America—the sons of the rich men stayed at home; and further, that
practically all Americans of German descent had absolutely refused to
take up arms against the Fatherland. I refuted this latter remark as
well as the first—I told him that both my father and mother were German,
having both been born in Berlin, and that my father was a very wealthy
man, but I had to go into the service because all the young men had to
become soldiers—the rich and poor alike had gone into the war and it
didn’t make any difference whether they were German-Americans, or just
plain Americans, they had all gone. So, he asked me what I did before
the war, and being a pretender for the purpose I had in mind, I assumed
a thoroughly shocked attitude at such a question, and informed him that
before the war, my father being very rich, I didn’t do anything except
go to college as “dad” came across with twenty thousand marks a year for
spending money alone. The old boy’s eyes popped open to the size of an
owl’s. He thought such an allowance fabulous and criminally extravagant.
I filled him full of a lot of this hot air about the war, and especially
my own financial stability, for I expected to sooner or later establish
my credit with him.
We parted the very best of friends and to cinch it I gave him another
pipeful of tobacco. The next morning the rather expected happened; he
came to talk some more and to further test my depleted supply of Red
Cross tobacco. Our second conversation ended with my parting with
seventy-five marks cash, and a promissory note for seven thousand five
hundred marks, payable three months after the war, in consideration for
which the old boy was to leave the outer latch open that night and slip
me a screw driver with which to manipulate the inner latch, and, at my
request, he arranged a guard and that afternoon I went out and took my
first exercise. The guard was a measly, withered-up shrimp, who spoke
quite a little English, as he had been in America. His knowledge of
American people and of American customs gave me a new field of activity.
He told me that he was on guard that night around this same area, about
eleven o’clock, so I cautiously sounded him out as to whether he was
particularly scrupulous or whether he might accept a little bribe.
Laughingly, he told me that like all other men in the world he supposed
that he had his price, but that it was high enough that it could not
possibly interest me.
“Well,” I said, manifesting surprise, “you’ve heard of my father,
haven’t you, since you’ve been in America?”
“No,” he said.
“What!” I ejaculated. “Oh, you certainly have heard of J. P. Morgan,
Haslett & Co., of Wall Street.”
Of course, he understood the first and last parts and the old boy stood
still in his amazement, for that “J. P. Morgan” and my connection
therewith had simply hypnotized him. Suddenly he became cordial to the
extreme. After blushing in honest modesty I got down to business.
“You’ve been in America long enough to know what notes are, haven’t you?
If you give your note it’s as good as gold, any time, any place, any
where.”
“Ja,” he affirmed, nodding his head. “I know that.”
“Well,” I went on, “all that is necessary is a little cash consideration
given with a note and it is good. Just like a contract.”
He agreed perfectly.
“Well,” I said, feeling like a street-corner politician, “name your own
price.”
After considerable hemming and hawing around about it, he surprised me
by naming five thousand marks, which then was about one thousand
dollars, one hundred marks to be in cash, and my note for the remainder.
He agreed to buy me a map and compass, to bring them in, and leave them
wrapped in an old rag at the foot of an iron post which he pointed out;
and he agreed that as he was to be on duty that night about eleven
o’clock he would not see me as I went over the fence on his post. He
told me the exact spot where he would be standing between eleven and
eleven ten, so that I could avoid him.
As to the financial arrangements he was to take me to the jail and then
go over to the canteen at my request to buy me some paper, which
purchase was approved. In the meanwhile I was to prepare the note and
dig up the coin.
As he came in the Corporal came with him as no one was supposed to enter
the room without the Corporal, but just as he laid my purchase on the
table the telephone rang and the Corporal had to step away temporarily,
which gave me the opportunity I needed. I handed the guard the piece of
I.O.U. paper and a hundred marks in prisoners’ money. The deal was
closed.
All the remainder of the afternoon I carefully laid my plans. This time
it looked like a clean get-away, but there is always something to take
the joy out of living, for about four o’clock the interpreter came
around with the prison paymaster, who told me to turn in all my money
for which they wrote me out a receipt. I decided that I had been
double-crossed by the Corporal; the other guard would not have had time
since the act.
