New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-04-21
Newark Lad Wanders
Alone, Without Money,
for Nine Months.
is ACCIDENTALLY
SHOT BY GERMANS
Receives Help from American
Consul After Arrest at
Dutch Border.
BY JAMES o'poNNELL BENNETT.

articles by Mr.. Bennett on conditions
in Germany
Aachen, Germany, March 29.-This is .
to inform Mr.. and Mrs. Noss' OF +
Orange Street, Newark, n. j., that
their boy is probably safe and we'll
Set right side up with care he was /
started on his way to Holland THIS |
afternoon by the new American Con I.
sui at Aachen, Henry Damn. rom .
Rotterdam he hopes he can sail as 4
cabin boy for America.
The adventurous Adolph Voss, aged
sixteen, presented himself at the con-
sulate toward noon to-day. lie haa
pair of mild blue eyes, an honest
smile. an undaunted soul and not much
else to recommend him, unless you
counted shivcrs as an asset. ..
lie was ragged but clean. and he mad
40 Bfennigs 10 cents) in his pocket r.,
Without pIeliminaries he said:
ran away from home last June Inc .
absence of diplomatic extenuatlon IN
the announcement Immediately caught
Mr.. Damm's fancy, and he set the con-
sular machinery going in Adolph's be-
half.
When the lad left he had paper
with big red seal on 1t and a nand,
full Of marks. The paper recommended
him to the good Offices Of European
powers and potentates, and the marks
supplemented by the generosity OF ms
fellow men-whom Adolph has found
reasonably dependable quantity
viii keep him in food till he reaches
Rotterdam.
Sailed as Officers Servant.
With the wanderlust strong within
him. the mild-eyed Adolph left Newark
last June and sailed for Bremen as
servant to ships ofiicer-did his
washing and shined his shoes for, him.
He said he thought there would be
more chances to get on IN the world III
Europe than in America, especially as
he could speak both English and Ger
man. Didn't ! think, he asked, that IL
would have been so if the war hadn't
come?
Anyway, he was caught in the vortex.
and so far as ! could get the hang OF
his laconic narrative, he has been wan,
dering trustfully over the distracted
face Of the earth ever since, earning
few pfennigs sometimes by doing odd
Jobs about farmhouses or by running
errands and carrying parcels for SOL
diers. When he had no money he ate
with the soldiers and other good
natured people. . o.,
The wonderful part of it is that with
out a shred of passport or any KIND or
identification paper he has moved
about pretty much as he listed keeping
out of prison and the almshouse, ana
never encountering any rebuff until ne
tried TO cross the border into Holland
this morning.
There the German military authori-
ties told him to 90 to the Aachen po-
lice and the police sent him to the CON
sulate. When he first came into the
Office he broke down and cried over the
passport problem, then Strengthened up
and answered questions with the pre-
else "Ja wohls" and the rigid posture
he has picked up from the soldiers.
As an observer of European affairs
in wartime he has accomplished what
many correspondents, both German and
neutral, have been unable to accom-
plish, even when they had credentials
in every pocket.
Marvellously Escaped Arrest.
II is the more remarkable that he !
should have escaped arrest, since in
every inn in the Rhneland hang mill |
tary proclamations ordering the de-
to a Job only two or three days and |
then move on to the next village.
asked him whether he had found
things interesting.
Kind Of" he said in his placid way,
but now he wanted to go home.
lie had one dose of bitter bad luck.
One day when he was wandering in the
fields around Koln he ran straight
across a rifle range where some re-
cruits were at target practice, he never
seeing the targets at all. A bullet
erazed his knee and brought him down.
What happened them" asked.
"They took care Of me" he an
swered.
Sent you to hospital?"
Eyes. sir"
Then he held his knee.
at was here" he said. 81 mended
the pants"
So he had The two inch tear made
by the bullet he had gathered together
with awkward stitches.
lie said the bad knee hadn't made it
any easier for him to do his tramping,
especially as besides that hurt he had
once got his foot run over by taxicab.
lie said he had kept the money he
earned on shipboard as long as he
could and after that-well, here he was.
1t seemed that even in wartime the
world had had heart enough to keep
this waf from perishing.
Asked for American Newspapers.
Before he left the consulate a de-
lichtful side of the boy came out-a
side that seemed TO me as American
as possible. He asked in quite mat
ter Of fact, business mans way whether
the consul could let him have some
American newspapers, for though he
could speak German he couldn't read il
very well. SO the consul gathered up
some, and he started away, pleased as
Punch.
A little later no fell heir to that
correspondents overcoat which used 70
make McCutcheon and Cobb laugh, and
though il was too big for him he said
it would be fine thing TO sleep in in
"a cold railway station at night.
He had 90 come up TO the hotel for
that, and when he passed the porter in
the entresol suppose he looked pretty
seedy. and felt it, for when he was
leaving he said:
81 was ashamed 10 come here, and
now with all these things III be
ashamed 10 60 out. WhatU they
think
They'll think you're a friend Of