New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-04-23

The German general saw li'tle
American flag pinned in boys coat
He walked over, yanked it of and spa'
on it. Then he stamped it into the
ground. Later, when he had gone
dug il UP and hid it in my shoe. Some
how | felt better after that
Walter Aberlc, of 453 Gold street
BROOKLYN. is speaking. For two months
bo and the s;Aty-four other American
seamen who were captured by the
raider MoeweAnd taken to Germany on
the Yarrowdaie learned painfully how
.be Kaiser treats the sailors Of neutral
nations who offend against him by al
lowing their ships 70 be sunk by MS
war craft.
For when the Yarrowdale prisoners
spent their sixty days of hell in Ger
many the United States was still neu-
trail nation. Walter Aberle was neu'
trail. too-his name attests his German
ancestry the Yarrowdale dis
charged him and his fellows at Swine
munde, and the long round Of abuse
of starvation, of filth and cruelty be-
gan.
Diary Tells Brutal Tale
He and thirty-one other Americans
who were taken on the Yarrowdale &c
Germany arrived here yesterday. Al
Of them bore witness to the tai,
Aberlc told. A diary ne kept durinf
his captivity formed the basis OF MS
story. 1t is not pretty reading
II tells of the lice-infested. rottlni
atraw that served for the beds of the
american swine" as their guards
termed them. It tells of the weary
iournevings from prison camp tC
prison camp, each more filthy thar me
last. And il tells of one incident that
shines out brightly and valiantly II
the drcary, squalid tale.
The general who had trampled or
tho flag came back the next day. anc
Abcrle. alone of all the cringlng
spirit-broken men. refused to remove
his hat in the august presence h'
stood erect and proud in his battercC
head covering until blow from
Prussian officer knocked him fiat.
"And then" the boy said yesterday
"my hat fell off,"
Saved by MIR. Gerard
Later the roll was called. and whe-
the general heard Aberle's German
name he insisted that he was German
and would have TO join the army or ~
shot. Ambassador Gerard saved hin
from this fate.
"Our greatest suffering" Aberle con
tinued. twas from starvation. 1t wa'
worse than the cold or the vermin o.
the Russian prisoners with whom W.
were herded Some days we got moth
ing to eat. The most we ever had wa'
coffee made from burned barley fol
breakfast; cabbage soup, without any
meat, for luncheon; piece OF dry
bread in the middle of the afternoon
and boiled turnips for supper. Wher
we asked for more we were told thai
we were getting enough for swine. we
never had any meat"
Before the men were finally landed
in Germany they were kept below deck;
for seventeen days, while the shiI
nosed her way through the Arctic
Ocean waiting for a German patro
boat to guide her to port. From thu
time of their arrival at Swinemunde thu:
is the story as the boy told it yester
day. holding his tattered diary in hl'
hand.
The Survivors, Story
1--WE went ten miles up river to
prison camp. A naval officer said: al
neutrals. except Americans. step out.
About thirty Spaniards, Hollanders anc
Brazilians stepped out. We were tolC
thew we're to be gwen special attention
Cant we step out, tooT some of us