“You had more than this the morning after we had you searched,” the
paymaster said after perusing a big ledger.
“Yes,” I stumbled, “but I sent some of it back to one of my friends to
whom I owed some money.”
Then they put all my fears to rout by telling me that I was leaving at
five o’clock with a transport of prisoners, going to a permanent camp.
This was simply hard luck, because as I figured it, it was absolutely
impossible for either the other Corporal or the weazened-up old guard to
give this plan of mine away. Furthermore, they would not have dared.
Well, that was finished for me, so, I asked the interpreter where we
were going, and about my sentence. Like all other Germans he pulled the
Kultur stuff by telling me that I was being sent to a fine, big camp and
that my penalty here was finished. So, he and the officer left and the
door was locked behind.
Immediately it was again unlocked; the old German Corporal came in,
highly excited because he thought the visit of the officer meant that
they had gotten something on him. I told him I was going to leave at
once for a permanent camp.
“Oh,” he whispered, really surprised, “then you will not escape
to-night.”
Upon affirming this statement that I was really leaving, the old fellow,
to my utter surprise, looked around to see that no one was looking in
the window, then closed and bolted the door behind him and handed me
back my money and my note. Here was a real, decent old guy. I believed
in his sincerity, and German or not, if I ever have a chance to do
anything for that old fellow I’d do my best to do it, for he was
absolutely honest, no matter what one might say as to his patriotism. I
gladly gave the old fellow the last bit of tobacco I had and when I left
we parted real friends.
But, the other old fossil—of course, I didn’t have a chance to see him,
and my one hundred marks, together with my large note, was gone to the
devil. Of course, I didn’t worry about the note; I never intended to pay
that any way, if for no other reason than the fact that it would
bankrupt me even though the mark is not now worth much at all.
I marched down to the train with the rest of the transport, and here
again they sent a tag along with me, telling of my bad record. They
honored me with several guards personally assigned, while the rest of
the party had about one guard for every four prisoners. We traveled for
about thirty-six hours in third-class coaches and were, indeed, tired
and worn out and sleepy. But, in spite of German efficiency and secret
service, within a few hours after starting we all knew by well founded
rumors that we were going by way of Münich to a place called “Landshut.”
At Münich we were taken off of the train and given some food, which
consisted of powerful limburger cheese and a little piece of dog
sausage, with a hunk of dainty potato bread. In spite of their intense
hunger, some of the boys could not possibly go that cheese so, showing
resourcefulness, I made a collection of it for I thought it might come
in handy later on. I gathered so much that I was a human cheese factory;
I had that cheese stuck in my pockets, I was carrying it in my hands and
I even had some of it securely put away in my blouse, and all the way
from Münich to Landshut, Bavaria, as I had nothing else to do, I ate
cheese. Believe me, people knew I was coming a mile away. When that
stuff began to get a little tepid, I was a man hated among men;
extremely unpopular for a strong reason.
We were turned over to a new set of guards at the Landshut station and I
noticed that they had lost my identity since I was not being given
special attention, so, I mixed right in with the rest of the prisoners;
that is, until they got a good whiff. The new sergeant, after lining us
up, walked along the lines calling the names and checking up the
prisoners. Standing directly in front of me, with his face about two
inches from mine, he gruffly called, “Oberleutnant Haslett.”
“Here!” I bellowed, whereupon the German, getting the full benefit of
the cheese, staggered and moved on.
I went up to the old abandoned estate known as “Traunitz,” which was a
very beautiful and historic old court. However, we did not live in the
castle. I think it was the servants’ quarters we had, for there were
twenty-five of us in one room.
Landshut, itself, was a lovely little town; in fact, one of the most
beautiful I have ever seen. The feature was the variety of church bells.
They were ringing day and night, and the sounds ranged several octaves.
At this camp they took away our American uniforms and gave us old
Russian prisoners’ clothes, with a big yellow stripe down the back of
the blue uniform. I don’t know whether that “yellow streak” was supposed
to have any real significance or not, but anyhow it was there.
