Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-05-13

off short as he spoke. yet he was cour-
teous and suave in manntr.
X X
Berg was right. The journey was
long and 1t was cold. The trip lasted
eighteen days. l distinctly remember
Christmas day. We were going north
and were up near Iceland and aside
from the temperature the day was
anything but like Christmas. Spaniards,
French Canadians, English. French,
Americans. we huddled in our quarters
In the dark, half clothed. shivering and
dirty. The cold was bad enough. the
dirty sleeping quarters were worse, and
the food was vile. We thought the food
on the Moewe was bad. They gave US
1at-back and some canned stuff there.
1t was worse on this journey. But even
here. foul and little as it was, we had
stun to learn what really rotten food
Is. We learned that later, In the Ger
man detention camp.
Some of the German officers were be-
ginning to show the tension of the trip
toward the end. "One of ems gone
crazy. said Scotch-Irish stoker to
asked "Badewitz," said the stoker. A
little Cockney sailor near me g-oaned
when he heard it. "Gryt Gawd! II he's
gone crysy it's bloody well near the
Badewitz was an officer who kept
watch on US. He was wild-eyed and
had crazy look and an awful temper,
made worse by the strain he was under
German sailor told me the last day
OF the trip that Badewitz had stood
watch the entire eighteen days without
sleep; it sounds impossible. but after
the last six months 1 don't know. The
limit of human endurance is greater
than 1 used to think
When the trim started the priSopers
who had quarters near port holes. were
cautioned against showing any lights,
and Badewftz threatened to shoot any
one who broke the rule. He must have
had this on his mind the evening he
rushed below and had two Marconi
men dragged up on deck He accused
them Of trying to signal by flashing
the Morse code with an electric flasher,
man and broken English certainly
sounded like the vaporings of a crazed
man. He stormed and ranted and
threatened to shoot them like dogs"
TIL break your lives In two" was one
of his expressions. "Tl shoot you in
the middle" another.
We turned south from Iceland and
passing Bergen We knew we were
pouHu lor no neutral port, Dut were
being taken to Germany. The last day
out. Yahnde, a gunner of the Georgia.
and Yenssen, quartermaster, quietly
gathered pieces of wood together, fast
ened them in some way and made a
break for shore. They got the impro-
vised raft safely into the water and
were several hundred feet from the
Yarrowdale before their absence was
noticed. Badewitz was the first to miss
them. He swore and raved and had
the searchlight flashed over the sea,
but hadn't picked them out, when one
of the men. Yenssen, seeing the flashes,
gave a yell. The two were picked up
and dragged on deck. The Germans
then beat, cuffed and kicked them,
the pair and put them in
solitary confinement.
81. and it ended the sea trip. We
kempt, dirty. grotesque crew. glad to
But our troubles had only begun We
expected better food and more of it,
We got worse and less. / was put in
the officers camp. but the treatment
accorded the men was the same in both
barracks. 1t vas bitterly cold there
was no heat, and the quarters were
wooden shacks. hastily thrown up.
One third of a loaf of bread and a
small piece of blutwurst was the days
ration per mani / inquired of an officer
the next day when the neutrals would
be released. / said I was an American
He laughed and swore in German. We