BARES KAISER’S
BRUTAL NATURE
Captain Persius Tells of Pranks
of Former Ruler.
VULGARITY HIS UELIGHT
Officers Forced to Submit to Indigni
ties and Bodily Injury—Former At
tache of Embassy in Washington Fa
vors “Punishing Rascals"—Asks for
a General Cleaning Up All Around1—
^ Wants Treaty Studied.
Capt. Lothan Persius, German naval
attache at Washington for a number
of years long before the war, and sub
sequently Germany’s lending naval
critic, devotes a good deal of space in
his “Personal Reminiscences” to acrid
ridicule of the once sacred person of
the kaiser, and to advocacy of the
proposition that German officers guilty
_of atrocities should be punished. Per
haps nothing written by a prominent
German since the war ended so amaz
ingly illustrates the apparent change
in the point of view’ of at least some
Germans. Of the kaiser, Captain Per
sius says:
“There nre nn rrent men in the eves
of their valets. William II never was
a great man in the eyes of anybody,
although he was ever assuming a
heroic pose, whether the occasion was
solemn or ridiculous. But William II
* in the eyes of his valets and attendants
was not only not great, he was even
contemptibly small, mean and coward
ly, enjoying the humiliation, degrada
tion and pain he inflicted upon those
in his power.
“With my own eyes I have seen him
dash the contents of a half-filled cham
pagne glass into the face of an ad
miral who happened to be standing
near him on the bridge of a vessel. I
saw him scrape the caviar off his sand
wich and fling the mess into the eyes
of some officer of high rank unfortu
nately within reach of the imperial
•joker.’ Of course, all these ‘pranks’
were perpetrated when his majesty
was in a state of intoxication, which
at times happened to occur early in
the morning.”
Captain I’erSius states flint all mem
bers of the officers’ corps realized that
promotion was to be accelerated only
by humble submission to the kaiser’s
whims and pranks; that some admirals
would have been deposed for incom
petency had they not been devoted and
meek objects of the imperial jester;
and that Tirpitz remained so long in
** power because he would “stand for
anything,” even to permitting the
kaiser to pull his whiskers and kick
him in the stomach.
The naval critic then adds these an
ecdotes of the kaiser’s idiosyncrasies;
“A cruiser was at target practice.
William II was on board, the sun smil
ing, the weather calm and beautiful.
William II happened to be in the ‘best’
of humor. With his strong right hand
he was dealing blows right and loft,
as he was wont to do on occasions like
this. His favorites considered them
selves fortunate when they received
an imperial punch.
“His majesty was very happy, jest
ing and joking. On the bridge his
body surgeon was standing, leaning
backward against the railing. The old
man, a general in rank, seemed to be
tired from standing. He was leaning
heavily upon the railing, bending back
ward and dreamily looking into the
sky.
“The old man was in a comfortable
position, as comfortable ns the circum
stances, including the august presence
of the imperial majesty, would permit.
sun.
“Suddenly William II sprang in front
of the old man and In a most cruel
manner (by hitting the old man a vio
lent blow in a tender spot) inflicted
terrible pain.
“The poor old general staggered.
One could tell by the expression of his
face that he was half mad from pain.
He held on to the railing with his
hands, and half fainting sank upon his
knees.
“The emperor, proud of his splendid
‘joke,’ laughed vehemently. But when
he saw the result his practical joke
had had he merely turned away, with
out a word of apology. The old sur
geon was no longer persona grata. He
had winced while receiving an im
perial favor!
“We had returned from a long
cruise in a ship of which Prince Henry,
the kaiser’s brother, was the com
mander. At Kiel the kaiser himself
wanted to inspect our ship. He came
onjboard, again in the best of humor.
“The bridge of the vessel was
crowded with officers of high rank and
other dignitaries. While the emperor
was talking to some one, his adjutant,
an admiral, happened to turn his back.
Immediately the imperial right fist
shot out and hit the admiral in the
small of the back—a powerful blow.
“The admiral was stunned and
reeled, while the kaiser made a sneer
ing, filthy remark which cannot be
repeated in print.”
Treaty Is Called Unjust.
Captain Persius then discusses the
treaty of peace for^the benefit of the
German Michel, saying: “God knows
we cannot call it a just treaty,” and
suggesting that it will be utterly im
possible for Germany to live up to its
conditions; but at the same time he
counsels Michel to get it through his
neau mat ne win accompusn more Dy
admitting and conceding what is good
in the treaty, keeping in mind German
conduct after the treaty of Brest
Litovsk and the trenty *f Bucharest.
Coming to the cases of the German
officers accused of atrocities, Captain
Persius gives as his opinion that they
should be tried for their crimes uud
punished, a duty Germany lias neg
lected for nearly a year.
“The only exception,” he observes,
“is the Fryatt case, and we had bet
ter not mention that exception. The
decision of the commission appointed
to examine into the charges Involving
treatment of prisoners of war in Ger
many, in violation of international law,
is enough to bring the blush of shame
into the face of every human being.”
He adds:
“Now our enemies are going to re
spond to the world’s cry for justice
and will place on trial the criminals
who disgraced humanity.
“He is a weakling who suffers an
ulcer to destroy his body without at
tempting to free himself by an ex
cision. Now this operation will be per
formed by our enemies. We ought to
thank our enemies for this operation,
and if we don’t the operation is not
likely to be of benefit to us.
