"HONOUR."

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue 7366, 18 January 1902, Page 3 (Supplement)

"HONOUR."

A GERMAN SOLDIER'S MURDER

The German Emperor had, it was said some long time ago, forbidden duelling in the Army, but His Majesty's edict is regarded more by breaches than observance, and as a result the plain people of Berlin are just at present seething with indignation over a most unhappy occurrence, which has robbed the Fatherland of a promising j r oung officer, deprived a highly respectable family of its only male representative, and has brought widows' weeds msieii ! of orange blossoms to one fair maiden. The sad story-can be told in a few lines. Lieut. IJla^kowitz, a handsome young officer of 2.1, was about to be married, and on Thursday, October 31st, entertained for the last time as a bachelor his bachelor comrades of the officers' mess. He, in common with others, looked too often on the wine whilst it was red, and when the party broke up and Lieut. Blaskowitz turned out of the hot supper room into the chill air of dawn, his legs refused to perform properly their accustomed duty. In fine the Lieut, was "reeling drunk." Tn this condition two of his late guests Lts. Hilclebrand and Ramussen found him wandering far from home, and for the honour of the Army they took him in charge, and piloted him to within a few yards of his own home. Then, with sundry injunctions, they left him, propped up against a wall. But after they had gone some considerable distance it occurred to them that it would perhaps be better to turn back and see what had become of him. They found Blaskowitz on the same spot in a sitting posture

j fast asleep. They took hold of his arms and tried to place him on his feet, when the somnolent "drunk" struck out at them in his sleep without knowing what had got hold of him and planted his fists on their faces. They left him again, and by and bye Blaskowitz came round and managed to reach home quite unconscious of his assault on his brother officers. Next morning he went off to Deutsch Eylau to celebrate his wedding eve at the home of his betrothed. At Deutsch Eylau everything was prepared for the party, and the guests had already arrived when a telegram came summoning the young officer to return, adding that he had been challenged by two officers, and would perhaps have to fight at once. The senders of the telegram knew that he had gone away to be married, and that his wedding was -to take place on the Saturday. It wa.s, of course, postponed, and Blaskowitz left for Insterburg. There he heard that Hildebrand and Ramussen had reported the affair, and had challenged hin>. At this point the Court of Honour took the matter in hand. Blaskowitz wished to settle the affair, of which he knew nothing, by apologising to the two officers, and they agreed, but the Court of Honour decided that the meeting must take place. The Brigade Commander and the General commanding the division wer,e both informed of this decision. On the Sunday evening, Pastor Blaskowiitz, the . officer's father, with his wife and the Lieutenant's fiancee, arrived at Insterburg, where they heard that the meeting was to take place next morning. Pastor Blaskowitz did his utmost to prevent the duel, but in vain. The next morning the duel took place, and Lt. Blaskowitz fell dead at the first exchange of shots with Hildebrand. The plain people of Germany are hot with indignation at this outrageous sacrifice, and the papers are full of denunciations of the absurdity of officers pretending that a special code of honour should regulate their mutual relations, a ' code wnich does not hold good where civilians are concerned. The Blaskowitz affair recalls another "Court of Honour" incident of a similar character, but which happily had no tragic ending, thanks to the good sense of the parties concerned. Months ago. at the officers' liit.-iS of a certain regiment, a number of young- officers were drinking together. One of them had taken more than was good for him, and his comrades proposed as a joke to carry him into au adjoining room. The young man was conveyed into this room, but . awakened for a moment and struck one of his comrades. The next morning this officer sent a friend with a challenge to his. "assailant," who,, however, remembering nothing about the incident, did not hesitate to apologise.. The officer who had been struck was satisfied, the matter was thus far settled, and the Court of Honour of the regiment declared that all concerned had acted properly. Decisions of Courts of Honour, must, however, be .submitted to« the Commander of the Army Corps. This was done with the result that General yon Treitschke cancelled the decision of the Court, and ordered the matter to be submitted to the Court of Honour of another regiment. The result was that the assaulted officer was dismissed the service, solely because he .'had. accepted (his friend's apology instead of trying to kill him. A court-martial sat at Insterburg to hold an inquiry into the duel. In consequence of the fatal result of the duel Lieutenant Hildebrandt was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, and Lieutenant Groddeck, for acting as his second, to five days' imprisonment.' According to the evidence ijiven at the court-martial the version originally published in the press stating that Lieutenant Hildebrandt and others, while helping Lieutenant Blaskowitz home, were struck by him. was correct. The Court' ot Honour considered a reconciliation impossible. Lieutenant Blaskowitz was recalled from the house of his | fiancee, a duel was fought, and he was shot dead.

Quite one of the old stories of the " just-at-the-moment " type is recalled by a Paris correspondent of a London paper. It seems that William Whiffin, formerly of Manchester, a coachman, with an invalid wife, who had vainly sought employment for months, wandered out to the Bois do Boulogne, intending to hang himself. .As he was crossing a road he saw a horse running away with a small carriage, in which -were seated a nursemaid ana" a child of about ten years of age. Whiffin -waited for the runaway to approach, and as the horse came near him he caught the bridle and held on for dear life. About twenty yards further on the horse stopped. Immediately afterwards a handsome equipage drov.e rapidly to the spot, and from it descended a richly-dressed man, who breathlessly inquired if his child was safe, and learning the facts of the rescue, thanked Whiffin with tears in his eyes. Then Whiffin told his story, and the grateful father gave him enough money to keep him and his invalid wife from "want for many a day, and instantly engaged the Englishman as his coachman.