Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-01-08
Or. Holman Refers to Shell
ing of French Hospital as
Told in Star Bulletin
Kealla. January 3. 1916.

hospital was bOmbafdeu by alrSnlps III
spite of the fact that he moved II
frequently from house to house. one
day he gave out that it was to be
moved TO a certain house but did not
move IL and sure enough that house
was bombarded. Tire German spy sys-
TEN seems TO be very thorough and
efficient and that is one reason tnat
none can get TO the trenches where
the fighting is going on
Writes to Or. Judd.
addressed' on account Of this para
graph to DIR. James r. Judd the fol-
lowing letter:
Kealia, October 2, 1915.
DR.. James r. Judd,
Ambulance Americana,
JULY, France.
Dear Doctor:
Enclosed copy of the Honolulu Star
Bulletin of September 80 contains a
letter written by you in which very
strong charge against the methods OF
warfare of the German army is men
toned. That hospital has been bonn
barded even from aeroplanes by mis-
take would seem not impossible. But
to follow up by aerial attack a hos
pital marked by Red Cross signs and
not containing any means for offensive
or defensive warfare would be crime
that not only every German would
condemn but most of all, ] am abso-
lutely sure, all authorities of the Ger.
man army. The spy story connected
with il is unimportant as to the char
acter of the accusation and sounds too
much like the old stories Of 1870 to
be taken seriously.
The accusation itself would be quite
irrelevant for me as raised by a
French army surgeon, but your name
connected with ii as authority gives
1t great Importance for the Hawaiian
islands. You see by the editorial in.
PRODUCTION that a superficial reader
has to accept 1t as your own expert
ence.
realize that your letter was prob
ably not intended for publication, that
you give in it your source of informa-
ton and that you mention the tale
only without any own comment as IL
lustration, why French army authori-
ties do not allow foreigners to go to
the front,
But though such accusations have
been proved again and again to be
without any foundation as soon as fol-
lowed up closely (you may remem-
Der the Round Robin" published by
five American war correspondents,
James O'Donnell Bennett, John T. Mc-
Cutcheon, Irwin S. Cobb, Harry Han
sen and Roger Lewis about alleged
: German cruelties in Belgium your
name in connection with this story
will be accepted here as proof OF its
truth.
write to ask you kindly to let me
know for truths sake. which hospital
has had this experience, at what place
and at what time, if possible the name
of your authority, the French army
surgeon. After the long time elapsed
since the alleged occurrence there can
not be a betrayal or military secrets
in giving this information; on the con-
trary IL must be in the interest of the
French cause to publish the details OF
such facts. will then certainly en-
ploy all means to get from official
sources the German version about the
same affair and promise you to let
you know il as soon as possible. But
/ will reserve the right to use it here
for publication in the same way as
your letter was published.
/ was very glad to read in your let
ter about the peacefulness and the
good preservation of the country you
describe, because good part of it has
been under German occupation last
year and this alone discredits so many
of the Hun" tales SO widely propa-
gated by the English.
Hoping that you will find time to
give me the desired details of the
alleged attacks on this French hos
pital, | remain,
Yours truly,
DR.. k. HOFFMAN,.
Or. Judd's Reply.
received by last mail from DR..
Judd the following answer:
JULY, November %, 1915.
DR.. K Holman,
Kealia, Kauai.
Hawaii, u. S.
Dear DIR. Holman:
In reply to your letter of October
90, / would say that | had no inten-
tion of offending my German acquaint-
ances or of entering into any con-
troversy as to whether the Germans
had bombarded hospitals or not. |
simply related an instance which
would serve as an illustration of how
efficient Germany's; knowledge was of
what the enemy was doing. There
was no mention of the building hav-
ing been marked by Red Cross or
having contained single patient If
anyone draws such a deduction from
the editorial, the editor of the news
paper is to blame and not myself. |
cannot give you any further informa-
ticn as to the incident as | know
nothing more about it and have no
means of ascertaining anything fur
ther AS you write, 'the letter was
not intended for publication. That
is true; it was simply means de-
vised by my brother to answer the
many questions from my friends and
acquaintance as to what l was doing.
Ny position over here as nom
combatant alien exists purely for hui