The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1918-09-19
, boot him out with the Othe


on where we were. 1t was not till
later than ar old skipper In our bunch
told us that we had rounded the north
ern coast of Iceland.
Finally, one day, a lad yelled down
Land" and we all dove for the I'D
dley like wild men, and those who
could get a enough looked out, and
sur enough there was the coast of
Norway. very rugged and rocky and
covered with snow. We thought Ii
was all over then. aud that we would
be landed at Bergen sure. Then there
was the usual running around and
yelling on deck, and we were not so
sure we would be landed, and very
suddenly II got colder than ever
l was In the fddley. aching to get
out. and ready for anything that
might happen, when the door opened
suddenly and Badewitz grabbed me,
and asked me In English IL l was a
Quartermaster. 1 said yes. and he
pulled me by the arm to a cabin. /
did not know what was going to hap
pen. but he took an oilskin from the
wall and told me to put IL on.
There were two sailors there also.
and they put life belts on. and then
/ was more puzzled than ever. and
scared, too, because l thought maybe
they were going to throw me over
board. though what hat had to do
with being a quartermaster / could
not see.
But they drilled me up onto the
What their idea was / do not know.
Possibly they wanted q noncombatant
at the wheel In case they were over
hauled by a neutral vessel. We were
going full speed at the time, but as
soon as | took the wheel she cut down
to half speed, and stayed that way fer
half an hour. Then up to full speed
again.
Pretty soon there was a tramp
steamer on the ~starboard bow, and al
most before l saw Ii, there were two
more sentries on each side of me.
prodding me with their revolvers and
warning me to keep on the course.
They had civilian clothes on.
Then we went through the Skager
Rack and Cattegat, which are narrow
strips of water leading to the Baltic,
and We were only q mile from shore
with vessels all about US. 1t would
have been an easy thing for me to
signal what our ship was and who
were aboard. but they had six sentries
on my neck all the time to keep me
from Ii. l never wanted to do any
thing worse In my life than jump
overheard or signal. But / would
have been shot down before l had
just stayed with the wheel.
We were nearing one of the Dan
ish islands in the Baltic when we
sighted a tug. She began t smoke
up and blow her siren. The sailors got
very excited and ran around in crazy
style, and Badewitz began shouting
more orders than they could get away
with. The sentries left me and ran
with the rest of the Fritzies to the
boat deck and started to lower one of
the ~lifeboats. But Badewitz was right
on their heels and kicked the whole
bunch around In great shape. roaring
like a bull all the time.
l left the wheel and ran to the end
of the bridge, to jump overheard. But
the minute l let go OF the wheel the
vessel fell OF of the course, and they
noticed 1t, and Badewitz sent five of
then up on the bridge and three
Others to the side with their revolvers
to shoot me If | should reach the wa
ter. | think If l had had any rope to
lash the wheel with l could have go
away and they would not have known
it.
When the Ave sailors reached the
bridge one of them jumped for the
cord and gave our siren five long
blasts In answ to the tug. The tug
was about to launch a torpedo. and
we whistled just In time. One OF our
men was looking from the iddley, and
he saw the Huns making for the life.
boats. so he got two or three others
and they all yelled together. "Don't
let them get away" thinking that
they would get the boat over and
leave the ship, and trying to yell loud
enough for the tug to hear them.
Banewitx took this man and two or
three others, whether they were the
ones who yelled or not. and beat them
up and put them In irons. / thought
there was going to be a mutiny
aboard, but 1t did not come OF, and
| am not sure what the Huns were so
excited about.
The other four sailors who came up
on the bridge did not touch me. but
just kept me covered with their re-
voivers. That vas the way with them
they would not touch us unless
Badewitz was there or they had bayo-
nets. The old bull himself came up
on the bridge after he had beaten up
a few men. threw me around quite a
bit and kicked me down from the
bridge and slammed me into the coal