Middletown transcript., 1914-09-05

London.-An official statement says
that Of 1900 men composing the crews
of the five German warships sunk at
Heligoland only $50 were saved.
Twenty-nine killed and 38 wounded
was the price in men paid by the
British for the action.
The destroyer Liberty was hit by a
shell which shattered her mast and
tore away part of her bridge first OF all
and then smashed her searchlights
and killed her commander, Leuten-
ant Commander Nigel K. w. Hartte-
lot, and William Butcher, his signal
man. Their deaths were instantane-
GUS.
Accounts of the battle say it was
perfect In execution as well as IN
plan. Led at dawn by fearless small
detachment the destroyers crept with
in the German lines between Heligo-
land and the German coast
An aeroplane sighted them and gave
the news to the Germans, whose de-
stroyers then came out The British
destroyers lured the Germans to the
open sea, where other destroyers were
waiting, spread out in fan shape.
British Shots Hurt.
A small engagement followed and
then the German cruisers came out.
The British light cruiser Arethusa,
after a sighting shot, got her range
splendidly and hit the foremost gun
of one of the German cruisers, de-
molishing It. The Arethusa then fired
4 few broadsides at the enemy. Her
practice was excellent. She hit Ger
man cruiser, which at once burst into
smoke and flame, but soon afterward
a German shot did some damage to
the engine-room of the Arethusa.
The destroyers Liberty and Laertes
fought a grand fight. A she'll brought
down the mast of the Liberty. The
Laertes was hit amidships, hole was
shot through her funnel, her forward
guns were damaged and she received
also shell in the dynamo-room and
a shot aft which wrecked her cabin.
It was hot work, but at that mo-
ment the British light cruisers and
battle cruisers appeared. IT was the
moment for which they had been wait
ing, and their execution was deadly.
The first shot from one Of the British
battle cruisers sank German cruiser
which had been battering a destroyer.
The German feet then turned and
fed in the direction of Cuxhaven, but
was pursued by British destroyers,
which did terrible execution with their
fourinch guns.
Shot Their Own Men.
An official statement says:
"The British destroyers exposed
themselves to considerable risk in en-
deavoring to save as many as possible
of the German sailors. British officers
present vouch for the fact that Ger
man officers were observed firing at
their own men in the water with
pistols and that several were shot be-
fore their eyes.
Under these peculiar circumstances
a destroyer was actually picking up
wounded with her boats when she was
driven off by the approach of another
German cruiser and had to leave two
OF her boats containing one officer
and nine men behind 1t was feared
that these would be made prisoners,
but happily submarine arrived and
brought the British party home.
"As it was not possible to accom-
modate the 80 Germans in the sub
marine, they were allowed to return
home in the boat in charge Of lieu
tenant who was not wounded.
"The compliments Of the five Ger
man vessels known to have been sunk
aggregated about 1900 officers and
men, all of whom, with the exception
of those 80 and three hundred prison
Srs wounded, perished.
Besides this, there was the loss
which must have been severe aboard
the German torpedo boats and other
cruisers which did not sink during the
action.
"The First Lord Of the Admiralty
has telegraphed the American Am
bassador at Berlin desiring him to in
form Admiral Won Tirpitz, the Ger
man Minister Of Marine, that his son
had been saved and had not been
wounded"
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