Elbert County tribune., 1921-12-02
LIEUT.. col. WHiTTLEsEY DiSAP-
PEARS FROM BOAT BOUND
FOR CUBA.
PREY TO WARS GRIEF
LEADER OF LOST BATTALION
WHO TOLD GERMANS TO GO
TO HE'LL" REPORTED LOST.
lws...la N.r,p.p.. unlea N.-. s,rIs..l

New York.-Lleut. Col. Charles w.
Whittlesey, hero of the famous lost
battalion, has disappeared from the
steamship Toloa, on which he sailed
for Havana, according to wireless.
News Of the famous soldiers disap-
pearance came in the following mes
sage, received from the captain of the
ship:
Passenger named @. w. Whittlesey
disappeared. Left several letters"
Officials of the United Fruit Line,
operators of the ship, confirmed the
fact that the passenger was Lieut..
Col. Whittlesey through his relatives.
Members Of Mr. Whittlesey's law
firm here were at loss to account for
his visit to Cuba. When he left the
offices of the firm he announced his
intention, they said, of attending the
Army Navy football game.
His business associates declared his
mind was clear and that he apparently
was in good health otherwise when
last seen. He seemed cheerful, they
added. and declared that they were
unable to explain his seemingly
strange action in going away without
notifying them of his plans.
J. b. Pruyn, lawyer. to whom
messages from Captain Grant Of the
Toloa were addressed, stated he was
OF the opinion that Colonel Whittlesey
had ended his life.
Mr.. Pruyn stated that he believed
the tragedy to be the result of the
mental strain TO which Colonel Whit
tlesey had been subjected as one OF
the honorary pallbearers at the Armis-
tice day ceremonies at Washington.
r. f. Little, of White & Case, the
law firm with which Colonel Whlttle-
sey had been associated, received a
wireless from Captain Grant of the To
loa stating that the colonel had left
message for him regarding some law
papers. The note ended with, 81 will
not return"
Colonel Whittlesey has had so
| much grief confronting him since the
war that believe he could not stand
1t any longer" Mr.. Little said. BE
cause of the prominence accorded him,
widows and orphans wrote to him
him and appealed to him in person.
Many seemed merely to want his SYM
pathy. for he was tender-hearted
man.
II noticed a change In him when he
came back from the Unknown Soldier
| services. The funeral at Arlington
seemed to be the climax to all the sad
ness he went through
G. w. Whlttlesey, the soldiers uncle,
declared Colonel Whittlesey attended
the services for the unknown dead at
Washington on Armls:ice day and had
since appeared depressed.
Surrounded in the Argonne with his
command. the First battalion of the
30Sth infantry, Seventy-seventh divi-
sion, he had been cut off for four days
without food or fresh water. All but
eighty-seyen men had been killed or
wounded. At dusk Oct. Z, 1913. a
| blindfolded German bearing a white
flag crossed the lines. He bore
message asking the Americans to sur
render 'in the name of humanity"
A few hours after the messenger
was sent back with Whittlesey's reply
an American advance took place and
all were rescued.
The crisp. laconic reply, "You go to
hell ~ hurled into the teeth Of Ger
man officer who called on him and his
men to surrender, was the rhetorical
battlefield classic which brought Colo
mel Whittlesey into fame.