GERMAN SHOT AT SCAPA.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 104, 1 May 1920, Page 19

GERMAN SHOT AT SCAPA.

BRITISH SAILOR ACCUSED. " NOT PRO\'EN\" The shooting ot a German prisoner in a British battleship after the scuttling or tho German fleet at Scapa Flow last June | was described In the High Court at Kdlni burgh, when James Woolley, 20, a sailor on li. M.s. "Resolution, was charged with tho ■murder of Jiuno Eversberg, of the German 'battleship Frankfurt. After a long hearing ■ the jury returned a verdict of ''Not I proven." and "Woolley was discharged. j Captain A. 11. Allngton, of the Resolu- ! tion, said-fhat some time -before the shootIng a lecture was given on board the rtesolution by a man who had landed at Zee- | brugge, and who had been a prisoner I among the Germans. He made a reference !to the brutal conduct of Germans. I John Copeland, an able-seaman, said that about 10 o'clock on the night of the shootiug Woolley told him that he was going to shoot a German prisoner, and asked him where the rifles were stored. He did not believe that Woolley was serious, and said !he did not know. Woolley, who was drunk, later came on deck with a rifle, from which he (Copeland) took the cartridge. When I Woolley discovered this he ' threatened to | hit ht_u. He attributed the threat simply jto the condition Woolley was in. Woolley j was not supposed to havo had a rum ration I on account of his youth. ■ Able-seaman William Percy "Berry said !he saw Woolley carrying a rifle and asked him what he was going to do with it. j Woolley said he had lost two brothers ia the war and he was going to have his own ■! back at the Germans. The rifle was j unloaded, but Woolley took ammunition out • of his pocket and loaded It. Frederick Goodman, ordinary seaman, , said he was suspected of having shot the I German, and was under close arrest for Uflve weeks. When Unit questioned he j denied that he knew anything about the affair, but later he -told what he knew to - relieve his mother's distress, i ' Asked whey he did not report to the. i } sentries the presence of a man with a rltle lon the boat deck, witness replied he had '..] "no love for tbe Germans whatever." The Jury's verdict was cheered by the > public in court.