El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-06-20

THE HAGUE. Holland, June 20.-No-
/ BrunsbuttaI barracks. at Cux-
haven. was commonly known as the
torture house. and 1t lived up 10
its reputation as well as TO its name.
According TO the conception, how
ever. &c my superior officers. the
barracks was an institution OF exc
ample. -lu order 10 forewarn and eau
ton wouldbe weak spirits I'm the
ranks 20 The serious consequences Of
what would befau them should they
follow OF emulate the example set by
treacher0us instiga tors quote
these words. as accurately as can
remember them from lecture de-
1ivcred 90 US officers by a superior
officer. by the name Of Captain Aman,
whom the admiralty authorities found
necessary TO send 20 us TO justify
the brutal Bruns5uttal torture meth
At this lecture there were over
so officers like myself. who. al
least many of them, were invited, OF
rather permitted. 90 put questions 10
Capt Amau, the torture justifier-
Ilnodesrlv claim that I was the only
officer who took an aggressively
opposing attitude towards Capt
Aman's questionable military doc
trine He is an experienced speaker
and answered my questions with
scorn. sarcasm and contempt. To
the serious and cigniIed question
PUT 10 him
Herr Captain IS it not true that
such terror methods would eveutu-
ally undermine the fighting morale
and individual reliance Of our
troops2" he replied, contemptuous-
ly. Eyes. &c would, TO great extent,
when led by men Ike you This IN
sulting ret0rr brought Elee to the
majority Of my fellow officers which
was evident in their faces, while
few Of them appeared resent1uL /.
tnereuuon LEFT my seat took a teW
steps toward the speaker, and in
curious tone. informed him that 10
was for him 90 test my soft heart.
Tnon this of my felloW-officers,
himself a lieu enaut- demanded or the
captain that he Immediately apolo<
Eize for the uucalled for insult he
had offered me while a great many
other fellow Officers shouted at me
10 retract and withdraw the chal-
1euge I took my seat and made no
answer TO the cheap shoutiEgs OF
nv fellow officers while Capt Aman
behind his table, kept silent and also
kept his seat
capt Aman refused To accept my
challenge with an inprovised plea
that "duels in time ot war were
against the interests Of the father
land"
sIaus Captain Aman.
On the following morning. before
breakfast. while taking a walk at
Amau alone. and approaching, de-
mauded Of him TO test my SOFT
heart" He looked me over from my
head down 20 my feet smiled con-
temDtously and was about 10 walk
away from me without even Wora
OF answer. Thereupcn ] slapped MS
face with the back o. my right hand
very lightly. Of course Two days
later received a SUNNI oll 10 appear
before the ranking officer Of the
region 7 was re-rimauded severely
for having insulted Capt. Aman, and
was ordered 90 report TO Wilhelns-
haven Immediately 20 serve SEN
teuce Of one weeks comm ems ll-
During the last year OF so our niEner
admfra lr-. command had been permit
ting ranking officers 20 apply dlscl-
nliuarv measures to subordinaLes
without the process OF trials. In my
case. however. q degree OF leulencg
was employed I was no dispatched
70 Wilmhelshaven In charge OF
guards, but was permllleQ % plo-s1-
10 that place unaccompanied.
on reaching TTelnelmshaven
learned that the ranking pttlcer 10
whom was ordered to report was
certain officer with whom haQ
FOUGHT a duel IN 1913 had chas-
tised him severely And knowing
that his soul dwelt in a very small
space fully prepared myself Tor the
treatment that expected would pc
meted out 90 me by this man VINO
had better connections laIlllg cum
nections. and still louder talk ana
buster thaI manly courage OF brains
On presenting my letter TO my olQ
enemy. fin terse voice and without
further comment hs assigned me 20
&
weeks confinement
Joining AT Cuzhaven.
At the end OF the week a LleeL o.
submarines having Just reluEne4
from long service In the North sea
and their crews being in great neea
OF recuperation. I was assigned 70
one Of the craft for regional duty
Two DAYS later, hardly before ma king
myself familiar with the type OF the
under-sea- boat put IN M command
--as ordered 10 report to Cuxhaven.
As the cruise from Wilhelmshaven 10
Cuxhaven ras a surface cruise
found my commission not SO llLl--
cult. on reaching CuZhaven I heard
so many accounts OF terrible, yes
horrible conditions prevalent In thar
base tha- I made up my mind then
and there TO desert at the first taFor-
able opportunity that presented itself
learned that our higher admiralty
command had completely lost It's
head and was treating every COM
mon soldier that fell under their IN
favorable suspicion with uncescri D.
able barbarities. Let me state here
very strongly. however that there
Is not the slightest possibility Of an
orgauiZed or organized muL4ny
in our ranks in the first place an
Organized mutinF is beyond any con-
ceptiOn Of possibilities. In the sec
ond place the discomfort is not aimed
against imperial foreign policy or
O."
simply caused by the admiralty's bar
barous treatment OF the common
seaman
As an example. I was told at CuE-
haven that a few weeks earlier, two
under-officers were subjected TO lash
7roDF DrtDTV THAN