Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-01-23
FRIGHT KILLS SKIPPER,
Who LEFT HUNS TO DIE.
Captain of TrawIcr King stephen
Feared Baby Killers Would
Overpowcr Crew.
WE'RE ON DISABLED ZEPPELIN
Martin Had Nervous Breakdown.
Which He Mistakenly Believed
Was Caused by Poisoned Cigarette.
4 Had Received Threats.

Ssis LONDON. January -tSpeciaD -
Captain William Martin. of the Brit
eish trawler King stephen, who. from
fear of treachery. refused to take off
the crew of the disabled zeppelin Liz.
lin the North Sea in February, 1916.
and eleven months later of ncrv-
ious collapse, caused by the mistaken
belief that he had been poisoned. This
and other facts concerning the Incl
den. now gre ava:l1b,e for the first
time, and i, $ possible &c tell ths. story
in detail. 1t is believed here that the
eighteen Germans composing the crew
of the Liz pershed
The action OF Captain Martin evoked
denunciations of alleged British in
humanity in the German press. which
compared the affair to the celebrated
Baralong case. II is claimed here that
public opinion upheld Captain Martin
the Germans on board the ;rawlcr they
would have captured the vessel ana
pnarmet his ersw OF ten men. Il viii
gram. Bishop OF London. publicly de-
clared we ought "a stand by the
skipper. The Germans have killed
chiyalry in WAY time"
Because OF his action. Captain Mgr
tin, II is learned. received number
of letters threatening his life. About
incident he became i'll after smoking
a cigarette from a package sent him
by mail. and he was convinced that
the cigarette contained poison. Analy-
sis of the tobacco proved that his fears
were unfounded. but he never recov-
pred from the shock; The verdict, of
his physician was that he had died
from sheer fright.
The, LIS had taken part in raid
ever the mainland counties OF Eng
land, in which SiNty-Seven noncombat-
ants were killed and III injured. The
Zeppelin was damaged by guntire and
compelled 10 descend To the North Sea,
where Captain Martin OF the King
stephen, found her resting in the
water. According 10 Captain Martins
story. the Zcppelin's commander Of
off the German crew. hut Martin re-
fused. saying: - don't 'rns, you"
had mt talked il G "yeF MIN no GY3Tf
quoted as saying, and We agreed mat
if we lowered boat and sent som"
of the crew 10 the Zeppelin they would
the Germans wished which would
probably be thai in the end We SHOULD
IL they came on hoard. or II We refused
10 fetch them OF they would carry
the crew OF our boat down with then!
l was determined TO takc mo risks
knew what the GrrnanS had done to
my class in the North sea, and iu
sides Zeppelin crews dropping bombs
on houses and killing women anu CL.l-
dren didn't appeal 10 me. There We're
eighteen Germans and only ton 81 MS
1:iiid YOU cOuiu Scarcely lHiiSlIt AItt"
allowing us 10 take Them ~ prisoners.
There were TWO to one
$50 j told the commanue' plainly
that nothing he could say woulo induce
me to rescue them! II was no. :; l.ic'
Feeling. 10 leave eighteen man 10 drown
even II they Were your enemies When
the ,cnuInanuer saw we Were icUNiNE
and that there was no chance a 10
ing rescued. he ana the ntNrrs set up
q howl Their rHEc was uwtul SGAi.
Ing their fists in despnirt theT kept
shouting out 'GinIt, srrHtc England.
And they KEEP: Shouting tais 0rail and
aEHir rs lone Is We were Wfhr-2 hsa--
Ing THE weather hsa hc.1- stead "!
growing worse. and - no l'1Ac- vesSe!
was in sight. ! knew The Germans were
doomed, but ! felt that ] had done
the right thing under the circum-
stances