Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 11, No. 4, Ed. 1 Friday, February 14, 1919 Page: 3 of 8
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PALACIOS REACON, PALACIOS, TEXAS
Albert KDepew^pi
EX-GUNNER AND CHIEF PETT^OFFfCERrU.^-NAVY.
MEMBER OF THE FOREIGN LEGION OF FRANCE
CAPTAIN GUN TURRET, FRENCH BATTLESHIP CASSAKD-^
WINNER OF THE CROIX DE GUERRE
Copyright. 1918, by Reifly tnd Briaon Co.. Through SpccUl Arrwifiemenl With the Gcorgti Maahew Adams 3ervic*
CHAPTER XVII—Continued.
—15—
Also, by this time sortie of the men
had lost tli^r heads completely; in
fact, had gone violently crazy, and the
rest of us were afraid of them. We
wore all thinking of the fight that
might occur any moment between the
Yarrowdale and some other vessel and
wo knew we were In the likeliest place
for the vessel to be struck. Even
though we were not hit amidships, if
the ship were sinking we did not think
the Germans would give us a chance to
escape. We figured from what they
had said that we would go down with
the ship And going down on a ship in
which you are a prisoner is quite dif-
ferent from going down with one for
which you have been fighting. You
arrive at the same place, but the feel-
ing is different.
Some of us thought of overpowering
the crew and tailing the vessel Into our
own hands, and we got the rest of
the sane or nearly sane men together
and tried to get up n schpinp for doing
it. I was strong for the plan and so
were several others, but the Limey of-
ficers who were with us advised
against it. They said the Germans
were taking us to a neutral country,
where we would be interned, which
was just what the Germans had told
us, but what few of us believed.
Then some others said that If we
started anything the Germans would
fire the time bombs. We replied that
nt least the Germans would go west
with us, but they could not see that
there was any glory in that. For my-
self, I thought the Germans would not
fire the bombs until the last minute,
and that we would have a chance at
the boats before they got all of us
anyway. There were only thirteen
German sailors on board, besides their
commander. This last TTun was
named Badewitz.
So the pacifists ruled, because we
could not do anything unless we were
all together, and there was no mutiny.
They said we were hotheads, the rest
of us, but I still think we could have
made a dash for It and overpowered
our sentries, and either gone over the
side with the lifeboats, or taken over
the whole ship. It would have been
better for U3 If we had tried, and if
the pacifists had known what was
■coming to us they would have fired
the time bombs themselves rather
than go on Into that future. How-
ever, that is spilt milk.
We were not allowed to open the
portholes while we were In the bunk-
ers, under penalty of death, and there
in the dark, in that stinking air, it is
no woprt<;r many of ts went crazy.
Among us was a fellow named Har-
rington, about six feet tall and weigh-
ing 250 pounds. He seemed to be all
right . mentally, but some of us
thought afterwards he was crazy.
Anyway, I do not blame him for what
he did. Harrington rushed up the
llddley and opened the door. There
was a German sentry there, and Har-
rington made a swing at him and then
grabbed his bayonet. The sentry
yelled and some others came down
from the bridge and shot Harrington
through the hand. After they had
beaten Harrington pretty badly, the
bull of the bunch, Badewitz himself,
■came over and hammered Harrington
all around the deck. Then they put
him in Irons ami luuk him to the chart
room.
The next day we were sitting In the
flddley getting warm when the door
opened and there was Badewitz. He
yelled "Herausl" and began firing at
us with n rpvolver, so we beat it back
onto the coal. Pretty soon the door
opened again. But It was only a Ger-
man sentry. He threw down a note.
It was written in English and read,
"Pick out eight men for cooks." So
we picked out eight men from the va-
rious vessels and they went on deck
and rigged up a galley aft.
But we did not receive any knives,
forks, spoons or plates. The first
meal we got was nothing but macaro-
ni, piled up on pieces of cardboard
boxes. Then we appointed four men
to serve the macaroni, and they got
four pieces of wood, the cleanest we
could find, which was not very clean
at that, and they dug around in the
macaroni and divided It up and put
It In our hands. We had to eat It
after that from our grimy fingers.
