Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-03-31
May Be Tried for Piracy.
In America One Year.

Schiller was reluctant to tell his history
Il was born in Germany" he said Never
mind the town or my parents names. l.
New York three weeks I was sent by
the German government to England soon
after the war started. and at tierrnanys
request enlisted in the British navy and
was assigned to the training ship Conway
at Liverpool
Il want to say right now that there are
several thousand Germans in the British
navy. ] know what this means TO me It's
the Tower of London if they get me back
to the Matoppo But | wont go; just
Capt. Richard Bergner of the Natoppo
said he is convinced that Schiller is for
mer naval officer.
The Matoppo sailed from New York
Wednesday for Nladivostok with a
cargo consisting chiefly of barbed wire
and farm implements. She passed out
Sandy Hook at o'clock in the even
ing. and two hours later, upon entering
his cabin. Capt. Bergner says he was
confronted by young man with a re-
volver in each hand. Despite his as
sertions that he had not concealed any
bombs on the Matoppo and had made
threats to blow up the ship merely to
brighten the captain and crew into
obeying his command, there was still
some doubt in the mind of Capt. Berg
ner. and a thorough search of the cargo
of barbed wire and farm implements
will be made before the vessel proceeds
on its voyage TO Vladivostok.
Schiller Describes Experience.
In describing his experience, Schiller
said:
Il spent three weeks in Hobokcn pre-
| pairing for this. | went along the docks
buying drinks for the sailors and
learning from them what ships were
sailing with contraband. | lay in the
| lifeboat on the upper deck waiting
for the ship to sail. from Thursday un-
til the following Wednesday night. For
! two days / did not eat I had only
brought some sandwiches with me. but
| / stuck ii out
| IF my four pals in Hoboken had not
| got scared and backed out" he said ~
would have accomplished nv nurnose
! would have sunk the vessel and
| others, even though 7 had no bombs.
| There are several other ways OF sink
ing ship My four pals could have
naVigated this vessel and taken her
| wherever | wanted to go" Schiller
| SAID that he had spent three years on
the British training ship Conway and
mao studied marine engineering in
| Hull, England. Continuing. he said:
| Il had no bombs on board. thar wa
only a blum to scare the Englishmen
and you must admit that 1t worke
! beautifully. Last night l was captain.
and no mistake about it. After / had
| satisfied myself that the sh{n's cargo
! was not such bad contraband as had
suspected, ! became impressed with
| the captains story about his wife and
| children. and decided that he might
| take the barbed wire to Siberia pro-
| vided he landed me safely before re-
| Stunning the voyage"
| Although DR.. w. X. Neesick who OK.
NAMED the prisoner after he had been
| ca ptured by the crew OF the federal
| ha
| conveyed ashore from the Matoppo. de-
| c!ares that he believes the man is men
| tally irresponsible. Capt Bergner saws
| he is far from being simple .
Capt. Bargner's Story.
This fellow may act the fool now, p"
Bergner said. but he is far from being
| simple minded. as you will see by
| what happened. We left New York
| Wednesday evening, and had passed
the Sandy Hook light at & o'clock,
| when ! was in my cabin. / was bound
| for Niadivostok, with railroad material
| Tor the Russian government, and had
a crew OF hfiy-siA men. Of which only
| fourteen were Englishmen. The others
ar" Chimes" and coolies
| suddenly voice from the dark
! shouted: Hands up" turned and
faced Schiller with two large revolv-
| srs pointed at me. I have your vessel
mined and planted with bombs Schii-
| Ter said. You do | tell you. or you
, and your whole crew and ship will go
| down in less than two minutes. You
have G2.000 in your safe. and ] want
| every pound of it.. | protested that
| had only ten pounds.
| We will soon what you have
! said Schiller, and produced paper
| chart OF my ship. on which he indica ed
where the money WAS supposed to be
His chart of my ship was all right, but
Il the cash box he demanded held only
he
went over all the papers in the box.
Look here. captain. your papers say
u YOU carry barbed wire. That's contra
J band. and ] am within my rights ir
sinking her. Schiller said.
Ordered to Fasten Captain.
] 'Just then the second engineer came
4 and OShfilAr covered him foM,surfh hi