At Landshut was imprisoned Captain Jimmy Hall, the James Norman Hall who
was prominent for his “Kitchener’s Mob” and other books, and a very
famous member of the Lafayette Escadrille. “Jimmy” was quite a character
as he hobbled around the place—we all liked his wonderful democracy.
We had only been there a day or so when they began to inoculate us for,
I think, every known disease. A big, fat, German Major stood there and
in apparent delight, pumped serum into us like a baker fills creampuffs.
The worst part was that he stuck us right in the chest. He was a good
natured old duck who didn’t seem to take things seriously. Not only did
he vaccinate us for smallpox, but he gave us shots of typhoid,
para-typhoid, triple typhoid, typhus, tetanus and cholera, and what else
I do not know. We were to have five jabs of the stuff, but when I took
my first one I decided then and there that when I took the next it would
be when I was held and given it by force. I never received another jab,
for every time afterwards I went in with the in-going line, and after my
chest had been painted with iodine by the Assistant to the Doctor, as
the old boy would turn around to fill his needle for the next man, I
would quietly step over in the outgoing line, and with many apparent
indications of pain, passed to my bunk.
Immediately after this first jab was given and before the pain and fever
had a chance to take effect I was mixing around with the boys, having a
good time, when in came a Sergeant who, amidst considerable pomp and
display, stated that the Captain commanding the Camp wanted to see
Oberleutnant Haslett at once. I asked him what the officer wanted to see
me about, but he didn’t know and I’m sure I didn’t, although I had a
good strong hunch. As I still had my yellow-striped uniform, I put it on
and went over. On the way over the Sergeant sympathetically ventured to
tell me for fear that I did not know it, that the German officers were
terrible men, very strict and stern and it was to my advantage to be
very careful and to be absolutely military and courteous.
After considerable palavering around, the Sergeant ushered me in. Seated
there at his desk was this potentate, the Commander of the Camp. I
hardly knew how to figure him for he was a hard looking customer with
the squinty eyes of a Chinaman, the pugnacious pug nose of a bull dog,
and the mouth and jaws of an ape. However, he was groomed to the
extreme. Take it from me, he was some little fashion plate all of his
own. This was a combination, to my mind, extremely difficult to tackle.
To be perfectly frank, he almost had my goat to start with. The thing
that bothered me most was the charge.
I was a soldier the day war was declared. The day before I had been a
hard plugging law senior in the University of Southern California—just
counting the days until I could realize my life’s ambition—to stand
before a court and plead a righteous cause. While like all other young
Americans I was happy to serve my country, yet at the declaration of
hostilities the thing that hurt me most was the fact that my perfectly
good legal education had all gone to the rocks for, as a soldier, I
could not see where my law could possibly serve any useful purpose.
It was Lincoln, I think, who said to be prepared for the opportunity so
when it knocked it could be accepted. Well, regardless of who said it,
my life’s ambition was before me. I had always wanted to plead a
righteous cause before a court—but I had never calculated that the
righteous cause would be my own. This was nothing more than a court and
I was to be the culprit appearing in my own behalf.
