The Alaska daily empire., 1918-01-19
SAYS THAT HE IS LOYAL
Declares That Companions : Were Always Teasing Him About BeHg
 German.

denying that he had been acting as ! spy for Germany.
 Left Germany When 17
 T was r when I left Germany and you know the German govern ment doesn't send out kids of r for spies
 This country is suffering from the anne, thing that England and Ger many suffered with the first year of the war-the spy scare. Every place they turn they think they see 6 spy"
 Referring to his troubles on the border when he was arrested and charged with desertion August 2 1916. in which case he was found guilty of absence without leave aud fined two-thirds of his pay for three months. Ritter says:
 Teased Him, He Says
 'I had fight with a fellow He for two hours"
 What was the trouble about?" he was asked.
 They were always teasing me, ,'epiled Ritter.
 What do you mean by teasing?'
 They were always calling me a Goldman and telling me I should gc back to Germany and join the Ger ,1,a nt, hn of l,oJ J 2 letter from my mother in Germany in which she said if did not return to Germany and fight with the Ger man army 1 was traitor and a renegade.
 Asserts His Loyalty
 q haven't heard from my mother since then. l wrote and told my mother never to write to me again.
 Ritter added: ''If get to go tc France with this division, as I hope to, and get in front line trenches will show them that I am loyal
 "If I should be captured by Ger mans I would be shot as a traitor and now they accuse me here of be Ing a spy"
 In connection with his being in San Francisco where it was alleged he was cared for by the German con 9ul, Franz Bopp. Ritter said:
 q lived in the Army and Navy Y. M. c. A. No German consul ever took care of me-"
 Too Much Honor, He Says
 Ritter pulled newspaper clipping from his pocket, announcing his ar rest and called attention to the state ment that he was closely related to a German army General, Won Luden dorp.
 That is too much honor entirely tocratic family, family that dates back for 800 years. That is entire Ivy too much honor for me.
 Another thing, the paper said that secret which the commander and the chief of staff and myself alone knew about. Who am Ithe assistant chief of staff? They flatter me.
 '"The paper said I was in charge of the distribution of papers and cor respondence.< That is not so."
 Ritter, in telling of his troubles in the army, told how he has been transferred from one company to an other until he found one that pleased.
 He could not get along with the men, he said, but his promotion was rapid. From first-class private he to sergeant major, when he wanted to be transferred back to the command of Lieut. Col Smith, of the One Hundred and Sixty-First Depot Brigade.
 Asked About Working Evenings
 He was arrested on December IA and after arrest and while in the guard house, lieutenant of military police said:
 Ritter, you are an educated man. Now you sit down and think real hard and see if you can't tell who you suspect"
 That's putting it up to a man pretty hard" said Ritter. "He ques- toned me about working around the building evenings. did. There were always others around-clerks. stenographers, orderlies, officers and ianitors."
 Has Uncle in Tacoma
 "Who should I suspect? merely 1ad charge of making out the month " reports"
 Ritter stated he has an uncle, Oscar Nuhn, 30O1 Twenty-fourth Street, Tacoma, and another uncle. Arthur E. J. Nuhn, in Chicago, a business man.
 Ritter said he<landed in New York April 27, 1913, and was 20 years ,ld. He remained in New York ,ver night. stepping at the Airing ou> KT1fnI .3i