The Washington herald., 1919-08-31
GERMAN WHOSE SUPERGUN
SHELLED PAIRS, GOES MAD
Visions of Slaughtered Women and Children
Torment Inventors Mind as He Stalks
Among Inmates of Asylum.

Andernach. Germany. Aug. s.-cBy
hsil.)-The German who designed Big
Bertha, the supergun with which the
Huns bombarded Paris during the
last months OF hostilities from a for
est many miles away, is today the
inhabitant of a madhouse. Although
he is now able TO converse lucidly
he was for months unconscious after
his mind snapped under the goadings
of conscience as he realized the enor-
nifty Of the slaughter of women and
children brought about by the prod
uct Of his brain. And even now his
life is a broken thing, for ever before
| his eyes are visions OF the mangied
forms Of innocent victims Of his can
non.
The story OF this example Of re-
tributive Justice is told in the current
issue Of The Watch on the Rhine, 8"
the American soldier newspaper
printed here. as follows:
Every day he walks about in the
gardens of the State Insane Asylum,
in Andernach.
Gibbering idiots. men with haIluci-
nations, men whose minds failed TO
| stand up under the strain and horrors
OF the battle front-these are his only
companions.
Ignores His Companion.
He will have nothing 10 do with the
others. Instead Of wearing the coarse
blue sarb of the other patients. he is
dressed in a fine gray suit, such as
would have been worn by a prosper
GUS German business man before the
war. His headgear is always the stifr
black hat, never a cap or the more
Comforta BILE soft hat
The features which first attract your
attention. however, are the heavy
black beard which reaches nearly to
his waist and a pair Of swapping black
eyes.
Every morning when the harmless
inmates play or walk in their little
park surrounded by a stone " all ten
feet high this man can be seen walk
ing. always walking. His steps are
long and rapid as those OF man in
the prime of his life and full OF un-
curbed enthusiasm.
His head. however. is always bowed
down and his eyes are on the ground.
Fears He Is Followed.
Only at rare intervals does he raise
them, and then with a quick. nervous
movement. as II he suspected that
someone was following him. After a
look about him he returns them to the
ground and continues his nervous pac-
ing. to all appearances a man suffer
ing a great mental strain.
To the other patients he has nothing
10 say. At rare intervals he VIII speak
with the doctors or nurses in the hos
pital, but then only A few words.
But when an American soldier en-
tered his ward he became strangely
animated.
His face lighted up like a chlds
with a new toy. To the aston .shment
OF the hospital attendants he at once
approached the visitor and began to
converse with him in English. Be
sides talking that language iuently,
he also sHeaks French and a smatter-
ing Of other tongues.
AS he talked his interest in the
young American seemed almost pa
thetic He asked Of America. Amer
ica's part in the war. what America
expected to do in Germany. and par
ticulsrly was anxious TO learn what
America thought OF the German air
raids during the war and the bonn
bardment Of Paris by the Big
Bertha"
Tells His Life story.
Then, a : II afraid that the young
soldier from overseas was bout to
sentence him to some horrible pun
ishment, he suddenly began to tel
the story Of his own life.
As a young man he had studied P
the greatest universities OF Ger
many. Chemistry and mechanics ha
been his favorite subjects. and l..
these he showed great aptitude. As
was natural in Germany at that
time. his researches soon took him
into the field Of perfecting weapons
Of war. His work in this line at
tracted the attention Of his govern
ment. They gave him every ODDur-
tunIty for study. He was s-nt 10
ENGLAND. Americ France and other
parts Of the world. In those places
he studied the guns used hy the
armies. the chemical composition Of
explosives and the methods OF man
UfaCturing great shells.
When he returned to Germany. he
was given stock in the Krupp works.