The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-03-12
SWISS GREET So
CAPTIVE SAILORS
AS REAL HEROES
YarrOwdaIe Survivors Feted as
They Reach Zurich.
AlthO in Rags, Freed Prisoners
Are Wined and Dined.
RAIDER LIKE STAGE SHIP
Could Change Entire Appear
ance Automatically.
Was Newly Built Ritz; Equip
ped With Prison Cells.
AlthO in Rags, Freed Prisoners
Are Wined and Dined.
RAIDER LIKE STAGE SHIP
Could Change Entire Appear
ance Automatically.

Zurich March 12.-Laden with
cigars. cigarets and food showered
upon them by the hospitable Swiss,
fifty mine of the now historic Var
rowdale prisoners arrived in Zurich
today. They arrived at the German
frontier at Lindau yesterday after
continuous trip of fifty-two hours
from the prison camp at Brandon
burg. The sailors, altho emaciated
from their imprisonment and serious
lack of food since their arrival in
Germany on December 81. are in fair
condition and confident that. with a
normal amount of food, they soon
will be themselves again. The party
was met here by United States Consul
General Keene VINO greeted them
briefly and asked them not to forget
that they were Americans and not to
bring discredit on America by an I'M
understandable temptation to "lSick over
the traces"
The men were distributed among
several hotels until instructions shall
have arrived from Washington Their
personal effects were lost when their
ships were sunk and their wardrobes
have been only partially replaced by
makeshifts which render them for
the present a decidedly motley crew.
Nevertheless their stories were told
mot in tone of complaint but IN
philosophical way.
Identify South Atlantic Raider.
The sailors said that they were
convinced that the raider which sank
their vessel was the Ritz, of Bremen.
They describe her as a. brand new
vessel of about 5000 tons capable of
Is knots equipped with one funnel,
two masts. one false funnel. four tor
pedo tubes, seven rapid firing guns
and a wheel house which was hidden
by the side of the ship. The tunnels
had a device by which the stripes
could be changed at will and the ship
doors were so constructed as to cut off
all light when they were open. The
ships sides were also so constructed
that portions of them could be auto
matically dropp1l and raised The
impression the boat was new and built
for raiding purposes was heightened
nv the fact that she was equipped
with steel cells below and altho look
ing like an old tramp, was really an
armored cruiser. The sailors said that
the YarroWdale altho ordinarily cap
able of 10 knots, had to make IA at
times to escape capture. She was care
fully mined so that she could be de-
stroyed at a moments notice
German Guards Beat Them.
With their immediate needs, such
as board and lodging, provided for,
the next attention to be given the men
will be to supply them with clothing.
Their chief interests at first were in
something to eat. Between bites the
Yarrowdale men told of the severe
treatment to which they had been sub
iected in the German prison camps at
Neustrelitz Dulmen and Brandenburg,
where they had been successfully in
Nferned after having been brought into
Sinemung on the Yarrowdale and
where they, as Americans they said
eWere apparently singled out from all
others During their stay in Germany
they reported they had subsisted on
one allowance of soup daily and had
made their long journey to the border
ION one such meal There was hardly
one of them who at one time or an
other. they declared. has not felt the
fist of a German camp guard and the
squad of five soldiers which brought
them to the border had exercised the
privilege of abusing them up to the
last possible moment.
The men tell of the terrible suffer
ingS they underwent during a period
of severe cold weather in Germany
due partly to lack of fuel but more
to the absence of the shoes and cloth
. ing which they had lost. Since their
entrance into Switzerland, at Rors.
chach, they say they have been royalty
treated by the Swiss. The party in
f-cludes all the Americans detained eX-
: cept one man named Bulleat of q
French-Canadian family, claiming tc
have been born in ssachusetts, who
at the last moment was held in Bran.
denburg. They were accompanied by
zone Brazilian and one Spaniard
To lessen the humming of tele.
phone wires fastened to buildings a
new German system encloses then