The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1914-09-24
German Allegation That Ships
Fired on Wounded Germans
After Naval Battle Off Hell
igoland Denied.
N CHARGE OF
r M
British Admiralty Charges
That German Cruisers De-
liberately Opened Fire on
Men Doing Rescue Work.

London. Sept. - ! 90 %. mD-The
British admiralty has issued q formal
reply 10 the statement given publicity
10y the German minister at Copcn-
hagen To the cncc. that British officers
1red On drowninp sailors after the
naval engagement OFT HclioEuland. and
that "a British shei WAS thrown into
"A boat containing German survivors
OF this fight.
The admiralty admits the charge
that the shell was thrown but explains
the circumstances a. follows;
Every effort was made 60 ave lie
until q German cruiser of the Stettin
class appeared on the scene and open
ed q heavy IRE on the British dctroy-
crs and their small boats. The de-
stroyets were forced 10 retire la order
to avoid destruction. The GoshawN
removed her men from her boat, Ieay-
ing IL to German prisoners, nearly
all OF whom were wounded. II is Co
be regretted that "a biucjackct ON the
forecastle OF the Goshawk, cNaspcrat-
ed at the lnhuman conduct OF the
German cruiser, threw "a proiectllc,
which could not possibly under the
circumstances have exploded. into this
small boat as 1t drifted past his ship.
This, no doubt. o. the Incident re-
ferred 20 Dy the German minister at
Copenhagen.
1T canno be defended. out the act
was done under considerable provo
cation and II vas surely a trivial Of
Tense compared To- that of the Ger
man cruiser. which nrcd many shells
80 tn 49, a NA.MHHaL ALaHWH.Wa
while they were engaged in humane
and chiyalrous action
Dealing with the rescue by the
British submarine E-f. Of the occu-
pants OF two boats which the de-
siroyer Defender had been Obliged GO
abandon under heavy fire, the admir-
atty says:
After covering the retreat % the
destroyer. the submarine returned 10
the boats and removed the British Of
ncers and men aud three Germans
The submarine might well have taken
another Germon officer aud six UNI
wounded men prisoners. but as the
two boats contained rs very badly
wounded Germans. he humanity LEFT
tic German officer and six men who
were not hurt To- care for them and
navigate the boats. Before leaving,
the submarine saw that these boats
Wcrc provided with water and victuuls
and a compass and DC gave the Ger
man officer their position and the
curse 90 H-eliogoland. The officers and
men az the destroyer Defender
stripped themselves of everything but
their trousers. tearing up their
clothes 20 serve as handagcs for the
Wounded Germans
Regarding the allegations that GER
mans fired al German sailors who
were In the water. the admiralty says
there are many British naval officers
and men who actually saw officers OF
the German cruisers Malnz and Koen-
igcn Luise fire az their own men In
the water. presumably because they
thought the sailors were prematurcly
deserving their posts.
There are many men In our hnspi-
tails. the admiralty continues, whose
wounds testify 10 the accuracy of the
German officers fire. out of $50 men
saved from the Mainz about l50 were
picked up swimming In the water.
Many of them had been wounded by
revolver bullets. The remaining goo
could not be induced Go jump over
board. They were taken OF by q de-
stroyer which laid alongside just be-
fore the Mainz went down.