The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1921-12-01
Mysterious Disappearance
of Col. Whittlesey is
Echo of War.
MIND JUST STOPPED
Famous Leader of Lost Battal-
lion Disappears from Vessel
On His Way to Havana.
(By Associated Press Leased wire.l

~ (By Associated Press Leased Wfel
New York City.-Secret brooding over
the memories of his experiences in the
war, from which he emerged one Of
Americas greatest individual heroes,
was ascribed today by friends and rela-
tives of Lieutenant-C Colonel Charles w.
Whittlesey as the cause Of his taking
his life Sunday while on the way TO
Havana. Leaving several letters, pre-
sumably explaining his act, the COM
mander of the "lost battalion" disap-
peared from the steamship "Toloa"
twenty-four hours out from New York.
His intimate friends had no idea he
was making an ocean voyage.
Members of his family and business
associates were incredulous at first
when a wireless dispatch reported him
missing. But as evidence accumulated
they reluctantly came to the conclu
sion that the missing man was Colonel
Whittlesey. And then they recalled
Incidents, which, pieced together in the
light of his tragic death, might have
been recognized as indications that his
spirit was shaken by recurrent mem
cries of his comrades-in-arms who had
died before his years in France.
The last blow, they said, more trying
than the rest, was in Washington a
fortnight ago when he took part in the
funeral services of Americas unknown
soldier. He came from the capital
more depressed than before, the haunt
ing visions clearer than ever bearing
him down. There he had met hundreds
of former friends and had marked
anew the gaps in the ranks of the men
he loved.
His Mind just Stopped.
ellis mind stopped" was the explain
alton of Robert F. Little of the law
firm of White & Case, with which Col.
Whittlesey had been associated for
about year. at had all it could bear.
remarkable mind though it was. /
don't think there was a man in the
country who has had the trying ex-
periences Colonel Whittlesey has had
in the past two years.
"He was the hero who was always
accessible to those who thought he
could help them. The disabled, the
jobless, the friendless, the widows of
the war-all Of them, were on his mind
constantly For the last two years
there has scarcely been an hour when
the grief and horror of the war was
not brought WILDLY and specifically
| before him"
Colonel Whittlesey had told no one,
apparently, that he, was going to Ha-
vana. When he left his Office Friday
afternoon, it was with some CHEEKY re-
mark regarding the Army-Navy foot
ball game which he intended to see. At
his boarding house he told friends he
was going away "to be by myself to
rest" when he left Saturday morning
with travelling bag.
Colonel Whittlesey's uncle, C. w
Whittlesey of New York, agreed with
his nephew's legal associates that he
had come back from Arlington National
cemetery with the recollections induced
! by the memorial services weighing
heavily on his mind. John B. Pruyn,
Col. Whittlesey's close friend and form
err law partner, also shared the general
view of the cause of the tragedy.
Name Linked With Fame.
Colonel Whittlesey's name leaped
into worldwide prominen nee overnight
| through his retort to the German Off
Ger who called on him to surrender
after he was surrounded in the Ar
gonne. For four days and nights his
command, the first battalion, 308th In
fantry, 77th Division, had lain under
fire, cut off from aid, without food OF
fresh water. All but ST men had been
killed or wounded.
Blindfolded and under the protection
of a white flag, a German soldier
stumbled into the American strong
! point.
Surrender" he cried, Gin the name
Of humanity" and he told how from
the German trenches the agonies and
cries of the American wounded could
be heard, but Col Whittlesey's mes
sage to the enemy was not that he
would lay down his arms.
'You go to HE'LL" he said.
A few hours later American reserves
attacked all along the line, the Ger
mans were pushed back and the little
band of survivors saved.
On his return to the United States
he was voted the Congressional Media
of Honor, the most coveted American
decoration for heroism, and a few
months after the armistice the German
officer who called on him to surrender
made public statement extolling the
courage and logged determination Of
lahic formnr foe