Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1929-09-05
A Steamer slid Into port |
BY LOWELL THOMAS

Ihe skipper Of our clipper who was
standing next to me said he supposed
SHE had brought over the proprietor
| OF the isnnd The new arrival low
cred boat In Ii were military off
Ger and four Indian soldiers. The
boat rawea straight toward our ship
we surnised al once thai they were
| coming for us. Having received the
message sent by The suspicious half
| breed and the white man that there
were six Germans on the islnnd. the
authorities had sent force of mill
tnry police 10 arrest u.s. There Ind
been some delay In this. as the only
| available boat on which to send the
police was cattle steamer the Amra.
and she could not raise anchor for
some hours She had arrived nov
right In he nick OF time. had commu
aeafed with the shore. and been In
formed that we were aboard the
schuaner.
The storm had cleared during the
early morning The nnIm trees ashore
were ahIuze with the tropical sun
shine. The water under US WINS of
the deep blue thai you see only In the
South Seas A brisk. refreshing wIni
blew from the west Tile bout with
the officer and four soldiers came row
Ing with long, powerful strokes The
lnnians wnre nuttees and thpse funny
little pants that ienve the knees lure
They carried no arms other than bay.
onets. The officer had sword and
revolver. We could ensily have shot
them dawn with our pistols, or thrown
hand grenade In their bout. OF held
them up al pistol point when they
came aboard Then we could have
captured the ship and sailed away
The steamer would have been power
less In the face Of our machine guns
There were mutterings among my men
They were full of fight We should
they urged, make the capture and
get away
! passed an uncomfortable moment
nt INDIGESTION. Our uniforms were
packed In our bundles, slowed below
We would have to fight off arrest and
take the ship In the guise. not Of navn
soldiers bur Of civilians, and as civil
inns we would have to raise our
weapons against soldiers. That not
only went against the grain, but II
went against the unwritten laws OF
Ia trrp Tharp cpn wff f,p
traditions that are carefully Incu
Gated In every German naval officer
II we could have fought In our uni
forms. II would have been as honor
abIe naval men In the end. the odds
would he all against lis and the chances
we're al least hundred To one that
we would he captured before getting
back home. II we fought as naval
men and were later captured. we
would he entitled 10 the treatment due
honorable prisoners OF war. If we
fought In citizens clothes, we were
nothing more than international ban
dts and as such almost sure 10 hang
finally from a yardarm They say thai
all Is fair In love and war. but this
dies moi hitter the fact TINT there are
things you can do thni are not play.
Ing the game. OF course, each side
has It's spies and spy. Ii caught, Ell.
poets no quarter and gets none
But during the War OF 1870, and dur
ing the late war, too. we Germans
were most severe with franctireurs,
civilians who snlped at soldiers Ii
has been one OF our cardinal prin-
cipes that war must be waged by uni.
formed soldiers. In the World war,
both sides were charged with intro
ducing new methods OF warfare that
were not In accordance with the
ethics OF the game. Bn you will re-
call that even Allied cargo and pas
senger ships armed with guns TO fire
on submarines made II Il general rule
TO carry gun crews OF uniformed ma
rines To handle the guns
NO." said TO my men. in the uni
forms OF our country we can fight As
civilians we cannot. AT any rate, we
are not going 10 drop bomb down
there and XIII that poor defenseiess pc
lire officer and his men In those short
pantsl There would be neither fu1