The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-09-02
IMPRISONED BY FOE,
RETURNS A BRIDE
Girl Was Year and Half in
Solitary Confinement by
Berlin's Order.
ESPIONAGE CHARGE MADE
WEEDS Captain Fiance in Paris
When Freed-Transports
Bring More Troops.

The transports Sierra and Won Steu.
ben, both from Brest, locked yesterday
with 5000 officers and men. Among the
civilian passengers on the Sierra wal
the bride of Capt. Edwin w. Petersen OF
Boston, an army dental surgeon, tC
whom she was married in Paris on July
| 6, after two years of adventures which
included year and a half's solitary
confinement in Germany under charges
of espionage.
Mrs. Petersen was unwilling to reveal
her maiden name or any particulars as
to her family, but she said that she was
a German who had come to this country
in 1914 to study dentistry at Tufts Col
lege, where she first net Capt. Petersen
then an instructor in The Massachusetts
college. In 1916 she returned to Ger
many and few days after the Ameri.
can declaration of war she was arrested
as a spy, tried and sentenced to twelve
years solitary imr risonment. Until the
German revolution of November, 1918
when political prisoners were released
she was confined in the women's prison
in Berlin, where her cell was infested
with rats and the food was more fitted
for animals than for human consump-
ton.
Messages Sent by UNDERGROUND.
Meanwhile, through the underground
methods known to the prisoners, she kept
in touch with Capt. Petersen. who tried
to secure her release through the neutral
Legations in Berlin. He was unsuccess-
full and communication between the two
became more and more difficult and
finally ceased altogether several months
before her release. After the November
CHI f,, L.. xryftf
Capt. Petersen, who was then on duty
in Paris, but 1t was March before she
was able to get out of Berlin and make
her way to the French capital.
On her arrival she promptly was sent
back to Berlin because she refused to
establish her identity to the satisfaction
of the army provost marshal, but in July
she again arrived in Paris and married
the captain. She was able to do this
because her conviction and imprisonment
had resulted in the loss of her German
citizenship.
The caStain and his bride left for
Washington as soon as their baggage
was passed by the customs authorities
and said that they would make their
home In Boston
A stowaway who arrived on the Sierra
was not discovered until after the vessel
had left Quarantine. He was a French
boy, Alexandra Guadin. Is years old, and
he avoided discovery during the voyage
by posing as a convalescent soldier with
an deliberately bandaged hand.
His father was killed at Verdun in the
first months OF the war. he told the i'.,
migration officials, and his mother died
of disease contracted while nursing in a
French hospital. He tried to enlist, but
was rejected on account of his age. Re-
Gently he had been working as a long
shoreman at Brest and obtained an
American uniform from a negro soldier
at the port. He was seen climbing a
rope to board the ship, but by staying in
full sight on deck, always with his
bandaged arm. he eluded discovery until
the vessel was in the upper bay
Won stueben Brings Troops.
The Sierra brought ss6 military pas
sengers. including the 307th and 30Sth
Repair units and the Twenty-ffth Com
pany of the Transportation Corps and a
number of casuals. There were also on
board 142 Shipping Board employees
who had been members OF crews taking
back to Holland the Dutch ships seized
by the United States during the war.
The Won Steuben landed 2,20S officers
and men, including Major-Gen. Eli a.
Helmick, who went to France in COM
mand of the Eighth Division and was
afterwards placed in command of the
Port of Debarkation at Brest, where he
won the Distinguished Service Medal.
He said that the bulk of the combat
troops will have returned to this country
before the end of September, but that Il
will be November before all units leave
France.
Among the troops on board were the
Seventh Field Artillery of the First d.
vision under thee ommand Of Col Francis
A. Ruggles, also the First Machine Gun
Battalion. the First Ammunition Train,
Ambulance Companies 2. 8 and 12 and
Field Hospital No. L.