Arizona republican., 1916-04-01
Single-Handed Captor of tte British Ship Matappo Ex- plains Why He Entered Upon That Hazardous Undertaking
PROSECUTIONS
 BY THE ENGLISH
He Mistook Vessel He Cap- tured for One With Richer Cargo Laden With Muni- tions and Carrying Much Gold
IRepubIican A. p. Leased WTre1


 LEWEs, Del, March 31.-Fearing that attempts would be made to res cue Ernest Schiller, the young Ger man stowaway who single handed captured the British steamer Matoppo and terrorized her crew of 56 men on the high seas last Wednesday night, detectives tonight took Schil- Ter from his cell in the town jail and hurried him by automobile to Har- rington, whence he will be taken by train to New York.
 The detectives declared they had received positive information that att tempts would be made to rescue the prisoner and with the consent of the local authorities they decided that he would be safer in New York. Schil- Ter himself readily consented to go. saying that he would do anything to keep out of the hands of the officials. During the afternoon Schiller was given a hearing before Justice of the Peace Register and made detailed statement as to his motives in start ing what he termed privateering ex- pedition Revenge against England for arresting him as a spy as well as the spells he expected to secure. he declared. were the impelling motives. He was uncertain, he said, whether the four men he had picked to ac- company him had abandoned the en- | terprise.
 They were not Germans" Schiller l declared. T was the only German concerned and only for my hard luck i would have turned Q better trick I than the Woewe did when she cap tured the Appam. I was terribly ham, dicapped by depending on buns and crooks to assist me.
 | Tn making war on England I am guilty of nothing more than a breach of the neutrality laws of this coun- try. i was peacefully practicing my | profession of textile engineer in Hull. , England. when the war broke out A 1 friend of mine was arrested charged with signalling with calcium lights to the raiding Zeppelins. He was sho. and I was arrested. I had committed | no offense but I was put in dirty | iail and humiliated although there
 was no evidence against me" Schiller here halted his recital long l enough to request assurances that | this government would take charge l of the case and that he would not be surrendered to Great Britain. He was told that was a matter to be | decided later.
 l Continuing, he said: "I told the
 Hull officials that if they persisted in prosecuting me on account of my German nativity they would pay for
 it dearly. They could find no eX- cuse for shooting me so they pun ished me by exiling me from the
 country and so I came to America.
 spent some time in Danbury, New
 Haven and Bridgeport, Conn, and finally went to Boston where I se-
 cured employment with a textile com- pany.
 "All the time I was thirsty for re- 1 venge on the English and I used to
 lie awake at night studying how to
 get square and doing something for
 Germany at the same time. Then it
 occurred to me that it would be much
 simpler for a prize crew to stow away
 on British ships over here than for
 prize crews to run the British block
 ade I went to Hoboken with my
 plans formulated and there got my
 gang, picking out four of the most
 likely looking fellows to accompany me on the expedition. I told them was out to capture a British steamer and make it my yacht and explained - .\