The Chesterfield advertiser. [volume] (Chesterfield C.H., S.C.) 1884-1978, 1919-01-09


1t Dixmude. said: "Feet. do your
iuty." They did 1t and 1 flew ND the
iddley. I never wanted to see thar
stoke hole again.
I sneaked up to where the rest of
ne fellows were and the guards
1rflled us into No. A hold. There was
,othing but ammunition in 1t. They
oattened the matches down on us.
which made the hold waterproof. And
Is that made 1t practically alright the
,nly air the $50 Of US got was through
The ventilators. That hold was GER
:ainly foul.
They next day some Of the men had
got cigarettes somewhere. In a few
minutes they as well as the rest had
1T up and were putting away in great
style. I divided cigarette with an
,ther fellow. Remember. we were sit
dng and standing on ammunition all
this time. 1t shows how much we
cared whether school kept or not.
The Germans saw the smoke COM
Ing out Of the ventilators and they
we're crazy with fright. A gang of
them laid below and rousted us out
with whips.
They lined us up on deck and read
us the riot act.
They drilled us down into the coal
ounkers. It was simply terrible there.
Coal dust to breathe and eat and sleep
on.
Also. by this time some Of the men
mad lost their heads completely; In
fact, had gone violently crazy, and the
rest Of us were afraid Of them. We
weres all thinking Of the fight that
might occur any moment between the
Yarrowdale and some other vessel and
we knew we were in the likeliest place
for the vessI to be struck. Even
though we were not hit amidships, II
the ship were sinking we did not think
the Germans would give US q chance to
escape. We figured from what they
mad said that we would 60 down with
the ship. And going down on ship In
which You are a prisoner Is quite diff.
ferent from going down with one for
which you have been fighting. You
arrive at the same place, but the feel
ing Is different.
Some Of US thought Of overpowering
the crew and taking the vessel into our
own hands, and we got the rest of
the sane or nearly saue men together
and tried to get up scheme for doing
1t. / was strong for the plan and 80
were several others, but the Limey of.
hcers who were with us advised
against 1t. They said the Germans
were taking us to a neutral country,
where we would be interned, which
was just what the Germans had told
US, but what few Of us believed.
Then some others said that II we
started anything the Germans would
fire the time bombs. We replied that
at least the Germans would 20 west
with US, but they could not see that
there was any glory in that. For my
self. 1 thought the Germans would not
fire the bombs until the last minute,
and that we would have a chance at
the boats before they got all of us
anyway. There were only thirteen
German sailors on board, besides their
commander. This last Hun was
named Badewitz.
So the pacifsts ruled. because we
could not do anything unless we were
all together, and there WINS no mutiny.
They said we were hotiiaads, the rest
OF US. but still think we could have
uade a dash for II and overpowered
~, e sentries. and either gone over the
s,de with the lifeboats. or taken over
tho u hole ship. 1t would have been
hetter Cor US If we had tried, and II
the .paci fsts had known what was
coming To us they would have fred
the time ombs themselves rather
than 10 on i.oto that future. How
ever, that Is spit milk.
We were not allowed to open the
portholes while we were in the bunk,
ers. under penalty of death, and there
I'm the dark, In that stfnking air, 1t is
no wonder many Of US went crazy.
Among us was fellow named Har-
rington, about six feet tall and weigh
ing $50 pounds. He seemed to be all
right mentaiiy, but some OF ue
thought afterwards he was crazy.
Anyway, I do not blame him for what
ne did. Harrington rushed up the
fiddlet end opened the door. There
was O German sentry there. and Hnr'
rington made swing at him and then
grabbed his bayonet. The sentry
yelled and some others came down
from the bridge and shot Harrington
through the hand. After they had
beaten Harrington pretty badly, the
bull Of the bunch, Badewtts himself,
came over and hammered Harrington
alk nrpund tha dock. Then thay. pvt