The sun., 1919-10-26
CAPT. PERSIUS
.BARES KAISER'S
BRUTAL NATURE
Officers Forced to Submit
to Indignities and Bod
lily Injury.
VULGARITY HIS DELIGHT
Former Attache at Embassy
in Washington FavOrs "Pun-
ishing Rascals."
vULGARITY HIS DELIGHT

Special Correspondence TO The suN.
BERLIN, Oct 5.-Capt. Lothian Per-
sius German Naval Attache at WASH
| ington for a number Of years long be-
| fore the war, and subsequently Ger
many's leading naval critic, devotes
good deal of space in his Personal
| "reminiscences" to acrid ridicule of the
to advocacy of the proposition that
German officers guilty of atrocities
| should be punished. Perhaps nothing
written by a prominent German since
| the war ended so amazingly illustrates
| the apparent change in the point Of view
Of at least some Germans. OF the
Kaiser, Capt Persius says:
There are no great men in the eyes
Of their Wallets. William II. never was
great man in the eyes of anybody.
although he was ever assuming heroic
pose, whether the occasion was solemn
or ridiculous. But William II. in the
| eyes Of his Wallets and attendants was not
only not great, he was even contempt
| IDLY small. mean and cowardly, enjoy
l
| pain he inflicted upon those in his power.
with my own eyes l have seen him
| dash the contents of half filled cham
payne glass into the face of an Admiral
who happened to be standing near him
on the bridge of a vessel. l saw him
scrape the caviar off his sandwich and
| fling the mess into the eye of some
officer of high rank unfortunately within
reach of the imperial Joker OF course
all these 'pranks' were perpetrated when
| his Majesty was in a state of intoxica-
ton. which at times happened to occur
| early in the morning"
| servility Brings Promotion.
| Capt Persius states that all men,
bers Of the officers corps realized that
promotion was to be accelerated only
by humble submission to the Kaiser's
whims and pranks; that some Admirals
would have been deposed for incom-
potency had they not been devoted and
meek objects of the imperial jester: and
that Tirpitz remained so long in power
| because he would stand for anything"
even to permitting the Kaiser to pull his
whiskers and kick him in the stomach.
"Tirpitz," says Persius, would never
vince, and would always smile and
thank his Majesty for the graceful
manner in which he had been recognized
| y,
efficiency and fighting determination
there was in the German navy-and
there was a good deal of it after all
was there In spite of the Emperor
and the deteriorating system of which
he vas the head
! The naval critic then adds these anec.
dotes OF the Kaiser's idiosvncrasies:
| "A cruiser was at target practice
William II. was on board, the sun
smiling, the weather calm and beau
tiful. William H. happened to be in
the best of humor. With his strong
right hand he was dealing blows right
and left. as he was wont to do on
ocoa sions like this. His favorItes con-
sidered themselves fortunate when they
received an imperial punch.
His Majesty was very happy, Jest
| ing and joking. On the bridge his
| body surgeon was standing, leaning
backward against the railing. The old
man. a General in rank, seemed to be
| tired from standing. He was leaning
heavily upon the railing. bending back
ward and dreamily looking into the sky
| THE old man was in a comfortable
portion, as comfortabl as the circum-
stances, including the august presence
of the imperial majesty, would permit
| Ho vas quietly basking in tho warm
| sun.
| Suddenly william H. sprang In
front OF tho old man and In a most cruel
and indecent manner (by hitting the
| old man violent blow in n tender
| spot) inflicted terrible pain. In doing
| this the Emperor said something vul-
gar which /. standing several PAGES
away from him, could not fully under
| stand.
1.-The poor old General staggered. One
could tell by the expression of his face
| that he was half mad from pain. He
reld on TO the railing with his hands
and half fainting sank upon his knees
Laughs After Hitting old Man.
| THE Emperor, proud OF lis splendid
| Joke. laughed vehemently. But when
he saw the result his practical joke had
had he merely turned away, without a
word OF apology. The old surgeon was
no longer persona grata. He had WINGED
while receiving an imperial favor,
THE old General had been insulted,
humiliated and painfully injured in front
of lot of bluejackets, signal men, &c
An cdifying spectacle indeed for those
young fellows to witness
I'VE had returned from a long cruise
n a ship of which Prince Henry. the
! Eaisers brother. WAS the commander
At Kiel the Kaiser himself wanted to
! inspect our ship. He came on board
again in the best of humor.
THE bridge Of the vessel was crowded
with officers OF high rank and other dig
! nitaries While the Emperor was talking
TO some one his adjutant. an Admiral,
| happened to turn his back. Immediate
| ly the imperial right fist shot out and
hit the Admiral in the small OF the back
"A powerful blow.
The Admiral was stunned and reeled.
while the Kaiser made a sneering, filthy
| remark which cannot be repeated in
print. (The linoleum on which the En-
peror was standing was wet, dew av-
| ing fallen during the night. The En-
! perors shoes got wet. and in Joke he
| wanted TO blame his adjutant for IT,,
| saying: What do you want TO wet my
boots for; are you crazy?D. All the Of
! ficers, diplomats, blueJaCkets and at
! tendants heard the kaiser's remarks for
| he shouted, and all the men of course
| were grinning while the Admiral was
! doubled up with pain.
| 1T was a nausea ting spectacle to me-
We had just returned from cruise In
| the Far East We had considered II
| high honor to be inspected by the su-
preme war lord at our arrival. We had
| been proud OF the fact that the Kaiser
had gracefully consented to inspect the
ship which his own brother had faith
fully steered for several years. And