Those who were helped Qrst had to go
farthest back on the conl to eat it,
and those who were helped last got
less, because the dividers got more
careful toward the end and gave
smaller portions.
But we did not get nmcaronl very
icij£. A cock from the Volt p. Irs wnn
cleaning a copper dlxte that the mac-
aroni bad been cooked In, and lie was
holding it over the side when the ves-
sel rolled heavily, and dropped the
dixie into the briny. A sentry who
saw him drop It forced him up to
Badewitz, who began mauling him be-
fore the sentry even had told his
story. After a while Badewitz quit
pounding the cook, and listened to the
sentry. Thon Badewitz said the cook
had put a note In the dixie before he
dropped it, so they beat him up again
and put him in irons. After that they
sent the rest of the cooks back, and
would not let them on deck again.
They had plenty of canned goods and
meat aboard, but they would uot give
us any.
FIvp of the men were burled at sea
that day. More men were going mad
every minute, and it was a terrible
place; pitch dark, grimy, loose coal
underfoot, coal-dusty air to breathe,
body-filth everywhere. Some of the
crazy men ijowled like dogs. But we
were not as much afraid of these as
we were of the others who kept still,
but slipped around In the dark with
lumps of coal In their hands. We
got so we would not go near each
other for fear we were running Into a
crazy man. Those of us who were
sane collected as near the flddley as
we could, and we would not lot the
others get near us, but shoved them
back or shied lumps of coal at them.
And every once in a while some one
of uo would begin to act queer. May-
be he would let out a howl suddenly,
without any warning. Or he would
just quit talking and begin to sneak
around. Or he would squat down and
begin to mumble. We could not tell
just \*hen a man had begun to lose
his mind. He would seem just like
the rest of us, because none of us was
much better than a beast.
We could not take turns sleeping
and standing watch against the crazy
men, because when we talked about
it, we agreed that none of us cculd
tell vj'hether or not the sentries would
go crazy while on watch and have the
rest of us at their mercy. It was aw-
ful to talk about going crazy in this
way, and to figure that you yourself
might be the next, and that It was al-
most sure to happen If you did not
get some sleep soon. But It was worse
to find a man near you going, and have
to boot him out with the other Insane
men.
The days passed like that, with
nothing to do but suffer, and starve
and freeze. It got colder and colder,
and all we could wrap ourselves In
was the coal. We began to speculate
on where we were. It was not till
later than an old skipper in our bunch
told us that we had rounded the north-
ern coast of Iceland.
Finally, one day, a lad yelled down
"Land I" and we all dove for the fld-
dley like wild men, and those who
could get near enphgh looked out, and
sure enough! there was the coast of
Norway, very rugged and rocky and
covered with snow. We thought It
was all over then, and that we would
be landed at Bergen sure. Then there
was the usual running around and
yelling on deck, and we were not so
Kiirt» we would he landed, and very
suddenly It got colder than ever.
I was lu the flddley, aching lo net
out, and ready for anything that
might happen, when the door opened
suddenly and Badewitz grabbed me,
and asked me In English if I was a
quartermaster. I said yes, and he
pulled me by the nrm to u cabin. I
did not know what was going to hap-
pen, but he took an oilskin from the
wail and told me to put It on.
There were two sailors there also,
and they put life belts on, and then
I was more puzzled than ever, and
scared, too, because I thought maybe
they were going to throw me over-
board, though what that had to do
with being a quartermaster I could
not see.
But they drilled me up onto the
bridge and told mo to take the wheel.
What their Idea was 1 do uot know.
Possibly they wanted u noneombatant
at the wheel In case they were over-
hauled by a neutral vessel. We were
going full speed at the time, but as
soon os I took the wheel she cut down
to half speed, and stayed that way for
half an hour. Then up to full speed
again.
Pretty soon there was a tramp
steamer on the starboard bow, and al-
most before I saw It, there were two
more sentries on each side of me,
prodding me with their revolvers and
warning me to keep on the course.
They hud civilian clothes on.
