Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1918-11-08
The Kaiser as | KnewH linn
for Fourteen Years
;. o
By ARTHUR N. DAVIS. D. D. S.
Copyright 1914 BY the Mcclure Newspaper syndicate)

In this connection l may mention
that many of the more sober officers
told me that they were disguised with
the manner in which the crown prince
was acting at his headquarters. 1T is
really q disgrace" they complained,
''fOr the crown prince to have SO many
questionable women visiting him. 1t
certainly doesn't set much of an ex-
ample for the rest of the staff"
The whole situation appeared to the
crown prince very much in the light
of a joke.
"I've just come from the western
'front.'" he told me. my men are up
to their knees in water and mud
We've been having lots of fun pump.
ing the water out Of our trenches into
the French trenches"
swell, suppose the French pump
1t right back again, don't they?"
'You're quite right, quite right.
That's exactly what they do. Really.
it's great lark"
Remarks of this kind rather sickened
me of this self-satisfied young man.
l realized, of course, that his part in
the war was played ut ssch safe
distance from the front lines that he
was probably not familiar with all the
horrors of trench warfare, and yet it
could not be possible that he was I'M
aware of the terrific loss Of life and
the untold agony and suffering which
millions of his people had to endure
while the "nonsensical" war contin-
ued.
After diplomatic relations were
broken off between America and Ger
many. the crown prince and his fam
lily ceased coming to me. They were
afraid. no doubt, of public criticism,
although the kaiser was not.
OF the kaiser's other children,
Prince William Eitel Frederick and
Prince Oscar were the only ones l
never met.
Prince Adelbert, the kaiser's third
son, was very handsome and charm
Ing man. He always came to me at
tired in naval officers uniform. l
saw him but few times, as he was
seldom in Berlin, and he never talked
on matters Of general Importance. l
never saw him after America entered
the war.
: Prince August Wilhelm, the fourth
son, was perhaps the most democratic
Of them all. He sometimes came to
see me in an ordinary taxicab and he
was the only one of the kaiser's sons
whom ever saw In civilian dress. He
was the first member Of the royal fam
lily to come to me after the murder
Of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and
he was In mourning when he called.
He looked very sad and detected and
gave me the FIRST intimation that the
tragedy of Sarajevo would almost In
evitably lead to general war,
/ In January, 1913. in speaking Of the
part that America would take in the
war, he mentioned that his officers had
told him that 10000 Americans were
on the western front. I'VE don't be-
lieve 1t, however" he added. Elbow
could they get there without our know
ing it, Our U-bOats would certainly
have found 1t out. No, Davis, it's not
true.
Prince Joachim, the kaiser's young
est son. and one Of the last Of the
royal family to visit me, reminded me
very much of his eldest brother, the
crown prince. He was tall and slender
and would have been good-looking but
for q retreating chin which was very
pronounced. He had as little respect
for public opinion as the crown prince,
and while the U-boat Deutschland was
on it's way to America principally to
bring back a cargo Of rubber, the sup.
ply of which was exhausted In Ger
many, this sixth son Of the kaiser waf
driving around the country In big
car and using up enormous rubber
tires, while rubber was worth its
weight in gold and many cars for the
army were supplied with plain iror
wheels.
This prince was the only member Of
the royal family to get near enough
to the firing line to get shot. The In
Jury, which he received while at thu
western front. was only slight fesl
wound Of the thigh, but II was enough
TO start him limping through history
1t was such superficial wound tina
1t couldn't have caused him one-hal
MS much pain as It gave the Who'll,
royal family pleasure.
The fact that one of the kaiser
own sons had actually been wounde'
and shed his royal blood In active ser
vice was something that the inspire,
press Will never stop Growing over
but by Just what accident the prime
happened to come within range Of tn
bullet has never been disclosed. New
ertheless he received the Iron Cross
the first class, or. as some one VIII
realized the significance of the inc
dent, remarked, "A first-class iron eros
for a second-class wound"
As he limped into my Office, tn
young prince-he Is now only twenty
eight-remarked: "See what one Q
your damned American bullets did I
mel"
SLOW do you know 1t was an Amel
lean bullet 2" asked.