Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1919-01-03

sighted a tug. She began to smoke
up and blow her siren. The sailors got
very excited and ran around in crazy
style, and Badewitz began shouting
more orders than they could get away
with. The sentrieS left me and ran
with the rest of the Fritzies to the
boat deck and started to lower one of
the lifeboats. But Badewitz was right
on their heels and kicked the whole
bunch around in great shape. roaring
like bull all the time.
/ left the wheel and ran to the end
of the bridge, to jump overheard. But
the minute let go of the wheel the
vessel fell Off Of the course, and they
noticed 1t, and Badewitz sent five of
them up on the bridge and three
others to the side with their revolvers
to shoot me If should reach the wa
ter. / think If / had had any rope to
lash the wheel with / could have got
away and they would not have known
it.
When the five sailors reached the
bridge one Of them jumped for the
cord and gave our siren five long
blasts in answer to the tug. The tug
was about to launch a torpedo, and
we whistled just in time. One of our
men was looking from the fiddley, and
he saw the Huns making for the life
boats, SO he got two or three others
and they all yelled together Don't
let them get away!" thinking that
they would get the boat over and
leave the ship, and trying to yell loud
enough for the tug to hear them.
Badewitz took this man and two or
three others, whether they were the
ones who yelled or not, and beat them
up and put them in irons. / thought
there was going to be q mutiny
aboard, but it did not come off, and
am not sure what the Huns were SO
excited about.
The other four sailors who came up
on the bridge did not touch me, but
just kept me covered with their re-
volvers. That was the way with them
Badewitz was there or they had bayo-
nets. The old bull himself came up
on the bridge after he had beaten up
q few men, threw me around quite a
bit and kicked me down from the
bridge and slammed me into the coal
bunkers. I felt pretty sore, as you
can imagine, and disappointed and
pretty low generally.
After q while we heard the anchor
chains rattling through on their way
to get wet, and we pulled up. Then
every German ship in the Baltic came
up to look us over, 1 guess. They
opened up the hatch covers, and the
Hun garbies and gold-stripes came
aboard and looked down at US, and
spit all they could on us, and called
us all the different kinds of swine in
creation. They had them lined up
and fling past the hatchways all of
them giving us the once over in turn.
Maybe they sold tickets for this show
1T would be like the Huns.
At first we were milling around try
ing to get out from under the hatch
openings and the shower of spit, but
some Limey officer sang out, Brit
ishers all Don't give Way!' and we
stood still and let them spit their
damned German lungs out before we
would move for them, and some Cor.
nishmen began singing their song
about Trelawney. So we made out
that we did not know such q thing as
a German ever lived.
We got better acquainted with Ger
man splitting later on, and believe me,
they are great little spitters, not much
on distance or accuracy, but quick in
action and well supplied with ammu-.
milton. Splitting on prisoners is the
favorite indoor and outdoor sport for
Germans, men and women alike.
When the show was over, they
rousted us up on deck and put us to
work throwing the salt pork and can
ned goods into two German mine-lay-
ers. While we were at 1t, a Danish
patrol boat came out and tied along
side us, and some of her officers came
aboard and saw us. They knew we
were prisoners-of-war, and they knew
that a vessel carrying prisoners-of-
war must not remain In neutral wa
tiers for over twenty-four hours, but
they did not say anything about it.
That night two men named Barney
Hill and Joyce, the latter gunner
from the Mount Temple, sneaked up
on deck and aft to the poop deck.
There was pair of wooden stairs
leading to the top Of the poop deck,
and Joyce and Hill lifted it and got
it over the side with a rope to it. The
two of them got down into the water
all right, but Joyce let out a yell be-
cause the water was SO cold, and
German patrol boat heard him and
flashed searchlight. They picked up
Joyce right away, but Barney was
making good Roadway and was almost
free when they dragged him in. They
beat them up on the patrol boat, and
when they put them back on the
Yarrowdale Badewitz beat them up
some more and put them in irons.
Then he began to shoot at their feet
with his revolver, and he had sailor
stand by to hand him another revolt
yer when the first one was empty.
Then he would cash their faces with
the barrel Of the revolver and shout,
I'm Badewitz. I'm the man who
fooled the English" and shoot at them
some more.
All the while the sailors were cele-
brating, drinking and eating. and yell
ing, as usual, and the whistles on all
the German ships were blowing, and
they were having great fest. After