Then we went through the Sknger
Rack and Cattegat, which are narrow
strips of water leading to the Baltic,
and we were only a mile from shore
with vessels all about us. It would
have been an easy thing for me to
signal what our ship was and who
were aboard, but they had six sentries
on my neck all the time to keep me
from it. I never wanted to do any-
thing worse in my life than jump
overboard or signal. But I would
have been shot down before I had
more than started to do either, so I
just stayed with the wheel.
We were nearlng one of the Dan-
ish Islands lu the Baltic when wo
sighted a tug. She began to smoke
up and blow her siren. The sailors got
very excited and ran around In crazy
style, and Badewitz began shouting
more orders than they could get nway
with. Tiie sentries left me and ran
with the rest of the Fritzles to the
boat deck and started to lower one of
the lifeboats. But Badewitz was right
on their heels and kicked the whole
bunch around in great shape, roaring
like a bull all the time.
I left the wheel and ran to the end
of the bridge, to jump overboard. But
the minute I let go of the wheel the
vessel fell off of the course, and they
noticed it, and Badewitz sent five of
them up on the bridge and three
others to the side with their revolvers
to shoot me If I should reach the wa-
ter. I think If I had had any rope to
lash the wheel with I could have got
away and they would not huve known
it.
When the live sailors reached the
bridge one of them jumped for the
cord and gave our siren five long
blasts In answer to the tug. The tug
was about to launch a torpedo, and
we whistled just in time. One of our
men was looking from the fiddley, and
lie saw the Huiis making for the life-
boats, so he got two or three others
and they all yelled together, "Doli't
let them get away!" thinking that
they would get the bout over and
leave the ship, and trying to yell loud
enough for the tug to hear them.
Badewitz'took this man and two or
three others, whether they were the
ones who yelled or not, and beat them
up and put them lu Irons, I thought
there was going to be a mutiny
aboard, but It did not come off, and
I am not sure what the Huns were so
excited about.
The other four sailors who came up
on the bridge did not touch me, but
just kept me covered with their re-
volvers. That was the way with them
—they would not touch us unless
Badewitz was there or they had iiayo-
nets. The old bull himself came up
oil the bridge after he had beaten up
a few men, threw me around quite a
bit und kicked roe down from thn
bridge and slammed me Into tho coal
bunkers. I felt pretty sore, as you
can imagine, and disappointed and
pretty low generally.
After a while we heard the anchor
chains rattling through on their way
to get wet, and we pulled up. Then
every German ship in the Baltic came
up to look us over, I guess. They
opened up the hatch covers, and the
Hun garbles and gold-stripes came
aboard and looked down at us, and
Bplt all they could on us, and culled
us all the different kinds of swine In
creation. They had them lined up
and filing past the hatchways—all of
them giving us the once over in turn.
Maybe they sold tickets for this show
—It would be like the Huns.
At first we were milling around try-
ing to get out from under the hatch
openings and the shower of spit, but
some Limey officer sang out, "Brit-
ishers all! Don't give way I" and we
stood still and let them spit their
damned German lungs out before we
would move for them, and some Cor-
nlshmen began singing their song
about Trelawney. So we mode out
tliut we did not know such a tlilug as
a German ever lived.
We got better acquainted with Ger-
man spitting later ou, and believe me,
they uie great little spitters, not much
on distance or accuracy, but quick In
action und well supplied with ammu-
nition. Spitting on prisoners is the
favorite indoor and outdoor sport for
Germans, men and women alike.
When the show was over, they
rousted us up ou deck and put us to
work throwing the salt pork and can-
ned goods Into two German mine-lay-
ers. While we were at It, a Danish
patrol boat came out and tied along-
side us, arid some of her officers camc
aboard and saw us. They knew we
were prlsoners-of-war, and they knew
that n vessel carrying prlsoners-of-
war must not remain In neutral wa-
ters for over twenty-four hours, but
they did not say anything about It.
That night two men named Barney
Will and Joyce, the latter a gunner
from the Mount Temple, sneaked up
on deck und aft to the poop deck.
