Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1916-10-20
INTERNED crews
OF GERMAN SHIPS
BUILD A VILLAGE
Scarcely Six Months in the Max
ing It Attracts Wide
Attention.
LITTLE GERMANY IN ITSELF
Three Hundred Little Model Houses
and Other Structures That Go to
Make Up a Village Are Con.
structed From Scraps.

Norfolk. va.-At the Portsmouth
navy yard. near Norfolk. Va, there
Is village of almost thousand per
sons that has been scarcely six months
tention throughout the country. Visl.
tors to the yard vie with one another
for the precious and somewhat rare
passes which will admit one to the
peculiar place. and thousands of post
cards showing scenes within It's linn
It's are sold daily.
The village IL unincorpornted and
without legalized form of government.
It's residents, though filed with civic
pride rare In Its intensity. are abso-
lutely opposed to increasing the popu-
lation. They toll and spin In the vii
lage only us 1t pleases them. yet they
eat regularly, sleep regularly and are
assured of comfortable existence. at
least. until the end of the great Euro
pean war.
And now that war has been men
toned, you have the key to the iden-
tlty Of this strange municipality In
the making. II Is the village built by
the informed crews of the Kronprinz
Wilhelm and the Prlnz Eltel Friedrich
German war vessels, which ran into
the Virginia cnpes within 30 days of
each other for safety, about year
ago, and since have been interned by
the United States government for the
duration of the war.
Build Wonder VILLAGE.
Cast into the waters of neutral
country and realizing that their stay
probably would be long, these sturdy,
blond Teuton sons did not sit on the
decks and mourn their fate. Instead,
they sprang upon the land, grabbed
every scrap of wood and metal and
cloth and leather and every drop OF
paint that came their way and began
the construction of their wonder vii
lage.
From scraps gathered from hither
and yon In the navy yard and out Of
1t, more than 300 little model houses, n
windmill, chapel and other struc-
lures that go TO make up the village
have been constructed. They line pref
~ streets.
Their front yards bloom with flow
ers and their back yards are filed with
garden truck. Nor is the end yet To-
day you see load OF old boxes or dis
carded ends of boards going into the
village and tomorrow new house, Of
which they will be part, will be I'M
der construction. Building operations
always are under way.
The start of the village came with
the granting of the nse of the east end
Of the yard, near where the great in
termed slips lie, by the commandment
To the informed men. II Is composed of
several acres cut Off from the remain
der OF the yard so completely that It
seems n little Germany within Itself.
On one side In the Potomac river lie
the two ships. Another side is bound
ed now by the immense United States
collier Organ, In the making Green
grass, n wood and some water form
the other two sides.
Must Have Pass.
The village must be approached
| through guards from the Organ col
| lier side; so. unless you have pass
there Is little chance of seeing It. The
executive officers of the interned ship,
Issue the passes, regular navy yard of
fcers having nothing to do with them
As the village grew II became oh
vious that It was planned with lnfinit,
skill. Not only were there houses an,
yards laid out but even streets ant
parks were added. The owner of encl
piece Of property was made to reallz
that he would be held strictly respon
sible for his place being kept neat an,
clean.
When word of the buildlne progress
that was being made reached the out
side world German sympathizers be
gan To lend n hand. Contributions q
various kinds poured In, and when.
few weeks ago the first formal open
at the wonders the interned crews ha
worked with their poor material an
few outside contributions.
That opening day was n proud on
for the residents. The band from IN
ship-and II is good one-played
the men marched and showed visitor
about the village, and regular earn
val was staged. With all of the bus
ness acumen of Yankee horse traderi
the Germans arrested persons for a
legged violations of their village law
and fined them before magistrates.
All paid their fines willingly. for tn
money went 20 the German Red eros
fund for the benefit Of blinded soldier
Every prisoner was permitted To asses
his own fine. Where fines were Ia
low or the prisoner was good nature
he was arrested again.
All OF the usual attractions OF a
amateur carnival were nj hand. ThcI
were cold drinks, hot dogs and mi
seums to soothe the palate and eas
the eye. Frequently the mayor, {
Dorfschul7e would post a new bullet
on his bulletin board, and immediatel