Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-12-26
CHAPTER xvil-continued.

eWsUs mo kRi1k snd knAca. nsuNh 3,
CHAPTER xvtl-continued.
u.s.
Also. BY this time some Of the me
lad last their heads completely;
hct had gone violently crazy, and til
test Of us were afraid Of them. W
were all thinking Of the fight thu
might occur amy moment between tn
Rarrowdale and some other vessel an
re knew we were In the likeliest plac
TOR the vessel to be struck. Eve
Enough we were not hit amidships, 1
Pie ship were sinking we did not thin
The Germans would give us a chance Il
Escape. We figured from what the!
had said that We would go down witt
the saip. And going down on a ship Il
which you are a prisoner is quite diff
ferent from going down with one foI
which you have been fighting. 70,
trrtve at the same place. but the feel
ing Is different
Sonlc of us thought OF overpowerinf
Ufe crew and taking the vessel into ouI
nwn hands. and we got the rest Of
the sane or nearly sane men together
and tried to get up & scheme for doing
t. I was strong for the plan and 90
n1erc several others. hat the Limey Of
ncers who were with US advised
against it They said the Germans
tvere taking us to a neutral country,
s'here we would be interned, which
Waa just what the Germans had told
hS@ but what few Of us believed.
Thea some Others said that II we
started anything the Germans would
Dire the time bombs. We replied that
ut tcnst the Germans would 20 west
with as. but they could not see that
there was any glory In that Foe my.
self. I thought the Germans would not
Gre the bombs until the last minute.
nnd that we would have q chance at
the boats before they got ell Of us
anyway. There were only thirteen
German sailors on hoard. besides their
commander. This last Hun was
named Badewttz.
So the paciists ruled, because we
could not do anything unless we were
phi together. and there was no mutlny.
They said We were hotheads, the rest
Of us, but I still think we could have
made a dash for it and overpowered
nlr sentries, and either gone over the
side with the lifeboats. or taken over
IN whole ship. 1t would have been
better for US II we had tried. and il
the pacifsts had known what was
coming to us they would have fired
the time bombs themselves rather
than go on into that future. How
ever. that Is split milk.
We were not allowed to open the
p~ortholes while we were In tue bunk
ers. under penalty Of death. and there
In the dark. In that ,stinkings air. It is
no wonder many Of us went crazy.
Among us was a fellow named Har.
rtngton. about six feet tall and weigh
Ing $50 pounds. He seemed to be all
right mentally. but some Of us
thought afterwards he was crazy.
Anyway, I do not blame him for what
hc did. Harrington rushed up the
hddley and opened the door. There
was a German sentry there. and Hnr.
rtngtoa made a swing at him and then
grabbed his bayonet. Tho sentry
yelled and some others came down
from the bridge aud shot Harrington
through the hand. After they had
beaten Harrington pretty badly, the
oalf OF the bunch. Badewitz himself.
came c and hammered Harrington
az around the deck. Then they nut
MIN in irons and took him 10 the char,
room.
The next day We were sitting In the
udd!ey getting warm when the door
opened and there was Badewitz. He
yelled "Heraus" aud began firing at
os with a revolver. 50 we beat It back
onto the coal. Pretty soon the door
opened again. But Il was only a Ger
man sentry. He threw down a note.
II was written In English and read.
Pick out eight mcn for cooks" So
We picked out eight men from the va.
nous vesseis aud they went on deck
aud rugged up a galley aft.
But we did not receive any knives,
forks. spoons or plates. The (lrst
focai we got was nothing but macaro.
ui. piled Up on pieces Of cardboard
ore Then NC appointed. four men
% serve the macaroni. arid they cot
tour pieces Of wood. the cieancst We
could find. which was not very clean
at that. aud they dug around ia the
macaroni and divided It up aud nut
u IN our hands. We had to cut It
after that from our grimy fingers,
unese who were helped Hrst had to 70
tsrtheat back on the coal to cat Il,
md those WHO were helped last rot
sesa beeause the divtdory rot moro
careful toward the end and give
smaller portions.
but We did not ct macarcni very
.cn9. 4 cook from the voitu,rc was
c'caning Z coptcr dixie that tho mac.
sfoni had been 80 xcd Ia, and he was
holding Il over Gsc sl6e when the vas.
~ rolled heavily. and drnssncd ~.