The proceedings had all the environment of a rural police court with the
solemnity and dignity of the Supreme Court of the United States. So much
pomp and red tape I never saw before in my life. The Sergeant went in,
clicked his heels together, saluted smartly and proceeded to babble away
in German. The Prussian officer looked up from his desk and snarled,
whereupon the Sergeant saluted again. Then he faced about, walked four
paces toward me, saluted and said with great feeling, “The Captain
commanding the camp commands your presence.” I wasn’t a soldier in the
true sense of the word. I was an aviator. I was a real snappy soldier
once, having been graduated from the New Mexico Military Institute; and,
having had some training in the line on the border and in the early
training camps. Since my judge seemed so strong on display, I decided to
compete for the prize, so I drew my shoulders back, put my chest out and
pulled my tummy in. As if by command and, by the numbers, I marched four
paces forward, clicked my heels together and in perfect cadence brought
my hand forward in a salute. Instead of bringing it down in the ordinary
manner, I pushed it straight forward and let it slap loudly against my
trousers. It sounded like the snapping of a champion bootblack’s cloth
as he finishes the job. The Captain stood, saluted and immediately sat
down. I thought he would ask me to have a chair, but it wasn’t being
done by the Prussians in those days so I stood there strictly at
attention looking directly at him like a tiger ready to spring. In a few
moments he got up again, holding a document long and engrossed. Clearing
his throat like a Chief Justice about to render an opinion, he proceeded
to babble, “Der Deutschen, etc.” After one mouthful, he turned to the
Sergeant and the Sergeant stiffened up even more rigidly and began to
interpret. I cannot repeat it verbatim, of course, but it went something
like this, not vouching for the accuracy of the names: “Whereas, I,
Antonio Mark Snicklefritz, Captain of the Imperial German Army, duly
appointed and ordained by the Imperial German Government through
Wilhelm, Emperor of Germany and Poland, in his own name, am entrusted
with the command of and authority over this Prison Camp at Landshut,
Bavaria, including all allied prisoners of war therein, do officially,
on behalf of the Imperial German Government, inform you, Oberleutnant
Elmer Haslett, Amerikaner, an Officer of the Air Service, that the
General of the Imperial German Army, Otto von Beetpots, commanding the
37th Army Corps of the Interior, has decreed, ordered, directed and
commanded that you have at Karlsruhe, Baden, on or about the fifteenth
of October, at night, disobeyed, disregarded and broken all rules
pertaining to prisoners of war in that you did wilfully, maliciously,
deliberately, and with malice aforethought, attempt to escape the
confines of the Prison Camp of the Imperial German Government; and that
in so doing you wilfully and maliciously destroyed and otherwise damaged
official property of the Imperial German Government in that you dug or
otherwise excavated earth from the confines of the Prison Camp of the
Imperial German Government. Whereupon, for these acts you were duly
sentenced to serve a period of solitary imprisonment, upon which
imprisonment you entered and which sentence and imprisonment have not
been completed. Therefore, the General von Beetpots, commanding the
forces of the Imperial German Government, and of the 37th German Army
Corps of the Interior, commands that you immediately, without delay, be
placed in solitary imprisonment for the unfulfilled period of your
sentence.” This was interpreted in twenty different relays and I
swallowed it all and was getting pretty tired of standing at attention,
so, as the officer spieled, I would stand on one foot and rest but when
the Sergeant started to talk, I would stiffen up and look directly at
him for the judge had his eyes focused on none other than the prisoner.
During this entire ceremony, the Justice of the Peace did not make one
gesture with his hand, simply holding the documents in his hands,
standing constantly at attention. He was more like a marble statue
holding a scroll.
Then, like most other courts, came the question, “Have you anything to
say?” My inoculation was beginning to take effect; my lips were hot and
my brow feverish, but, best, my brain was stimulated. I didn’t intend to
go to jail without a fight so I pitched my voice as low as possible and
sounded off slow and deliberately for I was not talking for time. Indeed
it was more than that. The sound of my voice gave me the moral courage I
needed. Looking straight at the Prussian and attempting to improvise a
proper form for my defense, I started out with something on this order:
“I,” and I threw out my chest an extra inch, “Elmer Haslett, First
Lieutenant Air Service, Army of the Democratic Republic of the United
States of America, having been entrusted as an officer of the Democratic
Republic of the United States of America with the duties, rights and
responsibilities of an accredited officer am, of course, entitled to all
the reciprocal courtesies of captured officers of belligerent nations;
and, therefore, as the officially authorized and duly accredited
representative of the Democratic Republic of the United States of
America I have the honor to submit to the Captain as the officially