There was a pair of wooden stairs
leading to the top of the poop deck,
and Joyce and II1H lifted it and got
it over tho side with a rope to It. The
two of them got down into the water
all right, but Joyce let out a yell be-
cause the water was so cold, and a
German patrol boat heard him and
flashed a searchlight. They picked up
Joyce right away, but Barney was
making good headway and was almost
free when they dragged him in. They
beat them up on the patrol boat, and
when they put them back on the
Yarrowdale Badewitz bent them up
some more and put .them in irons.
Then he began to shoot ut their feet
with his revolver, and he had a sailor
stand by to hand him another revol-
ver when the first one wus empty.
Then he would gush their faces with
the barrel of the revolver and shout,
"I'm Badewitz. I'm the man who
fooled the English," and shoot at them
some more.
All the while the sailors were cele-
brating, drinking and eating, and yell-
ing, as usual, and the whistles on all
the German ships were blowing, and
they were having a great fest. After
about thirty hours we left, being es-
corted by a mine-layer and a mine-
sweeper. I asked a German garby if
that was the whole Germun navy, and
he looked surprised and did not know
I was kidding him, and said no. Then
I said, "So the English got all the rest,
did they?" and lie handed me one In
the mouth with his buyonot hilt, so I
quit kidding him.
We saw rows and rows of mines,
and the German sailors pointed out
what they snld were II. M. SS. Lion
and Nomad, but I do not kno\V wheth-
er they were the same ones that were
In the Jutland battle or not. Finally
we landed at Swinemunde just as the
bells were ringing the old year out
and the new year In. We were a line
bunch of blackbirds to hand the kaiser
for a New Year's present, believe me.
They mustered us up on deck, and
each of us got a cup of water for our
New Year's spree. Then we saw we
were in for it, and all hope gone, but
we were glad to be released from our
hole, because we had been prisoners
since December 10—three days on the
Moewe and eighteen on the Yarrow-
dale—and the coal was not any softer
than when we first sat on It.
So we began singing, "Pack up your
troubles In y»ur old kit bag and smile,
boys, smile. Whuff "<ie use of worry-
ing? It's never worth while," and so
forth. They made us shut up, but not
before we asked ourselves If we were
downhearted, and everybody yelled
"No!"
And that Is how we gave our re-
gards to Swinemunde.
A Terrible Ordeal!
' Gravel and Kidney Stone Caused
Intense Suffering — Doan's
Brought a Quick Cure.
Edw. J. Turecek, 4332 Eichelburgcr
Ave., St. Louis, Mo., says: "I was
taken with a terrible pain across the
hack and ev^ry move I made, it felt
liko a knife being driven into my back
and twisted around. It lasted aboui
half an hour, but soon came back and
with it another aiFliction. The kidney
secretions began to pain
me; the flow was scanty
and burned like fire when
passing. I had severe
headaches and my tladder j
got badly _ inflamed, too,
and I noticed little par-
ticles of gravel in tho se-
cretions. Doan's Kidney
Pills had been recom-
mended to me and X be-
gin their use. The first
half box brought relief and I passed
a stone the size of a pea. It was a
terrible ordeal and afterwards a sandy
sediment and particles of gravel settled
in the urine. I got more of the pills
and they cured rue. The inflammation
left ana there was no more pain or
gravel. I now sleep well, eat well and
my kidneys act normally, Doan's
Kidney Pills alone accomplished thii
wonderful c«i?c "
"Subscribed and sworn to before me,"
JAMES M. SMITH, Notary Publio.
Get Dou'i at Any Stars, fiOc a Boa
DOAN'S"^,1
FOSTER-MILBURN CO, BUFFALO. N. Y.
M
Mi. Turtcek
Some men are troubled with taxes
and others are taxed with troubles.
When Baby la Teethlns
SBOVU'S BABY BOWiJl MMDIClNHwlll oorfeet
the Stoni&ch and Bowel troubles. Perfectly barm-
1«mo. direction* ou the bottle.
Heaven won't be exclusive enough
to suit some people.
ONCE GROWN ALWAYS GWOWN
rM/*,
CHAPTER XVIII.
"Pack Up Your Troubles."
