The record-union., 1896-11-24
THE BRUsEWITZ INCIDENT.

Ing peasants that happen to touch their
garments accidentally. by removal
from the service and short nnprison
ment, there will arise a spirit even in
so staid and conservative a nation as
Germany that not even William dare
defy.
It is not In the constitution Of human
nature that the killing Of poor men by
uniformed army men just as they
would spit jack rabbits, for fun, will be
tolerated long, or that the punishment
for the sport will be deemed sufficient
that stops short of the halter or the
headsman's block.
Here was a case in which working
man in passing out Of restaurant ac-
cidentally brushed against the sleeve of
an officer of the line. He instantly
bowed and apologized, but the brutal
epauletted tyrant whipped out his
sword and attacked the unarmed man
and finally ran him through, and for
this murder he is not hanged as a
IO1iLulOneF WOulO nave DGeU.
It was cold blooded, aristocratic, bru
tai murder, when young Siedemann
was thrust through the bowels by
Lieutenant Brusewitz. No milder term
is possible to be applied to it. Acct
dentally brushing against an officers
chair or sleeve, whichever 1t was in dis
pute, is no crime. William should teach
his officers that they cannot afford to
be less polite than was Siebemann.
who bowed and apologized, and for do
ing which he was termed a dog and
reptile and then murdered, while the
officer went his way laughing and
Boosting of his deed.
For this it is adjudged that he be
dismissed the service and sentenced to
prison for four years-and that Is all.
That the punishment is not death Is
due to the sentiment in army circles
that the touch Of a civilian Is contain
inatfon to the uniform of the Emperor;
the Emperor, who is such only by virtue
of the sufferance Of the very people who
are said to contaminate his cloth, 1t
even by accident they fall against 1t.
Officers have a long time beaten,
wounded and thrust through civilians
in Germany If they offended these high
and mighty hirelings, wearing the En-
perors badge Of servitude, but Ger
many is getting weary Of it and is
growing.
The Minister Of War, General Won
Gossler, in his reply concerning the
killing Of Siebemann, stated that
Brusewitz killed the man because he
considered the honor Of his uniform
furnished by the accidental pushing OF
the unfortunate workingman against
his chair Then the General went on TO
state in response to legislative inquiry
that the sentence Of the Lieutenant had
not been sanctioned and was therefore
of no effect in law.
He then went on to speak Of officers
that had been insuIted by unknown
persons, and said that those who had
not a proper sense of military honor
and a becoming sense Of the dignity OF
their position deserved to be got rid
of, for ION these sentiments depend the
martial efficiency Of the army" He
added: THE honor of wearing the
Kings uniform and respect for the
colors are military sentiments which
we shall never abandon"
The military class, then, is to be
even more than ever q, privileged class
In Germany. and is ito support its rank
and dignity at the point Of the sword
against the people who sweat to pay the
cost of the uniform they must not touch.
Any seeming affron1 is to be wiped out
by murder, and the offended party is
to be made instant Judge, jury and ex-
ecutioner. More than that, the reply Of
Gossler implies that the officer who fails
to resent affront, even though uninten-
tional, will be punished by having his
uniform stripped from him If, then,
an officer spares a civilian he is him
self guilty.
There IS no other Interpretation to be
made of the affair and the reply Of
General Gossler. What do Germans in
America, where they know what human
right is in all fullness. think OF this code
OF military law? Do they not fancy
with their present knowledge of the
growth Of the democratic spirit that the
latter. In the face of such arrogance
may break through even the formidable
conservatism of Germans in Germany,
and assault the very citadel Of aristoc-
racy and the titled classes itself? II
they do not, they do not think as do
very many close observers who have
not been born German We believe,
however, that every high minded Ger
man believes, as we do, that a few such
incidents as that of Brusewitz and Sic
bemann and a few such explanations as
Gossler's will operate to make respect
for the Emperor's uniform decline to an
aIar7ningly low level. 1t is impossible
for us to believe that the Germans
in Germany, though living under mon
archical forms, have not a good deal of
the democratic spirit slumbering among
them, and that such incidents as that
referred to will not tend to blow the coal
to q glow.
It seems TO us that such speeches as
this, one OF the many made by Emperor
William to army recruits. You wear
the Emperor's coat, and therefore you
are to be preferred to other people,. and