The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1918-11-12
CHAPTER VI
W]anacnheim Tells the American AM
bassador How the Kaiser
Started the War,

But there was one quarter In which
this transaction produced no appreci-
able gloom. That was the German en-
bassy, This great success" fairly In
toxlcated the impressionRble Wangen-
helm and other happenings now aroused
his Juror Teutonicus to a fever heat,
The Goeben and the Breslau arrived
almost at the anne time that the Ger
mans captured LieRe, Namur and other
Belgian towns, And now followed the
German sweep into France and the APP
parently triumphant rush to Paris, In.
the militant Prussian that he was, saw
the fulfillment Of a 20 years dream,
We were all still living In the SUM
mer embassies along the Bosporous,
Germany had Il beautiful park, which
the sultan had personally presented to
reason wangenheim did not seem to
enjoy his headquarters during these
hummer days, A little guard house
stood directly in front Of his embassy,
on the street, within 20 feet Of the
rushing Bosporous, and In front OF this
properly a resting place for the guard,
but WanEenheim seemed TO have a
strong liking for II, I shall always keep
IN my mind the figure Of this Ger
man diplomat, in those exciting days
before the Marine, sitting out on this
AIAtlC pfHNn, INN ana ttltUH Jumping uH
for a stroll back n forth In front OF
his house. Everybody passing from
Constantinople to the northern suburbs
had TO BASS along this road, n even
the Russian and French diplomats fire.
Quently went by, stiffly Ignoring, OF
course, the triumphant am~bassadorial
figure on his stone bench, | sometimes
think that wangenheim sat there for
the express purpose Of putting his cigar
smoke In their direction, 1t all remind
ed me Of the scene In Schiller's Will
helm Tell, where Tell sits In the o
tain pass, with his bow and arrow at
his side, waiting for his intended vic
time, Gessler, TO so by:
;'Here through this deep defile he needs
must pass,
There leads no other road to Kuss-
wangenheim would also b%uttonhole
his friends, or those whom he regarded
~ftcations over German victories. no
ticed that he stationed himself there
only whom the German armies were
winning; II news came OF q reverse,
Wangenheim was utterly invisible This
led me to remark that he reminded
mo Of a toy weather prophet, which
Is always outside the box when the
weather is fine but which retires with
in when storms are gathering, Wangen-
helm appreciated my little Joke as
keenly as the rest or the diplomatic
set,
In those early days, however, the
weather for the German ambassador
was distinctly favorable. The good
fortune Of the German armies so ex-
cited him that he was sometimes led
into indiscretions, and his exuberAnce
one day caused him 20 tell mo GER
tain facts which. | think, will always
have great historical value, He dis
closed precisely how and when Ger
many had precipitated this war, Today
his revelation OF this secret looks like
a most monstrous lndiscretion, but we
must remember WanEenheim's state Of
mind at the time. The whole world
then believed that Paris was doomed
and Wangenheim reflected this att
tude in his frequent declarations that
the war would be over in two or three
months. The whole German enterprise
was evidently progressing according TO
program,
i have already mentioned that the
German ambassador had left for Ber-
lin soon after the assassination Of the