Evening star., 1917-01-14
SAYS BRITISH TRIED
TO KILL SURVIVORS
Lieut.. Crompton of U-41
Charges Extreme Cruelty
When He Was Wounded.
FULL STATEMENT GIVEN

BY the Associated Press.
BERLIN. January 13, by wireless to
Sayville The official report Of Lieut..
Crompton. a survivor of German subma-
rine U-41. sunk by the British on Sep
tember "a, 1915, the case of which the
German government has characterized as
a second Baralong incident. was made
public today and is published in the news
. papers. Lieut.. Crompton, after being
wounded and a prisoner in England. was
interned in Switzerland, whence his report
was received.
Previous statements by the German ad-
miralty have charged that the account he
gave Of the circumstances of the SINKING
and the after treatment OF the two sur
vivors showed deliberate attempt to DO
away with the only eyewitnesses on the
German side The destruction OF the U-41
is alleged TO have been carried out by a
British patrol ship. which flew the Amer
lean flag throughout the engagement. and
which afterward attempted to run down
a rowboat containing the two survivors,
who are also said to have been i'll treated
after finally being taken on board the
British vessel
Report of Officer.
Lieut.. Crompton's report reads:
''On the morning of September "a the
. British steamer Crbino. bound to Eng
land. was sunk by artillery fire about
thirty miles southeast of the Scilly Is
lands. The crew had been allowed about
half an hour. When the Urbino was list
ing heavily and burning smoke cloud
was sighted. Submarine Al submerged
and let steamer pass at distance of
about 200 meters. The steamer flew the
American flag. 1t had no neutrality sign
on the side.
"Ths submarine emerged and ordered
the steamer to stop. This order was i'm
mediately obeyed and the two steamers
approached each other at a slow speed.
We signaied order to send the docu-
ments on board. This was not answered
by the steamer, which gave the counter
signal. Il am stopping" At the same
Sime the steamer prepared to lower
boat On the submarine the gun at the
bow had been made ready.
Steamer Opens Fire.
''when the vessels were about 300
meters apart the steamer suddenly open
ed a violent fire. first with rifles along the
whole railing and then from 7.6 cent?
meter guns hidden behind the ships side
at the bow and stern. Although the COM
mander had Immediately ordered that the
cannon on the bow be let alone the sailors
wanted to continue firing it and had to be
brought away by the helmsman.
The submarine had received several
hits by shells shortly before the coming
tower was submerged. During the en-
tire engagement the steamer flew the
American nag. To be sure the Flagstaff
was turned down. but the flag was not re-
placed by the British and continued fly
ing:
"As we went under the water and the
submarine went to the bottom 1 was
In ha f0yx- IN,
sequence of a wound. When / returned
70 consciousness was swimming
Neither the submarine nor the steamer
was visible. After having swum for
some time / was passed by the steamer
at distance of about sixty meters /
called and raised my arms, but was
sneered and spit at by sailors. After a
long time saw an-enfpty lifeboaf of
the steamer Urbino. When had climbed
into IL heard the helmsman calling for
me and took him in. In consequence
OF loss Of blood I was lying in the boat
aft while the helmsman sat at the bow
Finally Taken Aboard.
After some time we saw the steamer
again. We stood upright in the boat
and waved our hands. The steamer
changed her course and approached us
at high speed. Soon we observed a man
standing in the bow who directed the
course of the boat and menaced us with
his fist from time to time. AS the
steamer did not reduce her speed there
was no doubt that she intended to ram
US. Finally they threw rope and took
US on board
aside from the officers of the Urbino.
whom We recognized. nobody wore
uniform The crew Of the steamer, ac-
cording to the declarations of the first
mate. belonged to the royal naval re-
serve. but all OF them. including the
omcers. were clad as civilians When
We arrived on board we were led to
the Stern and had. some brandy~As no
surgeon was aboard the helmsman ban.
daged me as we'll as possible Then
We were locked in bog standing. on
the deck. The box was so low we could
not sit upright. We did not get any
warm clothing. .sop the deck was a, mat
tress with two covers and a pillow. The
box was closed with an barred
Delay in Medical Attention.
"On the morning of September 25 the
steamer arrived at Falmouth. A sur
geon came on board and bandaged the
British The helmsman observed that
ten hammocks with wounded and dead
were taken of the steamer. At this
time i was taken out of the box. but
had no medical attention until the next
day at noon.
In the afternoon the captain of the
corvette. who spoke German perfectly
tried to interrogate me- / told him INV
name. and In order to cut of ALI ulIes-
tionine regarding the submarine de-
clared that l had been unconscious
when she went to the bottom The
All naval affairs. They knew the names
OF many submarine commanders and