Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-10-26
1917--12 July


Eighty miles west of Black Rock,
off the coast of Ireland, we sank
the American bark at ten
o'clock this morning. Never was
the sinking of vessel more dis
tasteful to me, partly in Difference
to the memory of poor Kreisel, who
gave up his life lest he be compelled
to take part in the destruction CT
American vessels, and partly also
because / have a personal liking
for Americans. They are big
hearted, although somewhat brag-
gadocio sort of people. They are
generous, flare up quickly in anger,
but are scol appeased, and do not
harbor malice long. Their sense Of
humor, too. is very keen, and this
makes them the easiest and most
delightful companions to get along
with. : always feel as If [ were
guilty of iniuring a friend whenever
I sink an American vessel. But duty
is duty! They are shrewd, too, those
Yankees. 1 admire their wit in de-
claring war when they found that
we were sinking their vessels any
way. Peace only hampere,! them
while we were having the best oe
them. Now they are at liberty to
dsaI with us as enemy with enemy.
II WIS n waste of good opportunities
on their part to temporize by way
of diplomatic negotiations. Bullets
ere the the best reply to bullstc.
Arnold Wimbcrn, whom I had
met at Captain Larsen's house in
Stockholm, was aboard the -.
He had been picked up by the latter
several hours earlier. His schooner
had been sunk by submarine. The
, bound from Glasgow to
Hampton Roads, rescued him and
his crew.
When wimborn was coming
alongside my craft, in the boat of
the -, he exclaimed, chatting
me good naturedly, as soon as he
recognized me, Some day you will
sink a schooner and will discover
that it belongs to Larsen and has
your Minna aboard"
showed him the pictures of
Minna in my cabin, and when he
saw the crepe around them he was
spel!bound and speechless. But not
through you'll" he exclaimed, draw
ing away, as if in horror from me,
as~though 1 were infected with the
pest.
1. told him all that had happened
and how 1 was suffering. He was
very sympathetic and assured me
that he knew that 1 would have
given my life rather tina inlure
Minna. But" he said, you sure
are engaged in a damnably ques-
tionable business"
What can / do?" I replied: 81
have to perform my duty. Duty,
duty; ch. this murderous damned,
unspeakable duty"
Here the diary of Hans Won Tue
binger ends abruptly.
What occurred after this final en-
try; how this bright, noble intellect,
becoming dethroned. like sweet
bells tangled, out of tune" drove
him at last to such mad excesses in
the pursuit of duty" as to sink every
vessel which crossed his path, was
told in the newspaper recently in
an account by John Pirano, a sea-
man, who was a survivor of the
Norwegian steamship Falkland, tor
pedoed in the North Sea, with the
loss of ten lives. The story, as told
by Pirano, was as follows
THE Falkland was carrying a
cargo from Philadelphia, and every
thing was going along smoothly un-
til we were in the North Sea, about
$50 miles off the northeast coast of
England when U-boat came to the
surface and started in to fire at us
without preliminaries. The first
shot tore away our wireless. An
other smashed into the engine room,
killing half dozen men.
The shells were coming so fast
that we didn't wait any longer, but