The Washington herald., 1920-04-16
DEMOTT'S FATE
RAISES DOUBTS
Z -----
Probe Tries to Establish
Whether Victim Was En-
titled 10 Papers.
ARMY UNDER SUSPICION
Parallel Shooting Of Other
Prisoners by German
Soldiers Recalled.
ARMY UNDER SUSPICION
washiaEton IIeraId-Public Ledger
SeEv5ce-Speclal Cable Dispatch.

"AsntnSton ucrbu-fubttC LcokeE
servsee-speclai Cable Dispatch.
Berlin. April 1.-the American
commission and the German defense
ministry have each sent q represent
ative "a wcsel to investigate the
Eil!iaS d The repu7cd American cor
respondent. Paul Demott. who, after
lis executioL o: = sentence OF a
d-umhcad court had been prevented
by tho requirement that President
Eocrt confirm all death sentences.
was slain By his guards during an
alleged attempt to escape. Reginald
Foster. secretary to the American
commissioner. has gone to Wesel.
The foreign ONCE to which Conmis-
sioner Dressed applied for a report
haA through the chancellor. de-
inanded that the documents In the
case be sent to Berlin.
The commander at Wesel tele-
Eraphcd a version OF the shooting,
according to which Demott atter Wis
fting the toilet four times u rapid
succession, attempted to run on the
eftt trip and was then sho. by the
soldiers The report adds that De-
mott was considered by American
newspaper men. not as q correspond
ent, but as n dangerous Bolsheyist.
bu: cails 20 specify the source of its
Information.
Others Killed Same Way.
The army authorities have only
themselves to blame IL this explana-
tion Of she killing is not immediate
ly accepted. There has been q long
series Of political prisoners, starting
with that of Karl Licbknecht and
Rosa Luxembourg. murdered by the
military under the same pretense of
attempted flight. and the troops
have taken the law into their own
hands repeatedly during the present
troubles TO execute prisoners in the
same fashion. Dispatches from the
Ruhr have intimated that this would
be their recourse unless the limita-
tion upon the free use of drumhead
procedure to deal with insurgents
caught with arms in their hands
was removed.
The civil government is helpless
against the troops" the foreign Of
fee press representative admitted
yesterday. discussing the Demott
case, I'VE are as was stated in the
press conference yesterday. faced in
the Ruhr by revolt of Lands
kneckts "a German appellation for
hireling soldiers in tine Middle
Ages) or rather by a partial mutiny.
since only one regiment has actually
threatened to quit the field unless
the use of the drumhead court-mar-
tial procedure is restored.
Il cannot. however. believe that
the troops would use this subterfuge
of attempted flight against an Amer
lean correspondent. can under
stand that they would be led by
partisan feeling to execute German
political prisoners against whom
they are embittered, but they would
not feel the same way toward an
American correspondent"
Both the civil and military au-
thorities are trying to establish
whether Demott actually was en-
titled to the American papers he
carried, working on the theory that
lie was a Bolshevist agent. They
state he carried letter from Lenine.
The American commission has no
record of his passport. The minis
try of defense has receiyed n reply
on the incident at Essen when a
British correspondent named Voight
was arrested and beaten by troops.
A soldier who slugged Voight was
punished by five days arrest and the
officer who conducted the hearing
aaG who is reported to have made a
free use of the abusive language
was ordered confined to quarters for
:wo days for not preventing the as
Sault.
Copyright, 1890. by Public Ledger Coy