Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-11
BY ANGUS MACGREGOR.

NEW YORK, January 10 (N.AN.A).-
The strange death by suicide of young
German seaman aboard the freighter
Sehali q short time ago made hardly a
ripple on this side of the sea.
The story was somewhat garbled when
it reached here. The suicide was said
to have taken place in Hamburg cafe,
but this, according to Franz Woebber,
is not so. Franz was ships cook and
ought to know. This is his version of
the tragic affair.
A word first about Franz. He is very
thin, weighs hardly more than 100
pounds, and his hair is as white and
soft as foam on a breaker. With his
small, eager, pale face peering out from
amidst the clouds of pipe smoke which
invariably enshroud him, he would have
been called, in a gentler epoch, the
spirit of age. Certainly he deserves no
less.
Felt Sorry for Boy,
1.-The boy" said Woebber, shipped
from Hamburg. He was short, fat and
red faced, not very spry. I felt sorry
for him Immediately. Why? Because
he looked dead. The picture of health,
you understand. but dead just the same
Dead inside. The inner fire which sup
ports us all had gone cold in him"
Woebber sucked at his pipe in silence
for a long time. Then suddenly he
began to cry. It was very embarrassing
You must excuse me" he said, L
feel very sad when a young man kills
himself There is so much to live for. )"
Schultz's life Schultz was what the
boy called himself) was not very pleas
ant. He did not get on well with the
men, and he was moody and unused to
the sea. He never mentioned what his
trouble was, but Woebber thinks it was
love affair. "All young men," said
Woebber, ARE troubled with love al
fairs
The sehali was making for Ceylon,
and it was a foregone conclusion that
there Schultz would jump ship. Every
body knew it, even the captain, but
Schultz never got to Ceylon. A game
of cards interfered.
Makes Death Wager.
A pack was broken out for some
poker, when Schultz appeared and asked
If he could take a hand. One Of the
men had just read Stevenson, and he
thought the boy was a good subject
for a little Joke. I'VE are not" he
said, playing game that you would
like. In this game the first to draw
the queen of hearts dies by his own
hand. Now do you want to play?"
Schultz looked little startled. He
said nothing for full minute and then
nodded his head slowly.
1t was a great joke, said Woebber. At
least everybody felt it was a great joke.
The cards were dealt with impressive
slowneSS, and the first card Schultz got
was the queen of hearts. He jumped
to his feet as if stung: II knew it." he
shouted. I've never, been lucky"
That night he put pistol in his
mouth and blew of the roof of his
head 1T was a terrible shock to us
ALL" said Woebber, because no one, of
course, had taken the game seriously.
1t Is terrible when such q young one
dies. Life is hard often, especially for
youth, but there is always-always, you
Notwithstanding to live for"
Icebergs Give Thrill.
The month Of January is not, to
most of us here, exactly Maytime, but
whatever cold there is Jack Sable greets
with superior disdain, as who wouldn't
who has just returned from two and
one-half years in the Antarctic?
Sable was one of the crew of the
English ship William Scoresly, which,
in 1928, departed for the bottom Of the
world to study whales. Sable thinks,
after lengthy and first-hand expert
ence, that whales are just hunks Of cold
lard Jumped together in a black sack.
They don't excite him, but he got more
than enough thrills from the icebergs
surrounded by almost 1000 bergs, large
and small. In the dead, thick stiffness
Of an Antarctic night. they rode all
e.oout us, frou-frouing like ladies in tat
feta skirts. And most OF them were
like ladies, pure, noble steadfast and
beautiful When the sun shot down on
them, they caught the rays and covered
them with 1000 splendid colors.
Our ship had the honor of locating
=. L. III 1~lI Iaoe
known" continued Sable. 1T was, by
actual measurement, $50 miles long and
IL miles wide. We had one bad scare,
though. A berg broke of from the
mainland not many miles from us. The
report was deafening. It was like all
the guns in the World War spliced
into one single, ear-rending defamation
and the ocean quivered like bowl OF
jelly that has been dropped from a
great height. We were shaken consid-
erably."
Shaving In the Rain.
jeanette Park, across the street from
the Seamen's Church Institute, offers
strange sight in Summer A trough for
watering horses has been placed there
by the S. P. G. A., but the horses have
to take their chances. All beach COM
bers and sailors down on their luck
flock there to wash their clothes and
shave. The men hang their garments
to dry on the iron palingS that sur
round the tiny park and sometimes the
line before the trough Is a block long.
But in the Winter the line Is not so
alive. Yet one day this week, when a
singing, greasy rain was beating down
and a wind with teeth in 1t was biting
across the park, I saw sailor standing
there shaving