We arrived nt Swinemunde, on the
east bank, and after we had had our
drink of water und had been rousted
back Into the bunkers, Badewitz went
across to the west side In a launch
with Joyce and 11111 and a guurd of
sailors. They were to be shot the
next morning, with some others, nt a
1 public shooting-feat. The rest of us
wrapped ourselves In lumps of coal as
best we could fiiid tried to sleep.
In the morning crowds of Germans
came aboard us and were turned
loose on the boxes In the hold. It
was a sight to see them rip off the
covers and gobble the salami and oth-
er stuff that we carried. Table man-
ners ure not needed when there Is no
table, I guess, but if you had seeu
them, you would say these Germans
did not even have trough manners. 1
have seen hogs that were more fin-
icky.
While they were at it, hand to hand
with the chow, giving and receiving
terrible punishment, we prisoners
were mustered on deck, counted,
kicked onto tugs and transferred to
the west bank, where the mob was
waiting for us. My wounds, as you
can Imagine, were In a pretty bad
state l\y this time, nnd were getting
more painful every minute, so that 1
found I was getting ugly and anxious
for an argument, I knew thut If I
stayed tills way 1 would probably
never come out ullve, for there Is
every chance you could ^want to pick
n quarrel while you are a prisoner
that will mean freedom for you—but
only the freedom of going west, which
I was not anxious to try.
When got near thp west bank,
on the tugs, we could see that we were
up iigiiliist a battle with our arms tied.
Over half the crowd was women and
children, I should say, and tho rest
were laborers and old civvies, and re-
serve soldiers, and roughnecks gen-
erally. We could see the spit experts
—the spit Nulpers, deployed to the
front, almost.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
Start Yonr
Garden Right
Send for Maule'a
Seed Book. 176
Eage« of most
eipful garden
inform a tion.
Beat the higb
cost of living
with a Mauls ear-
den.. Maule'i
Seeds started thousands
of new gardens last year—big <
were produced.
MAULE SEED BOOK
176 PakM o/ PiactiMl JT|?J7F
Information A f\
Lestra what, when, and how to plant
and prepare your ground for beet re-
sults. Paper scarcity has limited our
1919 issue. Send for your copy todmy,
WM. HENRY MAULE, INC.
2141 Arch Strsrt Philadelphia
A/«w< Smd$ Mm* Productive Gardena
Relieve that Cough by taking
DICKS'
Pine Tar & Honey
Compound of Honey, Tar, Wild
Cheiry, Ipecac, Muriate of Am-
monia and Peppermint It is fine
for recent and chronic Coughs
and Colds. 25 c a bottle.
In a False Position.
Francis disliked his name because
hu said It sounded like a girl's name.
"But what Is tho difference?" asked
his mother.
"I am nfrnld," answered the child,
"that people will think I am pretending
I am a girl so I will uot have to go tc
the war."
Daliy Thought.
Strong reasons make strong action*.
—Shakespeaw,
Men With Rig
Wanted to sell Rawleigli's Products. Estab-
lished demand. Large profits, healthy,
pleasant, permanent. Give age, occu-
pation, references. W. T. RAWLEIGH
CO., 130 Illinois St., Memphis, Tenn.
SEED POTATOES
Minnesota Grown
Red Bliss Triumph, Irish Cobbiers, Graen
Mountains, at $6.GO per sack;( 1 SO poundst.
Order at once to be sure of delivery.
San Jacinto Seed Co., Inc., Houston, Tezu
For Grip, Colds and
MALARIA
7-11CIIII1IHIGE
kills the Malaria germ and
regulates the liver.
25 CENTS
Soldiers Soothe
Skin Troubles
with Cuticura
soap. Ointment. Taicoa tte. eacn.
1} Samples of "Oattoar*,D«yt.l,B«staa.*'
Persistent Coughs
are dangerou*. Get prompt relief from
Fiao'a. Slop* irritation; aoothlnc. Effective
and safe for jotmg end old. No opiates to
PISO'S
v.
1
— liMii
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Tucker, T. L. Palacios Beacon (Palacios, Tex.), Vol. 11, No. 4, Ed. 1 Friday, February 14, 1919, newspaper, February 14, 1919; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth412189/m1/3/?rotate=270: accessed June 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Palacios Library.