The Arizona copper camp., 1918-09-28


They Crashed Them on the Head With
Boat Hooks.
hooks when they could reach them.
the German boat.
| When the lifeboat reached the Ja-
cob's ladders I went over to the port
side of the Georgia and then the Ger
| mans came over the side and hoisted
| up the kegs. The Germans were
armed with bayonets and revolyers.
Some Of them went down into the en-
| gine room and opened the sea cocks.
| About this time some of the Limeys
came up from the poop deck and I
| told them to stay where / was and
that the Germans would take us over
in lifeboats. Another squad Of Ger
mans hoisted eight of the dynamite
kegs on their shoulders and down into
No. 5 hold with them.
Mean time the Germans saw us up
on the boat deck and came up after
US. Ard over went the Limeys. But
waited and one or two more waited
with me. When the Germans came up
to us they had their revolvers out
and were waving them around and
yelling, "Gott strafe Englandl' and
talking about "schweinhunde." Then,
the first thing knew, was kicked off
into the sea. slipped off my trousers
and coat and clogs, and, believe me, it
was not case of all dressed up and
no place to gol
Then swan hard and caught up to
the Limeys who had jumped first. They
were asking each other if they were
downhearted and answering, "Not a
bit of it, me lads" and trying to sing,
| "Pack up your troubles in your old kit
| bag" only they could not do much
singing on account of the waves that
| slipped into their mouths every time
they opened them. That was just like
Limeys, though.
Some of the boys were just climbing
up the Jacobs ladder on the Moewe
when the old Georgia let out an awful
! roar and up went the deck and the
matches high in the air in splinters.
| One fellow let go his hold on the lad
der and went down and he never came
up. The Germans were making for the
Moewe in the lifeboat and we reached
| it just before they did. Up the ladder
we went and over the side and the
first thing we caught sight of was the
German revolvers in our faces drilling
us all into line.
The lifebOat brought back the ships
papers from the Georgia and we had
| roll call. They kept US up on deck in
our wet underwear and it was very
cold indeed. Then the first mate and
the old man and one of the German
officers called off the names and we
found we had fifty missing.
| The Boche commander had gall
enough to say that he was not there
to kill men but to sink all ships that
were supplying the alliesl He said
England was trying to starve Germany,
but that they would never succeed and
that Germany would starve the allies
very soon.
After roll call some of us asked the,
Germans for clothes, or at least a
place to dry ourselves in, but Fritz
could not see us for the dust on the
ocean and we just had to stand there
and shiver till we shook the deck, al
most. Then I went and sat down on
the pipes that feed the deck winches.
They had quite a head of steam In
them and was beginning to feel more
comfortable when / got a good clout
alongside of the head for sitting there
and trying to keep warm. 1t was a
German garby and he started calling
me all the various kinds of schwein-
hunde he could think of and he could
thinklof a lot.
Finally they mustered us all on
another part of the deck, then drilled
US down into the forecastle and read
the martial law of Germany to us.
At least I guess that is what it was.
It might have been the 'sHelp Wanted
Dog Catchers" column from the Ber-
lin Lokal Taggabble for all most of us
knew or cared. It shows what cards
the Germans are-reading all those
four-to-the-pound words to US Shiver-
Ing garbies, who did not give a dime
q dozen whether we heard them or not.
Fritz is like some other hot sketches
be Is funniest when he does not mean
to be. Every German is a vaudeville
skit when he acts natural.