Arizona republican., 1921-11-29
Lieutenant Whittlsey Is Reported Missing From Passenger Steamer; Mes sage Indicates Suicide.
[RepubIican A. p. Leased wIrel

NEW YORK, Nov. 2S.-Lieutenant Colonel Charles H. Whittlesey, hero of the famous lost battalion, has dis appeared from the steamship Toloa on which he sailed Saturday for Ha- vana, according to a wireless today.
 News of the famous soldiers dis appearance came in the following message received from the captain of the ship:
 Passenger named C. ". Whittle- sey disappeared. Left several let ters."
 Officials of the United Fruit line, operators of the ship, confirmed the fact that the passenger was Lieu tenant Colonel Whittlesey through his relatives. MT. Whittlesey's law firm here were at a loss to account for his visit to Cuba. When he left the offices of the firm Friday. he an- nounced his intention, they said, of attending the Army Navy game Sat urday.
 His business associates declared his mind was clear and that appar- ently was in good health otherwise when last seen. He seemed cheerful, they added, and declared they were unable to explain his seemingly strange action in going away with
 
 c. W. Whittlesey, the soldiers un- cle, declared tonight Colonel Whittle- sey attended the services for the un- known dead at Washington on Ar rnistice day and had since appeared depressed.
 Colonel whitt1esey, who was S6 and unmarried, lived in a bachelor apart Inent here. When he appeared at breakfast Saturday, he brought a suit case from his room. He did not say where, he was going.
 The crisp laconic reply: You go to hell.' hurled into the teeth of a German officer who called on him and his men to surrender, was the rhetorical battlefield classic which brought Colenel Whittlesey into fame. Surrounded in the Argonne with his command, the first battalion of the 30Sth infantry. 77th division. he 1 had been cut off for four days with out food or fresh water. All but S7 men had been killed or wounded. At dusk, october z, 1918, a blindfolded German bearing a white flag crossed
 the lines. He bore a message asking
 the Americans to surrender, in the ! name of humanity.i
 A few hours after the messenger
 was sent back with Whittlesey's re-
 ply. an American advance took .place
 and all were rescued.
 His exploit was rewarded by Pres
 ident Wilson with the congressional
 medal of honor. After the armistics
 the German officer who demanded
 Whittlesey's surrender added to hi.
 laurels by publishing a statement ex'
 tolling the American's courage.
 J. B. Pruyn, a lawyer. to whom messages from Captain Grant of thu 1 olIrar-ad cfo iprla that he was of the opinion that Col } onel Whittlesey had ended his life
 Radio messages related that Col onel Whittlesey left a note for tn
 captain requesting him to notify hi parents and then disappeared. MT. Pruyn stated that he believe' ' the tragedy to be the result of tn ] mental strain to which Colonel Whit . tlesey had been subjected as one o ! the honorary pallbearers at tn
 Armistice day ceremonies at Wash { ington. s R. F. Little of White and Case. tn f law firm with which Colonel Whit tlesey has been associated, receive a wireless from Captain Grant of tn t Toloa stating that the colonel ha
 left a message for him regardin t some law papers. The note ende : with T will not return"
 e "Colonel Whittlesey has had s e much grief confronting him since tn S war that I believe he could not stan t it any longer" MT. Little said "Be !" cause of the prominence accorde e him, widows and orphans wrote . him and appealed to him in persol s Many seemed merely to want hi
 sympathy, for he was a tender . hearted man.
 t T noticed a change in him when ! h came back from the unknown soldi' e services. The funeral at Arlingto
 seemed to be the climax of all il n sadness he went through"