authorized and duly accredited representative of the Imperial German
Government, the following answer to the matter he has just officially
communicated to me: That I, Elmer Haslett, First Lieutenant, United
States Air Service, do admit that part of the facts of the case stated
by the General Commanding the 37th Army Corps of the Interior are true,
especially in that I was captured in the act of escaping and had dug a
tunnel, thereby indirectly destroying the property of the Imperial
German Government, for which I was imprisoned at Karlsruhe. That during
this imprisonment, the officially authorized and duly accredited
representative of the Imperial German Government was a Feldwebel named
Schneider whom I, of course, had the right to presume was vested with
the authority of the Imperial German Government for he had given me
commands in the name of the Imperial German Government which I, of
course, did not hesitate to obey; he had given me privileges which I did
not hesitate to accept and when he made any statements or promises, I
took them as authorized and final statements and promises of the
Imperial German Government. Now, may it please the Captain commanding
the Camp to know that on leaving Karlsruhe for this camp, this same
Feldwebel officially informed me that I was leaving for a new camp and,
furthermore, that my penalty was complete for the reason that
misdemeanors against prison camps are local, which, in law is known in
Latin as the lex loci, and since my offense had only been an offense
against the prison camp at Karlsruhe, the penalty could not be imposed
or served in any other camp; therefore, the penalty for my offense was
absolutely completed. Therefore, since I, as the representative of the
United States of America, had dealt with no one officially except this
one representative of the Imperial German Government, I had just as much
authority for going to jail at his command as I had for leaving for this
new camp at his command and just as much right to believe that no other
sentence could be imposed for the misdemeanor committed. Now, may it
please the Captain, in view of these statements made to me, if any other
penalty is now imposed upon me, it will have to be for acts against the
German Government which I have committed at this Camp and unless the
Captain representing the forces of the German Government can point out
the offense I have committed at Landshut, under his jurisdiction, which
warrants my further imprisonment, I, Elmer Haslett, as the duly
accredited representative of the Democratic Government of the United
States of America, do consider the imprisonment as being without cause
and, therefore, absolutely illegal. Therefore, if the Captain as
representative of the Imperial German Government cares to imprison me
under these circumstances, I here and now protest very firmly before him
and request that an opportunity be given me to use the kind offices of
the high plenipotentiary minister of Switzerland, the high
plenipotentiary minister of Holland, the high plenipotentiary minister
of Spain, or other neutral representation in order that efforts may be
exercised in my behalf before Wilhelm, the Emperor of the Imperial
German Government. And here and now, I request to be put on record
before this court that I have claimed these rights under Article 26,
Geneva Convention, Article 23, London Agreement, Article 88, Hague War
Clause and Section 41, Article 12 of the International Treaty of Paris,
all respecting the rights and privileges of prisoners of war. This
concludes my answer and I wish to thank the Captain for his kind
courtesy in hearing this official protest.”
The old boy was taken off his feet. I couldn’t have pulled an improvised
spiel like that in ten years had I not been keyed up with the high,
raging fever and when I finished the reaction left me weak. But I was
sure that the Captain commanding the camp was fully convinced that I
knew what I was talking about. In fact, I felt that I could see it in
his very attitude. The Sergeant then told me that the Captain would
consider the proposition and let me know his decision. Of course, I
could not wait to get back and tell the boys how I had foxed the
Germans. I was just in the act of repeating and acting my long spiel to
them when the door opened and in came the Sergeant again. “Well,” I
thought, “the old boy has come to tell me that I do not need to serve my
penalty.” “Oberleutnant Haslett,” he called before everybody, “the
Captain commanding the Camp has decided that you will go to jail at
once.” Well, believe me, I could have been knocked over with a hair of a
feather. The boys gave me the merry titter and the royal ha! ha! I tried
to argue with the Sergeant but he evidently had my number. “Come on,
pack up,” he said, “and don’t try to pull your line on me. I’m acting
under orders.” So amidst considerable personal embarrassment, I picked
up my few belongings, which consisted of a note book, a wooden back
toothbrush and a quarter loaf of bread, and the Sergeant walked me over
to the guard house. Here he assigned me a hard looking guard who,
menacingly, loaded up his rifle right before me which, admittedly, had
the moral effect intended; and then, followed by every boche youngster
in the whole town, I was in military fashion marched down through the
old village and lodged in the town jail.