The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-10-17

alties,. but in reality they were casual
ties as long as % months ago.
ann speaking only of Williams
haven. I am Informed that beyond
doubt there are more than 100000
''repulsive' casualties and these cases
must be hidden from the sight Of the
people. That j. the reason they are
into hospitals near harbors
for whose strict guarding the alGhori-
ties have justification.
Before the war the naval hospital
building occupied a space about SO
metres by 80, but now the buildings
cover the entire hospital grounds, in
GLIDING the church and the park in |
the northwest, which is about three |
quarters of a mile by one-Quarter,
even taking in the dockyards IN the |
north. And in addition it runs from |
the park to the Communicates head
quarters in the north, and to the |
railroad station in the west. This |
area is one-quarter of a: mile square.
The "repulsive" cases are in separate
buildings which run from the Com
mandant's headquarters in the north
and take in the old officers park in
the north and the old naval home in
which is nearly one mile square.
1 relate the following details-al-
though they are ugly and heartpierc-
ing-because I wish to give a true
picture of the atmosphere that can
not fail to breed revolution. AS
have already noted, the death rate is
greatly out Of proportion. The dead
are not permitted to be returned to
the earth; they are all buried at sea-
There are four ferry-boats which ev-
cry day make two trips each out to
the sea. They carry the dead, and
under the instruction of the fishing
expert, SO am reliably informed, dis
poses of their grim loads at certain
places. According to information CIV
en- me by one of our comrades who is
employed on board one of the death
ferries" every "a hours these four
boats carry out to sea between 700
and 500 dead from Williamshaven I'M
perial naval hospital. This comrade
related to me an incident which typi-
I fled the real feeling Of our sailoats and
marines
This is what he told me. On board
each one of the death ferries that
carries the dead from the Imperial
naval hospital out to the sea there
is a Lutheran parson-i When the
death-boat arrives at its destination,
just berore the wholesale throwing
overboard of the corpses takes place,
the parson delivers some sort of fun
eral Grafton, ending with these words:
'sThey have given their lives ror our
Kaiser and Father1and.''
On one of these occasions the mate,
iwho was q good comrade, had In
lterrupted the parson several times,
and when the prelate said: '"They have
given their lives for our Kaiser
4 the mate shouted defiant1y, mot
i wtllinglyl They would have damned
/ their souls before offering them to
the Kaiser!"
After the function of the whole
sale throwing overheard of the bod
les had been completed the captain
Iordered the arrest of the mate, but
the crew hesitated Thereupon the
icaptatn of the death boat himself at
4 tempted the arrest. Then serious
struggle took p lace during which four
out of the 16 members of the crew
i took sides with the captain and the
rest stood by the mate. The result
was that the captain and every one
Of the crew who sided with him were
thrown overheard and drowned
Il Then the mutinous crew shot the
parson and threw his body into the
sea- This shows how bitter our peo-
: pie are feeling towards their rulers
After they had shot the parson q
mock funeral was held v the mu.
J tinous crew, and the familiar words
OF the dead parson were REPEATED. with
"a little revision: "He gave his life
for his Kaiser and his fatherland, to
the end that next year our fish sup.
) ply will be plentiful" ] do not re
cord these incidents approvingly
neither am proud Of such happen
} ings, but repeat that scenes fa1
> more bitter than many CT the bloodi
/ est scenes of the French revolution
: are being enacted in many corners o.
} Jour country.
! This incident took place toward.
> the latter part of June. On the ,24tI
: or day of June the entire crew
|. of the nutinous death boat were cit
: ed beforea naval court and two hour,
later they were executed.
4 Only two days earlier I had secur
l ed a commission in Ale Command
I headquarters as chief clerk; my dut,
l being to record the names of all tn,
new arrivals and departures deaths
! of the 'trepvlsive" section of the hos
? pftal. The news of the Wholesale ex
ecution Of the entire death boat GREY
: greatly incensed even these unfortu
e nate victims of the war Instead o
Y acting as depressant, the news o
5 the execution of the death boat GREY
0 electrified every corner OF the hospi
: tai On June 8, I called a secret con
9 ference in one Of the rooms of tn
s hospital in which, in addition to GU
. Regularly assigned comrades, 20 othe
i naval comrades took part. Let m
r record this. mitch proudly, that every
9 one of these rs faithful cornrade
= lwere ranking naval officers, and ON
y of them was a captain on duty o.
y board one of our fast armored cruis
y 1ers. This heroic young captains fat
n is now doubtful. but this much
d ~ own that the ship which he com
n manded is now In the bottom OF tn
n sea off Bremershaven. The authors
e ties will not admit this loss, not un
It til the end of the war, and then tn
n enemies of the government will hav
I to compel them to- tell the truth re
It gardfng this affair
g At this conference it was decide
: that the time was PIPE for serie
y OF serious "annoyances." 1t was til
n wish of the naval comrades to TAX
e a heroic cause. and strike inpulsivel.
e suddenly. But 1 opposed the the ~,
70 cal. I advised them that the can
L ,l~~~. - J.-z