Evening star., 1917-09-06
Germany to Stop Robbery.

In western Germany the authorities
are taking stringent measures to re
press organized raids, thefts and mur-
ners constantly being committed bv
bands of depredators. especially in the
conDtry districts, where half-ripe po-
htoes are uprooted, cattle slaughtered
snd Ioooeries. with murder. are in
pressing on an alarming scale owing
70 the lack of police. 1t is true that
poth In the towns and villages voIun-
teer safety guard corps exist but these
re composed entirely of lads fifteen,
sixteen and seventeen years old, and
!ney do not work at all satisfactorily.
And now. too. all the "seventeen-year-
PIGS have been called to arms and
IRE oeing sent to the various depots
70 be drilled for the front In several
places citizen guards" are being
formed In which service is conpulsory
Tnese guards are armed and instructed
70 make use OF their weapons against
III marauders. In order to insure that
no innocent farm laborers should he
Killed by mistake 1t has been forbid
zen Tor any one to work. walk or be
Dt II pm and am
Deserters and refugees also bring
stories of hunger and peace demon7
strations at many places of Germany
ana Austria. especially SlIasia Ac-
torolng TO the Breslau papers. the neo-
PIE in several Silesian places rnobbed
the authorities when they were in the
ict of removing bells from beIfries in
order to turn them over for melting
purposes to the military
At 1870 am. July 16 Egmond-on-
the-Sea was aroused by violent firing
Shells fell close to the village and in
meadows along the coast kiilipe. Garlic
Ind horses grazing there About tWcn
" English torpedo boats became yisi-
ple. They were firing on a convoy Of
German coaling vessels that had Ieft
Rotterdam the evening before First
bne and then another and yet another
sf the German ships was seen to go
10 the bottom. Four We're captured
while three ran straight for the Dutcb
soast and another ship stranded somn-
what farther off. Two of the stranded
ghfps were on fire. Immediately the
Egmond ]ifeboat and Dutch warships
eame TO rescue survivors.
In government circles II is not ev
pected that the entente will make oh
lection against the proposed transfer
Of German ships interned in the Dutch
East Indies as "ersatz' for the Dutch
torpedoed vessels. few months ago.
when Holland most feared a German
invasion. the Indian government was
apprised of the fact, and it was feared
German ships might try to break o,,+
to become raiders or that the crews
might damage the ships or machines
The crews Were removed and interued
elsewhere. Sabotage had already taken
place.
From the beginning of the war some
Of the German interned ships and their
crews have been causing a lot of trou-
& BILE. nrst or all by using secret wireless
for communication. There are lots of
Germans in the Dutch East Indies and
many German agents. Unsuspecting
Dutch travellers. women by preference,
were often used by themSas messengers
to carry news or instructions to or
from various places in America or
Europe. The instructions were in Sc
cret code. whereby the most innocent
looking letters and family news were
in reality made to contain news of i'm
bortance and instructions to raiders.
In this way, 1T is said, instructions
reached German interned ships in the
Philippines, one of which is said to
have escaped before the United States
came Into . state of war with Ger
nanN That ship became = raider.