“It will be a tough job to drive it
into Michel’s head: ‘You owe thanks
to your enemies!’ He still hears it all
around: ‘Our brave U-boat and Zep
pelin commanders merely did their
duty. Whatever they did they were
acting under orders from some one
higher up. Those brave men must fiot
be dragged into an alien court!’
No Reason to Be Excited.
“So far there Is no reason to get
excited. The British government, claim
ing to have evidence against twenty
commanders of German U-boats, wants
to bring them to trial. ‘Hands off!’ our
protesting simpletons are shouting.
‘Those commanders of U-boats merely
obeyed the commands of their supe
riors in rank. Had they not obeyed
they would have been punished for
breach of discipline or even for
treason. We must not permit the en
emy to try our hero officers!’
“The enemy, however, does not at
all contemplate trying our officers for
obeying the orders of their superiors,
hut for acts they committed going be
yond their orders.
“There are nr were a number of
German U-hoat commanders in Eng
land as prisoners of war. Nobody
ever thought of dragging them to court
for tills' simple reason; nobody ever
accused them of cruelty and atrocity.
They obeyed their orders and no more.
“When our enemies’ demands be
came known to us our first and Imme
diate answer should have been: ‘We
are glad to be placed in a position
where we may be able to disprove
charges that possibly are absolutely
unfounded. We welcome a chance to
"estore the unsullied shield of honor
of which every one of our naval offi
cers has been proud. We only regret
that no German tribunal was formed
to try these accused officers In Ger
many.’
Asks for a Cleaning Up.
’ “Charges made against U-boat com
manders, as contained in those news
paper articles, are of the same nature
as accusations made against other
military officers whose extradition is
demanded. Bet us begin a cleaning up
all around. Bet us not he content with
the trial of oflleers whose extradition
is demanded. Bet us try some of them
ourselves in eases where our enemies
are not interested.
“In addition we have to thank our
enemies for delivering us from the
octopus of militarism, that terrible
cancer which was destroying the life
of our nation and is still poisoning
our system. Clemenceau in addressing
die German peaee delegation said the
LEGAL ADVERTISEMENTS
SUMMONS
No. C-170
In the District Court for the Territory
of Alaska, Third Division.—Auralee
P. Pritchard, plaintiff, vs. Carl A.
Pritchard, defendant.
The President of the United States
of America, greeting to the above
named defendant:
You are hereby required to appear
in the district court for the territory
of Alaska, Third division, within thirty
days after the completion of the pub
lication of this summons, to wit,
within thirty days after the 23d day
of January, 1920, to answer the com
plaint of the above-named plaintiff in
the above-entitled action, wherein
said plaintiff prays that she be given
an absolute decree of divorce from
you forever dissolving the bonds of
matrimony heretofore existing be
tween you and said plaintiff.
And unless you so appear and an
swer, the plaintiff will take judgment
against you for want thereof and will
apply to the court for the relief de
manded in her said complaint as here
inabove set out.
The date of the order for service
by publication herein is December $,
1919, and such order was duly made
and entered and filed herein on said
date.
The date of the first publication of
this summons is December 9, 1919,
and the date of its last publication is
January 22, 1920.
Witness: The Honorable CHARLES
E. BUNNELL, Judge of the said
Court, and the seal of said Court,
on this 8th day of December, 1919.
(Seal) ARTHUR LANG,
Clerk of the District Court for
the Territory of Alaska,
Third Division.
By JOHN B. MILLER, Deputy.
R. H. L. Noakes, Attorney for
Plaintiff.
First publication, Dec. 9, 1919.
Last publication, Jan. 6, 1920.
VYtM II1UI13 U1U Him OCCiU IU LUiU)JlUivuu
what abolishment of military service
meant to them—releasing for labor
hundreds of thousands of hands form
erly occupied in the unproductive pur
suit of militarism. Only a militarist
whose mind Is stunted by the fungus
growth of pan-German madness will
fall to share Clemenceau’s opinion.
“But the note issued by the French
prime minister mnde no impression
on us. Our newspapers failed to com
ment on it. Why? Because the note
In mnn.v respects explains In words
of sincerity many obscure parts of the
treaty that seem to be cruel and un
just.
“Rend it; read it carefully, yon
German Michel; read it without pre
judice and hate; read it without bias
against those with whom you fought
only recently; read it filled with an
honest desire to serve your people,
conscious of the sins committed and
to be atoned if we ever are again to
work in unison with other nations of
the globe and be permitted to assist
in the reconstruction of civilization.”
RUPRECHT TO BE TRIED
Bavarian Crown Prince’s Name on
List of Six Hundred.
The names of Prince Ruprecht, of
Bavaria, and others of the former
royalty nnd nobility of Germany ap
pear on the lists of German officers
whose surrender for trial for common
law’ crimes in France and Belgium
will be demanded in accordance with
the peace terms. It is stated by La
Liberie, of Paris. The newspaper says
the list, now’ approaching completion,
includes about COO names, each ac
companied by a detailed account of
the offenses charged nnd the evidence
on which tlmy are based.
The supreme council, It is said, will
soon decide the date upon which the
list is to be presented to Germany,
which, according to the protocol to the
treaty, must be within two months af
ter the treaty comes into effect.
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Fresh French puffs daily at the City
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Best coffee in town served at the
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Read the Daily Times ror the latest
and most reliable world news.
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Read the Dally Times for the latest
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Headquarters for Alaskans
Ted Taylor, formerly chief steward S. S. Alaska.