to allow anybody to leave
the dock, and he also allowed two of my
men to remain on the dock. The first
officer promised that no one would leave
the ship. agreed TO this. When I went
out and told my men what had been done
they were rot pleased, and l since under
stand that they think l was eowardly,
when in reality was trying to act dis
creetiy.
THE CRIMINAL ESCAPED.
= Now for the way in which the first
officer kept his promise. Tue next morn
ing several of our officers went down 10
capture the criminal. Mayor Grassman,
who had been notified of the affair, was
also aboard the ship. The men were
mustered, but the guilty party and the
leader of the attack on Policeman Ryan
was not there. How he could have LETT
the ship without the eonnivance of some
one is mystery. / have since been told
by one of the sailors implicated in the
affair that the fellow boarded lighter
from the ships side during the night and
was taken to Brooklyn. This is tine way
the first officer Kept his promise TO guard
all the approaches 10 the ship"
Sergeant do you think that you were
justified in forcing your way aboard the
ship the first timeH / asked.
"Most assuredly / do" was the reply
II thought murder had been commit
ted. The criminal was aboard the ship
The ship was 10 sail in few hours. The
letter of the Minister admits that when it
was impracticable TO notify the proper
authorities We were allowed TO go aboard.
Then why did these officers prevent US
from so doing? 1t LOOKS from what hap
pened later that they were trying to
shield criminals We did not use any un-
necessary violence"
But why did not the police notify the
German Consul of the arrests the follow
ing day. as required by the treatytr
LAS far as / am concerned / did not
know that ii was necessary TO do SO. IL
appears to me that the neglect to COM
ply with this legal technicality is the sole
foundation for the Consups letter"
HOB0KEN NEWS.